Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo said the United States would designate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization. A move has warned utilities that it could hamper efforts to deal with what many see as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
The appointment will take effect on January 19, a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Pompeo said in a statement late Sunday. He said he also intends to designate three of the leaders of the group Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abd al-Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and Abdullah Yahya al Hakim as specially designated global terrorists.
“These designations will provide additional tools to confront terrorist activities and terrorism by Ansarallah,” he said, referring to the group, also known as the Houthi.
The Trump administration has been embroiled in an internal debate over whether the Houthi rebels should be formally designated a terrorist group, as aid programs and United Nations officials have warned that the move could exacerbate a humanitarian disaster in Yemen. four people familiar with the discussions told NBC News last month.
After six years of fierce conflict unleashed by the Houthi rebels against the internationally recognized Yemeni government, 80 percent of Yemen’s population of more than 29 million people need humanitarian aid and experts have declared famine conditions for nearly 17,000 people, according to to the International Rescue Committee.
Since 2015, an estimated 112,000 people have died as a result of the violence.
The Houthi group is the de facto authority in northern Yemen, and aid agencies must work with it, according to Reuters.
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Pompeo said on Sunday that the US intends to introduce measures to reduce the impact of the designations on certain humanitarian activities and imports to Yemen.
The measures will include the issuance of special licenses by the Treasury to continue US aid in Yemen, as well as the activities of certain international and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, Pompeo said. Critical imports such as food and medicine will also be covered by the licenses, he added.
An Oxfam spokesman disagrees, saying the consequences of the designations will be felt across the country as banks, businesses and humanitarian donors decide not to work in Yemen.
Save The Children said the names could increase the risk of hunger and disease for thousands of young people at a time when millions of people are closer to starvation.
And the Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that the designation would inflict a further “devastating blow” to a country that is already in the midst of a “full-fledged” humanitarian catastrophe.
The civil war in Yemen began in 2014 when the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital Sanaa. A Saudi-led military coalition then intervened on behalf of the government in 2015, turning the conflict into a proxy war between local enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as domestic conflict.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research institute in London, Tehran began providing money, weapons and training to the Houthis after the Arab Spring.
The move Sunday took place as the Trump administration continues its maximum pressure campaign against Iran in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Supporters of the designation see it as a farewell to Iranian influence in the Middle East and expected efforts by the incoming Biden government to re-involve Tehran in the 2015 nuclear deal.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Abigail Williams and Dan De Luce contributed.