2024-01-17 00:52:20
According to US media reports, US President Joe Biden’s government wants to put the Iran-backed Houthi militia back on the list of global terrorists. This was reported by CNN and the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday evening (local time), citing people familiar with the matter. Biden is returning to a measure taken by his predecessor Donald Trump, which he reversed following taking office.
When classifying terrorism, the USA distinguishes between globally active terrorists (“Specially Designated Global Terrorists”, SDGT) and foreign terrorist organizations (“Foreign Terrorist Organizations”, FTO). The distinction plays a role in the sanctions associated with each category.
A few days before the end of Trump’s term in office in January 2021, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the Houthis to be classified in both categories. Pompeo’s successor, Antony Blinken, reversed this shortly followingwards to make it easier to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemen. Civil war has been raging in the very impoverished country since 2014. A large part of the population lives in areas controlled by the Houthis. According to the UN, millions of people suffer from hunger.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, the Houthi militia has repeatedly attacked merchant ships with alleged Israeli connections in the Red Sea. The USA and Great Britain responded with a comprehensive military strike on Houthi positions in Yemen. Large shipping companies are increasingly avoiding the Red Sea route, through which around ten percent of world trade normally passes. The Houthi militia in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon are part of the “Axis of Resistance” once morest Israel.
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