WNAM Monitoring: Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council asked the world on Sunday to follow the US lead in labeling the Iran-backed Houthis as terrorists and impose stiffer penalties on the militia for jeopardizing international marine trade and perpetrating crimes in Yemen.
At a meeting in Riyadh, the council praised Washington’s decision to designate the Houthis as international terrorists, encouraged the rest of the world to follow suit, and praised the international community’s joint response to the Houthi Red Sea raids.
The council said in a statement it “welcomed the decision to designate the Houthi militias as a global terrorist organization and looks forward to additional sanctions against the rogue militias.”
It reiterated a request to the international community to strengthen the military capabilities of Yemen’s coast guard and offer protection from the Houthis and other terrorist groups, according to the statement carried by the official news agency.
The council warned that Houthi attacks in the Red Sea would result in the militarization of the crucial maritime route, raising shipping and insurance prices, and impeding the flow of critical supplies to the nation.
Yemen’s Information Minister, Muammar Al-Eryani, said that since the beginning of the Houthi military takeover, the government has pushed for the militia to be labeled as terrorists, both internally and globally, because of its human rights violations, as well as actions that undermine regional and international security.
The minister reiterated his plea to the world to declare the Houthis terrorists.
“We urge international allies and nations throughout the globe to follow the US government’s lead and engage in a concerted response to combat the operations of the Houthi militia.
“We also urge them to put further pressure on it to quit its terrorist tactics and conform to peace obligations in line with local, regional, and international standards,” Al-Eryani said on X.
The country’s National Defense Council, chaired by Rashad Al-Alimi, designated the Houthis as a terrorist group in October 2022, shortly after the militia launched missile and drone attacks on oil terminals in the southern provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa, bringing the country’s oil exports to a halt.
