Classifying Houthis as terrorist organization terrifies Iran, receives Arab welcoming

In a move that confirms the true intentions of the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia, the internationally recognized Yemeni government welcomed Washington's designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization, while the group affirmed that the classification would not affect their militant path and that it reserves the "right to respond."
The decision had been awaited since the US presidential
election on November 3, 2020, and non-governmental organizations and
international bodies feared that after his defeat, outgoing President Donald
Trump would deliver a diplomatic blow to Iran before the transfer of power on
January 20 to Joe Biden, who has expressed his desire to resume dialogue with
Tehran.
The US State Department said that it will notify Congress of
its intention to classify the Houthi militia as a "foreign terrorist
organization."
The department intends to include three Houthi leaders on
the list of specially listed international terrorists, namely leader Abdul-Malik
Al-Houthi, his brother Abdul-Khaliq Badreddin al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim.
Since 2014, Yemen has been witnessing a war between the
Houthi rebels loyal to Iran and the forces loyal to the government of
internationally recognized President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and supported by
the Saudi-led coalition, which began when the Houthis launched an offensive and
took control of the capital, Sanaa.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that the inclusion
of the Houthis in Yemen on the lists of terrorism would counter the militia’s
terrorist activity and seek to deter any other malicious activity of the
Iranian regime in the region.
The Houthi militia is an armed group that rebelled from the
state in 2004 and fought several wars with it. In 2014, it managed to overrun
Sanaa and control most of the northern Yemeni governorates. The group still
controls the capital and most of the densely populated areas in the north of
Yemen, and it is fighting battles against government forces in a number of
governorates.
The Houthis possess large military capabilities, including
ballistic missiles, drones, and booby-trapped drones, and it targets government
forces inside Yemen, as well as neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The Yemeni government welcomed the US designation of the
Houthis as a terrorist organization and called on Arab countries and permanent
members of the Security Council to take similar steps.
In a step that confirms Iran’s panic from the repercussions
of the decision, the Iranian Foreign Ministry considered placing the Houthis on
the terrorist list by the United States as an "expression of the
bankruptcy" of the outgoing president's administration.
The United Arab Emirates also welcomed the decision, as UAE
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said, "We welcome the
American administration's decision to classify the Houthi militia as a
terrorist organization and to place its leaders on terrorist lists."
"The Houthi militia’s coup against the state and its
institutions and Yemeni society and its social and civil fabric sparked
violence and chaos and led to the tragic deterioration of the humanitarian
situation in brotherly Yemen," he added.
For its part, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs
expressed the Kingdom’s welcoming the US administration’s decision "in a
step consistent with the demands of the legitimate Yemeni government to put an
end to the excesses of this Iranian-backed militia and the real dangers it
poses that have led to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation of the
Yemeni people, and its continuing threats to international peace and security
and the global economy."
The Saudi ministry expressed its hope that "this
classification will contribute to putting an end to the terrorist acts of the
Houthi militia and its supporters, as this would neutralize the threat of these
militias and stop supplying this terrorist organization with missiles, drones,
specific weapons and funds to finance its war effort and to target the Yemeni
people and threaten international navigation and neighboring countries. This
classification will also lead to the support and success of the existing
political efforts and will force the leaders of the Iranian-backed Houthi
militia to seriously return to the table of political consultations."
The Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs also welcomed this
decision, considering it a "necessary step to put an end to the serious violations
committed by the Houthi militia against the brotherly Yemeni people, and to
confront its continued insistence on destabilizing security and stability in
the region in implementation of the agenda of the Iranian regime that supports
it," according to the Bahrain News Agency.
The Bahraini Foreign Ministry also stressed the need for the
international community to take similar measures against this terrorist group
due to the horrendous attacks it commits against the Yemeni people and the
neighboring countries and the threat to international shipping, as well as its
continued obstruction of all efforts aimed at reaching a lasting peace and a
political solution that preserves the Republic of Yemen and its unity and
territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Abdul Salam, the official Houthi
spokesman, said, "America has proven for many decades that it is the
center of global crime, and as far as Yemen is concerned, it culminates in its
failure there with trivial and miserable decisions."
He described the current US administration as "an
administration subject to isolation and trial, which must be preoccupied with
its situation and contemplate its fate."
For his part, Dhaifallah al-Shami, a spokesman for the
Houthi-affiliated Sanaa government, said that the US decision resulted from an
internal conflict with the end of the current administration and Trump's
departure.
He added to the group's Al-Masirah channel that "the
American classification will not affect our military or social path, but rather
we will increase in strength, resolve and determination to confront
America."
A prominent leader of the terrorist group, Mohammed Ali
al-Houthi, confirmed, "We reserve the right to respond to any
classification that emanates from the Trump administration or others."
The United Nations estimates that Yemen is facing "the
worst humanitarian crisis in the world" and that most of the population is
in need of assistance and protection as a result of the conflict in this
country, which has lasted for more than six years.
The Houthi terrorist group had begun to adopt more criminal
methods with the suffering experienced by the Yemeni people, as it deducted
sums of money, or so-called "royalties", added to imported goods and
commercial goods under the pretext of confronting the corona pandemic, and it
imposed levies on the dozens of simple popular restaurants in Sanaa.
Recently, the militia doubled the royalties and taxes
imposed on residents and merchants in its areas of control and enacted
unconstitutional legislation that raised tax, customs and zakat fees, with the
aim of covering the costs of its futile war and creating financial fortunes for
its leaders.