Aid agencies welcome shift in U.S. policy on rebels

CAIRO — Aid agencies working in wartorn Yemen on Saturday welcomed plans by President Biden’s administration to revoke the terrorist designation of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in order to mitigate one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, said the designation would have done nothing to address terrorism in the Arab world’s poorest country, and would only hinder muchneeded aid deliveries to Yemenis living in Houthiheld areas.

“This is a further, vital, correct decision to bring hope to Yemen’s crisisstricken population,” he said. “The next steps are to raise aid flows, negotiate a permanent ceasefire, and get the diplomatic process moving to establish a sustainable political settlement.”

For years, the Iranianbacked Houthis have ruled the capital and Yemen’s north where the majority of the population lives, forcing international aid groups to work with them. Agencies depend on the Houthis to deliver aid, and they pay salaries to Houthis to do so. Mohamed Abdi, Yemen director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the move represents a “sigh of relief and a victory for the Yemeni people,” that sends a “strong message” that the U.S. cares first about the interests of Yemenis.

President Donald Trump’s administration branded the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, a move that limited the provision of aid to Yemen, a country of 29 million people that’s currently on the brink of famine.

Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and began a march south to try to take the entire country. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen’s internationally recognized government in March 2015.

The war has killed some 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians slain in targeted attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Project.

A State Department official confirmed Friday that the Biden administration intends to remove the Houthis from the terror list. Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. was ending its support to the Saudiled coalition fighting in Yemen, in a rebuke to Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. allay.