US redesignates Houthis as foreign terrorist organisation

Move comes as group claims to have shot down another multimillion-dollar Reaper drone

Houthi soldiers stand guard during a protest in Sanaa in February. EPA

The US State Department on Tuesday redesignated Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organisation, reversing a Biden-era policy.

Shortly after assuming office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the redesignation. “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,” the executive order said.

During Mr Trump's first term, his administration designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, despite strong objections from human rights and humanitarian aid groups that said it would hinder the delivery of aid to those in need in Yemen. The Biden administration reversed this designation in 2021 but then listed it as a specially designated global terrorist group in early 2024.

The Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks on international ships, threatening international trade routes, in what they said was an expression of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

“The United States will not tolerate any country engaging with terrorist organisations like the Houthis in the name of practising legitimate international business,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Calling the Houthis a foreign terrorist organisation allows for harsher penalties and opens the door for prosecutions of those financing the group's activities.

The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, removing the internationally recognised government. Although fighting between the Houthis and the government was paused after the establishment of a truce in 2022, the conflict has led to hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect deaths, and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

The group claimed on Tuesday to have shot down another MQ-9 "Reaper" drone in Hodeideh governorate the day before. The US has been using the $30 million unmanned drones to patrol in the Red Sea, and despite the machines' advanced technology, the Houthis have managed to take down several Reapers.

A US defence official told The National on background that the US Air Force had lost contact with a Reaper operating over the Red Sea in support of Operation Poseidon Archer on March 3.

"We are actively assessing the incident to determine the cause and follow-on action," the official said.