Houthis a ‘terror’ group after bid to hit US bases
Sanctions back as plot found & UK ship struck
AMERICA has re-designated the Houthis as a terror group after revealing the Yemeni rebels’ plan to attack US bases in the Middle East.
President Biden had lifted the designation, which comes with economic sanctions, to avoid even worse famines in Yemen.
But it was reimposed as the US Department of Defense revealed: “The Houthis in Yemen have prepared plans to target US bases in the Arab region.”
However, US officials say they will design financial penalties on the Houthis to minimise harm to Yemen’s population of 32 million, some of the world’s poorest.
Houthis are also thought to be behind an attack on a British ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday. The captain of the unidentified vessel said a fire was extinguished.
The Houthis have attacked ships in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea since November.
They say by doing so they are backing Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
The US has now launched three airstrikes on Houthi targets.
It hit anti-ship missiles in the assault on the Iran-backed group, which claimed responsibility for attacking a ship on Tuesday.
In linked regional violence, an Iranian missile attack on Erbil, Iraq, came close to hitting a US consulate building. Iran says it was targeting a local HQ of Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
But adding fuel to claims Iran is training Gazan Hamas fighters, an Islamic jihad fighter captured in the Strip reportedly told Israel he and others trained in Iran.
Also in opposition to the Gaza war, which has so far killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are firing on northern Israel almost daily.
Israel has hit back with bombs and artillery strikes.
In Gaza, shaken residents continued to return to areas vacated by Israeli troops, including the blitzed Nasirat refugee camp, in Deir al-Balah.
Around 355 people have been killed in Palestine’s West Bank territory since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 and sparked the conflict.
■ Two US Navy SEALs remain missing after the elite troops seized Iran-made missile parts from a ship bound for Yemen’s Houthis last week. One was washed overboard and the other dived in to save him.
The Houthis in Yemen have prepared plans to target US bases in the Arab region U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ON TERRORISM DESIGNATION