SANAA, Yemen — The United Nations food agency is shutting down its operations and laying off hundreds of workers in the northern part of Yemen held by the Houthis, following harassment and restrictions imposed by the Iran-backed terror group, UN officials said Thursday.

The World Food Program’s move is likely to worsen the dire humanitarian conditions in the impoverished Arab country amid the rebel Houthis’ crackdown on UN workers and aid groups in areas under their control, as well as funding shortages.

One UN official told AFP on Thursday that the agency suspended work in rebel-held areas in late August after the Iran-backed Houthis detained 38 employees in a series of raids. “Work stopped at our facility on August 25 due to the campaign of arbitrary arrests,” the official said.

According to the UN officials, the WFP’s 365 staff members in northern Yemen will lose their jobs by the end of March. International staff have already been pulled out.

“These circumstances, combined with a challenging funding environment, have resulted in the need for WFP to end the contracts of 365 staff members,” he said.

In November, the WFP and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization named Yemen as one of the countries with populations at “imminent risk of catastrophic hunger.”

One official blamed the “insecure operating environment” in the Houthi-controlled areas, and lack of sufficient........

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