The Houthis, who govern the majority of Yemen, were the target of numerous airstrikes last week by American and British warplanes, ships, and submarines Image Courtesy Reuters
The latest move by Washington to stop attacks on international commerce came on Wednesday when the Biden administration added the Houthi rebels, who are located in Yemen, back to the list of terrorist organizations, according to U.S. officials.
The “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) designation, which imposes severe penalties on the Iran-aligned group, was intended, according to officials, to cut off the Houthis’ access to finance and weaponry, which they have utilized to attack or seize ships in strategically important Red Sea commerce lanes.
Global trade has been hampered by the Houthis’ campaign, which has also increased inflationary fears and the worry that the Middle East will become unstable due to the aftermath from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
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The Houthis, who govern the majority of Yemen, were the target of numerous airstrikes last week by American and British warplanes, ships, and submarines. This led to the designation.
According to two U.S. sources who spoke to news agency Reuters, the U.S. military launched its most recent attack against four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles on Tuesday.
A “strong and effective response” has been threatened by the Houthi militia organization, which claims that the attacks on commercial ships are intended to aid the Palestinians in Israel’s conflict against Hamas in Gaza.
The strikes are a part of a larger response to the Gaza battle by a group known as the Axis of Resistance, which includes the Houthis together with Palestinian terrorists Hamas, Hezbollah, located in Lebanon, and Shiite militias in Iraq, all of which have ties to Iran, an enemy of the United States.
The Trump administration added the Houthis to two lists designating them as terrorists a day before its term ended, which prompted the United Nations, aid organizations, and some U.S. lawmakers to express fears that sanctions would disrupt flows of food, fuel, and other commodities into Yemen. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revoked the designations on February 12, 2021, in “recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.”
A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Houthis in a war widely seen as a proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is deemed “severe” by the UN, with over 21 million people—two thirds of the population—needing assistance. According to the report, over 80% of people have difficulty getting access to food, clean water to drink, and sufficient medical care.
According to U.S. authorities, Blinken relisted the Houthis on Wednesday as SDGTs rather than as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which would have resulted in immediate travel bans and harsher restrictions on giving material support to anyone on the list.
Relating to steps to lessen the impact of the shift on Yemen’s people, the former designation “provides better flexibility to achieve the aims that we have in terms of carving out and safeguarding humanitarian assistance,” an official stated.
(With agency inputs)
