U.S. Reinstates Houthis As Specially Designated Terror Group
The United States announced Wednesday that it would be re-designating Houthi militants in Yemen as a Specially Designated Terror Group, with the designation to take effect 30 days from 17 January.
U.S. officials say the designation is over the Houthis’ campaign of missile and drone attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and that the ultimate goal of the designation and its accompanying sanctions are to convince the Houthis to de-escalate and bring about a positive change in behavior. “If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will immediately reevaluate this designation,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a statement.
Re-designation of the Houthis follows the continuation of the Iranian-backed group’s attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following US and UK strikes on Houthi military installations on January 11. On January 16, United States Central Command reported that a Houthi ballistic missile attack had damaged the M/V Zografia bulk carrier, after the U.S. had conducted a “self defense” strike on four ballistic missiles being prepared for launch earlier that day.
The Trump administration had designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terror Organization in its final weeks, but the Biden administration removed the designation in February 2021. At the time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the removal was done out of concerns over the designation’s impact on delivery of humanitarian aid in Yemen.
In response to a question on why the Houthis were not redesignated a Foreign Terror Organization, which would impose a travel ban on group members and facilitate sanctions on anyone found to have provided “material support” to the Houthis, an official said SDTG designation was the “appropriate tool at the moment to pressure the Houthis” while minimizing “unintended consequences for the humanitarian situation and the people of Yemen”.
According to the State Department, the sanctions accompanying the SDTG designation will have “carveouts” to minimize impact on Yemeni civilians, with the department using the 30-day period to conduct “robust outreach” to stakeholders, aid providers, and partners who are “crucial to facilitating humanitarian assistance and the commercial import of critical commodities in Yemen”.
Additionally, the Department of the Treasury will be publishing licenses “authorizing certain transactions related to the provision of food, medicine, and fuel, as well as personal remittances, telecommunications and mail, and port and airport operations on which the Yemeni people rely”.