US to reclassify Houthis as terror group – media
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States will again consider Yemen’s Iranbacked Houthi rebels a terrorist group, American media reported on Tuesday, after previously dropping the classification in 2021.
The designation, expected on Wednesday, of the Houthis as a “specially designated global terrorist” entity comes amid attacks by the group on shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, the US military said it struck Yemen to destroy four anti-ship missiles “prepared to launch from Houthicontrolled areas,” and which “presented an imminent threat to both merchant and US Navy ships in the region.”
It is at least the third time in less than a week that the US has carried out strikes against the Houthis, who have repeatedly taken aim at merchant vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane — attacks the rebels say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling the militant group Hamas.
The US military also said the Houthis launched an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes on Tuesday, and that a Maltese-flagged bulk carrier reported that it was hit but remained seaworthy.
The US and the United Kingdom targeted nearly 30 sites in Yemen with more than 150 munitions last week, while American forces later attacked a Houthi radar site in what was described as “a follow-on action” related to the previous strikes.
Washington set up a multinational naval task force last month to protect Red Sea shipping from the Houthis, who are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade.
The Houthis say they have been targeting Israeli-linked vessels, but Washington says dozens of countries have connections to ships that have been attacked.
Washington previously designated the Houthis as a terrorist group in January 2021, in the waning days of the administration of then-president Donald Trump — a move reversed the following month by his successor, Joe Biden.
The original designation caused outcry from those who said it would complicate the humanitarian response in the country, battered by civil war and much of which is controlled by the Houthis.
Hamas’ unprecedented crossborder attacks on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the latest round of fighting in Gaza, left about 1,140 dead, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 24,285 Palestinians, about 70 percent of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli bombardments and ground operations since then, the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry said.