Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to re-classify Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a "foreign terrorist organization.”
"The Houthis have fired at US Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times,” Trump’s Office of Communications said.
Signing the order puts the process for reclassifying the militia in motion. Designation as a foreign terrorist organization is accompanied by tough sanctions.
Shortly before the end of Trump’s first term as president in 2021, his then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo initiated the categorization of the Houthis as a terrorist organization.
Pompeo’s successor, Antony Blinken, cancelled this shortly afterwards in order to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen.
Since the start of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthi militia has repeatedly attacked Israel and international merchant ships in support of Palestinian militant organization Hamas. (DPA)