The new administration announced that the Houthi Rebels in Yemen will no longer be categorized as a terrorist organization; A spokesperson for the administration claimed that this decision in no way changes the administration’s view of the Houthis.
The Houthi Rebels are front and center as the Biden administration continues its agenda to remove a significant amount of the Trump-era policies. On Friday, a State Department official announced that they will be revoking the previous administration’s designation of the Houthi Rebels as a terrorist organization – a move which came in January before the transition of power.
“We have formally notified Congress of the Secretary’s intent to revoke these designations and will share more details in the coming days,” said the official.
Houthi Rebels have been engaged in a military conflict with the Yemeni government and military for several years, which eventually became a civil war in 2014 and remains to this day. The Rebels are sponsored by the Iranian regime, which is the world’s number one sponsor of terror and has its own terror proxies throughout the Middle East in locations such as Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen.
Additionally, the Houthi Rebels have been cited for several war crimes.
Following the Trump administration’s decision to designate the Houthi Rebels as a terror organization, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated, “The Trump administration simply recognized reality. The Houthi forces are terrorists, underwritten by the theocracy, the kleptocracy that runs the Islamic Republic of Iran. That regime is funding a missile program, funding capabilities inside of Yemen that put Europe at risk, put the Middle East at risk.”
The Yemeni Civil War is currently considered to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As of 2020, over 17,000 civilians have been killed. Furthermore, over 20 million people struggle to get food regularly, and half of them are approaching famine.
