Skip to content

Biden relists Houthis as terror group after months of Red Sea attacks

WASHINGTON — A terrorist by any other name …

After two months of Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea, the White House is finally redesignating the Yemen-based, Iran-backed group as a foreign terror organization, senior Biden administration officials said Wednesday.

“Despite countless warnings and diplomatic engagement, these attacks by the Houthis [have] not stopped,” an official said. “… In response to these ongoing and escalating attacks, the United States would designate Ansar Allah — or more commonly known as the Houthis — as specially designated global terrorists.”

Since Nov. 19, the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, claiming their assault is to protest Israel’s war on Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

“These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism — they endanger US personnel, civilian mariners and our partners, jeopardize global trade and threaten freedom of navigation,” the official said.

The redesignation comes after President Biden removed the Houthis from the nation’s “Foreign Terrorist Organization” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” lists in February 2021, undoing one of the final actions by the Trump administration before its departure from office a month earlier.

“We’ve taken this action to pressure the Houthis to cease their terrorist activities, including missile and drone attacks against international shipping,” another official told reporters. “These attacks are a clear example of terrorism in a violation of international law and a major threat to global commerce, and they jeopardize the delivery of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza.]”

However, the redesignation will not go into effect for another 30 days “to allow us to ensure robust humanitarian carve-outs are in place so our actions target the Houthi and not the people of Yemen,” the official said.

“We’re rolling out as we take this action, unprecedented carve-outs and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people,” the official said. “The people of Yemen should not pay the price for the actions of the Houthis.”

While administration officials say the “ultimate goal of [this] is to move the Houthis to de-escalate and bring about a positive change in behavior,” it remains unclear how influential the move will actually be.

Other measures the US and its international partners have taken to date — including airstrikes — have not succeeded in stopping the group’s attacks.

The US and other nations have upped their patrols of the Red Sea under their newly created “Operation Prosperity Guardian” mission, and conducted two counterstrikes on Houthi sites in the past week.

Advertisement

The US and other nations have upped their patrols of the Red Sea under their newly created “Operation Prosperity Guardian” mission, and conducted two counterstrikes on Houthi sites in the past week.

Today's News.
For Conservatives.
Every Single Day.

News Opt-in
(Optional) By checking this box you are opting in to receive news notifications from News Rollup. Text HELP for help, STOP to end. Message & data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. Privacy Policy & Terms: textsinfo.com/PP
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.