In a final gesture before the end of Donald Trump’s mandate, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Sunday January 10 that the United States was preparing to include the Houthi rebels in Yemen on their list of terrorist organizations. Three senior officials of the movement, including its leader, Abdel Malik Al-Houthi, are also individually appointed. The move is due to take effect on January 19, the day before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.
It was expected, as the State Department increased last-minute sanctions against Iran and its allies in the Middle East, including the Houthis. In a statement, Mr. Pompeo said that this gesture should strengthen the “Deterrence against the harmful activities of the Iranian regime”. He also cited his desire to hold the Houthis “Responsible for cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure and maritime transport”. A reference to the missiles fired by the Houthis in neighboring Saudi Arabia, in particular against oil installations, as well as to attacks targeting commercial traffic in the Red Sea.
This designation has long been demanded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have intervened militarily in Yemen since March 2015. The Gulf monarchies may believe that Washington is effectively closing the way for international recognition of the Houthis, after five years of war, and that a means of pressure against them in future negotiations will thus be put in place.
A decision greeted with fatalism
In Yemen, outside government circles that have long called the rebels “Terrorist militias”, this American decision was greeted with fatalism. Symbolic, it changes nothing in this conflict, in which the Houthis have made themselves masters of the capital, Sanaa, and of most of the “useful” country. Their military victory seems, in the current state of forces, impossible to reverse. The American designation contributes to the division of the country into two distinct sovereign zones, the Houthi territories on one side and the areas held by their various rivals on the other.
“The US government must ensure that the sanctions do not prevent the entry of food, fuel and medicine” Mohamed Abdi, director in Yemen of the Norwegian Refugee Council
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