The United States must once again designate Yemeni Houthi rebels as a “terrorist” entity after attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, US media reported Tuesday evening.
The announcement, expected Wednesday, comes as the US military carried out strikes in Yemen on Tuesday targeting four missiles from the Houthi rebels which represented an “imminent threat” to merchant and military ships, according to a US official.
This is the third operation carried out in less than a week by the United States against the Houthis, who are targeting ships off the coast of the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, in solidarity, they say, with the Palestinians in Gaza, territory shelled and besieged by Israel.
The rebels again targeted a merchant ship on Tuesday, according to the US military Command in the Middle East (Centcom).
Last week, US-British strikes targeted nearly 30 sites in Yemen. US forces have also attacked radar and drone and missile infrastructure, raising fears of an escalation in the conflict.
Last month, the United States established a multinational naval force to protect shipping in the Red Sea, a key transit route that accounts for up to 12% of global trade.
“We are not looking for regional conflict, far from it,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We seek to stop the spread of the conflict and create conditions for de-escalation.”
The Houthis are part of what they describe as an “axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes groups supported by Iran, such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
The United States removed the Houthis in February 2021 from its list of “terrorist organizations”.
They judged at the time that this designation complicated the response to a very serious humanitarian crisis in Yemen, a country at war of which the rebel group controls a large part.
