Two young American women held captive by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen have been rescued in a joint operation by Saudi Arabia and the US.
The Yemen-born women, aged 19 and 20, were freed from Houthi-occupied Sanaa and taken to the southern city of Aden, Yemen’s interim capital.
The Royal Saudi Air Force flew them from there to Riyadh, where they received health checks and other care. The two women are now thought to have returned to the US.
A spokesman for the US State Department said: “We assisted with the safe return of two US citizens from an area of Yemen currently under Houthi control.” The spokesman said the US was grateful for the assistance of “our Saudi and Yemeni partners ... in facilitating their safe departure.”
The women went to Sanaa in March 2021 to visit relatives. Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi Defense Ministry, said the Houthis had confiscated their passports, restricted their freedom of movement, and abused them.
The joint rescue operation in January was a sign of the strength of relations between Riyadh and Washington, the ministry said.
The Houthis have faced frequent accusations of abusing women. A report this week by the Yemeni rights group Mwatana said the militia abducted and imprisoned women, raided their homes, restricted movement and expression, raped women inside detention centers, and abducted the victims’ husbands.
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