The Biden administration on Wednesday re-designated Yemen’s Houthis as a “global terrorist group” in response to dozens of attacks by the rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The reinstating of the designation follows U.S. military intervention in the region as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue their attacks on vessels, hampering international shipping routes and supply chains.
That’s despite the Biden administration launching an international coalition of countries aimed at deterring the rebel group, which said it began the attacks in October in protest against the Israel-Hamas war.
The attacks have fueled concerns that tensions heightened by the war could boil over into a larger regional conflict.
Shortly after taking office, President Biden removed the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthi rebels as terrorists, arguing it hampered humanitarian assistance to people in Yemen.
The Biden administration stopped short of adding the Houthis back on the “foreign terrorism organization” list. A U.S. official said the administration believes the “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” designation is the “appropriate tool at this moment.”
Millions of Yemenis have been displaced and are at risk of acute hunger due to fighting between a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The U.S. and U.K. last week conducted airstrikes against the Houthis in response to the group’s attacks, but the Houthis conducted retaliatory strikes.
A missile fired by the Houthis struck a U.S.-owned ship near the coast of Yemen.
On Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs seized a cache of Iranian-supplied missile parts and other weaponry bound for the rebel group.
