President Biden on Wednesday designated Yemen’s Houthi rebels as terrorists, a partial reversal of his earlier decision to remove the Iran-backed group from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. The decision was seen as a way to ease the humanitarian crisis and pursue a diplomatic deal to end Yemen’s civil war.
The move comes days after the U.S. launched strikes on the Iran-backed group’s facilities in Yemen in retaliation for months of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Houthi leaders say they have launched nearly 30 attacks since Oct. 7 in solidarity with Palestinian militants battling Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The strikes do not appear to have deterred the Houthis, who launched yet another armed drone attack on an American commercial vessel in the Red Sea on Wednesday, British officials said.
“These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism. They have endangered U.S. personnel civilian mariners and our partners, jeopardized global trade and threatened freedom of navigation,” Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, said in a statement.
Mr. Sullivan said the designation will take effect within 30 days to ensure that international aid protections are in place so the tag won’t affect the shipments of food and medicine going to Yemeni civilians.
Under Mr. Biden’s order, the Houthis will be labeled a “specially designated global terrorist” group. The move stops short of applying the more severe designation of “foreign terrorist organization,” which President Trump imposed on the Houthis in his final days in office.
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“We are rolling out unprecedented carve-outs and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people,” Mr. Sullivan said. “The people of Yemen should not pay the price for the actions of the Houthis. We are sending a clear message: Commercial shipments into Yemeni ports on which the Yemeni people rely for food, medicine and fuel should continue and are not covered by our sanctions.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the humanitarian considerations were why the administration did not restore the Houthis’ place on the foreign terrorist organization list.
“This particular designation gives us more flexibility but it also gives humanitarian organizations a higher level of comfort because they could provide aid without running afoul of sanctions,” he said.
Mr. Biden’s delisting decision three years ago was justified as part of an effort to change the U.S. approach to Yemen’s civil war. He also said the U.S. would no longer support offensive operations in Yemen, where war had been raging since 2015 and where both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had joined the coalition opposing the Houthis.
The United Nations and humanitarian groups opposed the designation, arguing it could hinder access to food and fuel in Yemen and exacerbate a humanitarian crisis amid its civil war.
Mr. Kirby said the president did not need to be convinced to designate the Houthis as terrorists, and denied that it was a mistake to remove them from the foreign terrorist organization list. The outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war has also left the administration anxious to keep the fighting in Gaza from escalating into a region-wide clash.
“We’re going to continue to work very hard to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from escalating into a broader regional conflict,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday. The objective of the Red Sea mission is “to disrupt and degrade Houthi capabilities to conduct attacks. We believe … that we have degraded their ability.”
But some Republicans said this week that Mr. Biden’s about-face on the Houthis was a sign he’s weak on terror, possibly opening up a line of attack against him as the 2024 election nears.
“Removing them from the list of terror organizations was a deadly mistake and another failed attempt to appease the ayatollah,” Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said in a statement referencing Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mike Turner, Ohio Republican and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the Biden administration didn’t go far enough.
The lesser designation “only avoids taking any real action,” Mr. Turner said. “It’s time to lead and protect and call them what they are — a foreign terrorist organization,” he said.
Mr. Biden’s designation Wednesday bars individuals or companies in the U.S. from offering any financial or other support to the group and prohibits its members from entering America. It also bans U.S. financial institutions from handling the Houthis’ assets and requires banks to freeze any funds they hold belonging to the group.
Since Oct. 7, the Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks against Israeli territory and commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The attacks have disrupted the global supply chain, forcing many of the world’s biggest shipping companies, oil producers and other cargo firms to divert vessels from the region. The results are increased shipping times and a surge in oil prices and insurance rates.
In mid-December, the U.S. and other nations banded together a multinational naval force to protect ships in the Red Sea.
Despite three separate military strikes by the U.S. and its allies at Houthi targets in less than a week, the Yemeni group continues to target shipping in the vital commercial waterway, including an armed drone Wednesday that struck a U.S.-owned, India-bound cargo ship in the Red Sea, about 70 miles southeast of Aden.
According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, an arm of the British Navy that oversees Mideast waterways, the ship’s captain reported there was a fire on board that had been extinguished.
“Vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to [the] next port of call,” it added.
• Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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