The United States appointed Houthi rebel group The move comes as a terrorist organization after Yemen-based militants launched numerous drone and missile attacks on US warships and merchant ships operating in the Red Sea.
“These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Wednesday. “They have endangered US personnel, civilian sailors and our partners, endangered global trade and threatened freedom of navigation.”
The Houthis announced their support after Israel began bombing Gaza in response to the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas. Hamas and began firing rockets at Israel and bombing ships in the Red Sea.
The US and its allies have responded with blows sites are under the control of Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Sullivan described the designation as “an important tool to prevent the Houthis from financing terrorism, further limit their access to financial markets, and hold them accountable for their actions.”
“If the Houthis stop their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the United States will immediately reevaluate this designation.” he added.
Sullivan said the designation would take effect within 30 days to give the United States time to limit its influence on the Yemeni people. “The people of Yemen should not pay for the actions of the Houthis.
The Houthis, a large tribe from Yemen’s northwestern province of Saada, are an extremist movement that follows Zaydism, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
after The Arabian Spring In 2011, the group took control of Saada province with protests that started in several countries. Three years later, his fighters stormed the capital, Sana’a, and forced the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.
Neighbor Saudi ArabiaUnwilling to accept the prospect of Yemen being ruled by a militant group backed by regional rival Iran, it responded by launching a war against the group.
But despite the support of the US, Britain and several other nations, which have armed the Saudis with fighter jets and bombs and provided them with military expertise, the conflict has dragged on longer than expected and cost Riyadh dearly. Saudi with little hope of victory Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reduced its military operations and entered into peace talks with the Houthis last year.