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Houthis Release Norwegian Refugee Council Staff | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Houthis ride a truck while patrolling a street in Sana’a January 21, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah


Sanaa- Houthi insurgents released on Thursday seven people detained for distributing aid in Yemen’s district of Hodeida, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Thursday.

“We are greatly relieved by the release of our staff members and the driver,” the organization said, according to Agence France Presse.

“They are in good condition, and we are pleased that they are now reunited with their families,” said the statement.

Six staff and a contracted driver, all Yemeni citizens, were detained earlier this week by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea coastal district of Hodeida.

The arrests took place after they distrusted aid with boxes that read from inside “The campaign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for emergency response.”

But the Norwegian Refugee Council said the boxes were dated January 2015, meaning around two months before the launch of the operations “Decisive Storm” and “Restoring Hope.”