Houthis launch a missile in the northern province of Saada, Yemen, on January 11, 2024, after vowing to attack Israel-bound ships and prevent them from navigating in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. File Photo by Houthis Media Center/EPA-EFE
March 4 (UPI) — Hundreds of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden earned Yemen-based Ansarallah, commonly called “Houthis,” a designation as a foreign terrorist organization.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday added Ansarallah to the list of designated foreign terrorists and announced an up-to $15 million reward and possible relocation for those who provide information that disrupts the terrorist organization’s financial mechanisms.
“Today’s action taken by the State Department demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, the safety of the American people and the security of the United States,” Rubio said in a news release.
“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorist and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities,” Rubio added.
President Donald Trump on Jan. 22 issued Executive Order 14175, which began the process for designating the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization.
The executive order says Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force supports the Houthis and accuses them of firing a U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023.
Trump also said the Houthis used force to seize most of the population centers in Yemen in 2014 and 2015.
Since then, the Houthis “have launched numerous attacks on civilians infrastructure, including multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, the deadly January 2022 attacks on the United Arab Emirates and more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023,” Trump said.
The Houthis also attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times, killed at least four civilians on those ships and contributed to global inflation by forcing some Red Sea maritime commercial traffic to re-route and sail around Africa instead of using the Suez Canal, Trump said.
“The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners and the stability of global maritime trade,” he added.
The Houthis have “spared Chinese-flagged ships while targeting American and allied vessels” in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Rubio said Tuesday.
He said the United States will not “tolerate” any nation engaging with the Houthis and other designated terrorist organizations “in the name of practicing legitimate international business.”
Tuesday’s terrorist designation for the Houthis shows the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting U.S. national security interests, the safety of the American people and the nation’s security, Rubio said.
President Joe Biden during his final days in office on Jan. 17 designated the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist” organization after removing the Houthis from that designation and from the nation’s list of foreign terrorist organizations in February 2021.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2021 said it was necessary to remove the SDGT designation for the Houthis to enable the delivery of assistance to Yemen as that nation experienced a “dire humanitarian situation.”