American website: The truth about the Houthis in Yemen and their new terrorist classification

US President Donald Trump has designated Yemen’s Houthis, an Iranian-backed armed group, as a foreign terrorist organization. This is in response to their decade-long oppressive grip on Yemen and attacks on neighboring countries. However, media reports suggest their support for the Palestinians is to blame, perpetuating pro-Houthi propaganda.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed terrorist group operating in Yemen, say their support for the Palestinians prompted the United States to designate them as terrorists. On January 22, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump quickly renewed the rebels’ designation as a foreign terrorist organization.

The administration of former US President Joe Biden had previously suspended their designation as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2021, and preferred to sanction the Houthis as “specially designated global terrorists” in 2024 as a result of Houthi aggression across the Red Sea.

The media was quick to report that the Houthis and Iran condemned the designation as a pretext to punish the Yemeni people for their support for the Palestinians against Israel. These narrow-minded reports only serve to amplify pro-Houthi propaganda about the daily crimes committed against Yemenis.

Houthi propaganda causes great damage

The international public has once again been blinded by biased representations of the Houthi rebels and the amplification of pro-Houthi propaganda. Once again, these fighters are being hailed as representatives of all Yemenis, who number more than 30 million.

However, two-thirds of this population is being held at gunpoint by the group. Since September 2014, more than eight million Yemenis have been held hostage by Houthi drone or missile attacks.

The re-listing of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization is based on a decade of crimes against ordinary Yemenis, and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians across neighboring countries.

Recent attacks have targeted civilian commercial vessels - and these attacks have affected the global economy and threaten an environmental catastrophe, as oil tankers along the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea have been targeted.

Amplifying pro-Houthi propaganda does neither the Palestinians nor the Yemenis any good. On the contrary, the Houthis cause more suffering when they retaliate against their Yemeni opponents. Regional governments are forced to defend themselves against the group’s indiscriminate strikes.

Iranian patronage has played a vital role in empowering the Houthis with weapons, financial support, and propaganda, which has fueled the Houthi rebels’ brutal repression across Yemen. Without this support, the Houthis would have had to resort to peace talks with rival factions to survive.

Houthi crime in Yemen

Iran’s drones, missiles and expertise have underpinned the Houthis’ power for years, and can be credited with the group’s greatest successes. The Houthis have targeted Yemenis across the liberated provinces, which was crucial to their 2015 march on Aden, a port city in Yemen.

They also launched missile strikes on Aden airport in December 2020, targeting ministers of the internationally recognized government, and have been hitting oil infrastructure in Hadramawt and Shabwa governorates since October 2022, exacerbating a debilitating economic crisis across southern Yemen.

The Houthis hold thousands of political prisoners arbitrarily detained and sentenced by sham courts in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. Since June 2024, the rebel group has waged a criminal campaign against all Yemenis working for UN agencies, NGOs and Western embassies. They have blatantly accused everyone, including a couple, of being spies.

The accusations often come as a result of a Houthi-like “Stasi” system, set up to spy on the activities of the United Nations and NGOs throughout the territories under their control.

Acting like the secret police of communist East Germany, loyalists among their staff and security personnel report on the activities, policies and communications of Yemeni and foreign employees.

The Houthis’ latest tactic, a desperate move to impose favorable terms amid a failed Gaza support campaign and a new round of U.S. sanctions, leaves more than 20 million Yemenis hostage to their propaganda.

At least 19.5 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance and protection this year – 1.3 million more than in 2024, said Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Some 17 million people – nearly half of Yemen’s population – cannot meet their basic food needs.

This is a direct result of Houthi crimes, which have impeded the delivery of humanitarian aid and arbitrarily detained aid workers. UN aid requests have fallen by more than 75% since 2022, with international donors protesting the Houthis’ seizure of financial and food aid sent by UN agencies and NGOs through rebel-held territory.

The Houthis have proven time and again that peace is not in their interest. As part of Houthi propaganda, the enemy is everywhere, and a repressive security apparatus is needed to deter or incarcerate them. According to Houthi rhetoric, the enemy is responsible for the lack of governance. Campaigns in support of the Palestinians are nothing more than smokescreens to distract from their crimes against their own people.

Source: Fair Observer American website