A senior official of the powerful Yemeni movement now being targeted by a United States-led coalition told Newsweek that President Joe Biden's decision to once again designate the group a terrorist organization will have no bearing on its ongoing attacks in one of the world's most crucial shipping lanes.
"This decision will not affect our decision, and we will continue to stand with the Palestinian people to stop the massacres in Gaza, just as America does in its support of Israel to continue the massacres," Nasreddin Amer, deputy information secretary for Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, told Newsweek.
The comments came shortly after the U.S. State Department formally announced the decision to label the group a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" (SDGT) organization on Wednesday.
In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ansar Allah's campaign, which began in November around a month after an unprecedented surprise attack led by Hamas against Israel sparked the deadliest-ever war in Gaza, "have endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms" in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
"This designation seeks to promote accountability for the group's terrorist activities," Blinken said. "If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will reevaluate this designation."
And yet, Ansar Allah continued to claim new operations in the region even after the U.S. announcement, assuming responsibility for an attack on the U.S.-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.
Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for Ansar Allah, which considers itself to represent the legitimate government and military of Yemen, said that the "Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all sources of threat in the Arab and Red Seas within the legitimate right to defend dear Yemen and to continue supporting the oppressed Palestinian people."
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations also reported on an incident involving a drone striking a vessel in the Gulf of Aden, and U.S. Central Command later stated that an unmanned aerial system "launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen" hit the Genco Picardy, though the ship was said to have remained seaworthy and continued its journey.
The operation came just one day after Ansar Allah claimed another attack on the Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Zogravia as it transited north across the Red Sea.
The latest attacks come in defiance of the Biden administration's warnings after at least three rounds of strikes conducted over the past week by the U.S. and the United Kingdom, with support from several other nations, against Ansar Allah military capabilities in Yemen and set the stage for further escalation.
The U.S. labeled Ansar Allah as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" (FTO) in the final days of the previous administration led by then-President Donald Trump. The move was reversed by Biden just weeks after taking office in early 2021, citing Yemen's "dire humanitarian situation" and concerns expressed by humanitarian groups, the United Nations, lawmakers and others regarding the effects of such a designation on the ability to provide aid to the embattled nation.
Prior to the announcement on Wednesday, a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Tuesday evening that the SDGT designation "will take effect 30 days from now to allow us to ensure robust humanitarian carveouts are in place so our action targets the Houthis and not the people of Yemen."
"We are rolling out, as we take this action, unprecedented carveouts and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people," the senior administration official added. "The people of Yemen should not pay the price for the actions of the Houthis."
The senior administration official explained that the SDGT designation was chosen as opposed to the FTO label because it "provides better flexibility to achieve the aims that we have in terms of carving out and safeguarding humanitarian assistance as well as the broader well-being of the people of Yemen and targeting the action towards the Houthis while still achieving our foreign policy aims, which is to call out the Houthis' actions for what they are, which is unacceptable terrorism."
Since Yemen's civil war first erupted nearly a decade ago, Ansar Allah has taken control of up to a third of the nation's territory, including the capital, Sanaa, and today oversees around 80 percent of the country's population. The once-raging conflict between Ansar Allah and the Saudi-backed government, along with other factions such as the United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council, has largely been halted as a result of ceasefire brokered by the United Nations in April 2022.
Hopes for a lasting resolution in Yemen were raised by a China-brokered deal to reestablish relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March of last year but the war in Gaza has once again set the region alight. Prior to beginning its campaign against merchant ships, Ansar Allah began launching missiles and drones directly at Israel shortly after the Israel-Hamas conflict began last October.
Both Ansar Allah and Iran have denied that Tehran has provided the group with direct military assistance, but the senior Biden administration official speaking to reporters on Tuesday argued that Ansar Allah's attacks "have been enabled by and supported by Iran."
A second senior administration official expressed hope that the move would hinder Ansar Allah's relationship with the Islamic Republic and encourage cooperation with the Yemen peace process backed by the U.N. Security Council.
"We believe this designation will apply additional pressure on the Houthis to change its behavior and turn away from Iran," the second senior administration official said, "and then for the Houthis to become a constructive actor in the UNSC process."
Earlier that same day, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Ansar Allah's actions during a gathering with religious leaders in Tehran.
"The Yemenis targeted the key channels of the Zionist regime and did not fear the threats of the U.S., because a God-fearing person does not fear anyone but God," Khamenei said. "What they did is truly and justly an example of fighting for the cause of God."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Based in his hometown of Staten Island, New York City, Tom O'Connor is an award-winning Senior Writer of Foreign Policy ... Read more
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