President Biden on Friday labeled the Houthi movement “terrorist,” but declined to give the Iran-allied militants a formal terrorist group designation, calling the distinction “irrelevant.” .
Biden was asked about the “terrorist” label just hours after ordering airstrikes on Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
“Are you willing to call the Houthis a terrorist group?” a journalist asked the 81-year-old commander-in-chief during a visit to a small business in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Biden replied, “I think so.”
In subsequent exchanges, Biden dismissed the need for a formal designation following a joint U.S.-British bombing in which Houthi leaders said they had killed five people. The attack sparked large-scale anti-American rallies in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.
President Joe Biden speaks while visiting with firefighters at the Allentown Fire Training Academy on Friday, January 12, 2024 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. AP
“A few minutes ago, in a coffee shop, you said you think the Houthis are a terrorist group. How soon are you going to designate them as such?” a Telegraph reporter asked.
“It doesn't matter whether we designate them or not,” Biden said. “We're going to bring together a group of countries and say that if they continue to act and behave the way they have, we will fight back against them.”
In February 2021, the Biden administration delisted the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, as a terrorist organization, reversing a Trump administration position that took effect only in the final days of the president's term in January 2021.
Designation as a terrorist group would result in severe penalties for those doing business with the movement.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in 2021 that the political group would be removed from the list “to ensure that relevant U.S. policies do not impede assistance to people suffering from what is already being called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.” said.
The Houthis have controlled most of the country's populated areas since 2014, when the Shiite religious movement took control of Sanaa after an insurgency boiled over along the border with Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led, US-backed coalition was created under President Barack Obama in 2015 to thwart a militant invasion of the southern city of Aden.
The coalition subsequently repelled a Houthi attempt to take over Marib city, which has become a major northern stronghold in 2021.
The stalemate power struggle has contributed to widespread malnutrition, and fighting between most of the country's factions, including the UAE-backed southern separatists, has eased since 2022.
The Houthis launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. This coincides with attacks on US military bases by other Iranian-allied militias in Iraq and Syria.
