US designates Houthis as terrorists after rise in Red Sea attacks

The Biden administration announced it will put the Houthi militant group back on a global terrorism list, as the US looks to cripple its ability to fund Red Sea attacks that have roiled commercial traffic in a vital trade waterway. 

The decision to classify the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization partly unwinds a move President Joe Biden made early in his administration revoking that and another terror designation as the US sought to ease the humanitarian crisis in Yemen after years of civil war.

“These attacks against international shipping have endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Houthis must be held accountable for their actions, but it should not be at the expense of Yemeni civilians.”

The US is now locked in a battle with the Houthis after the Iran-backed group began its string of attacks on commercial ships traveling through the Red Sea in response to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The US has responded with a series of airstrikes designed to deter the Houthis from launching further attacks and degrade its ability to attack shipping.

The administration could rescind the designation if the group halts its attacks, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the pending designation. It will take effect in 30 days, the officials said, allowing the US to design sanctions in a way that avoids penalizing ordinary Yemenis.

Wednesday’s move doesn’t include restoring the Houthis to a separate list of foreign terrorist organizations, which the official said would have far wider humanitarian consequences even as it would further restrict the group’s finances. 

In the waning days of his administration, former President Donald Trump labeled the Houthis as a specially designated terrorist group and a foreign terrorist organization. Biden unwound that in one of the first acts of his presidency over concerns from the United Nations and others that the designation could impede humanitarian assistance.

On Wednesday, critics said the Biden administration should go further and reapply the foreign terrorist organization designation. The decision to remove the harsher designation was a “huge mistake,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican, said in a statement that called on the administration to “take a clear-eyed view of the situation and re-designate the Iran-backed Houthis as a FTO.”

Asked about the the choice of designation, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US was attempting to maximize the impact on the Houthis while trying to minimize the impact the resulting sanctions would have on the civilian population. 

“This is something that we found in our conversations with groups that are providing humanitarian aid in Yemen — that an FTO designation ran the risk of having a deterrent effect,” Miller said, adding that groups feared being charged with providing “material support” to a terrorist organization.

The Houthis have said they are targeting ships in response to the war in the Gaza Strip, and are part of a broader flare-up in violence across the Middle East since Hamas militants assaulted Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel struck back. 

Earlier: Iran Supplies to Houthis Impeded by US-UK Strikes, Officials Say 

Analysts have suggested that the Houthis welcomed a confrontation with US forces as it would increase their standing among militant groups in the region. 

The designation was “a badge of honor” and recognition of the impact of the group’s ship attacks and support for Palestinians, Mohammed Abdulsalam, a Houthi spokesperson and chief negotiator in peace talks, said in a statement.