Trump plans to designate Yemeni Houthis as a terrorist group
The Trump Administration is preparing the initiative to designate Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents as a terrorist organisation, all before Donald Trump left office as US president in January.
According to diplomatic sources, this strategy is fuelling fears that the measure will interrupt international aid efforts and disrupt the peace efforts managed by the United Nations (UN) between the Shia movement and the Yemeni government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi, supported by the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which is fighting the Houthi rebels in the Yemeni war.
The UN and international aid agencies have attempted to dissuade the Trump Administration from labelling the Hutids as a foreign terrorist organisation, but the apparently imminent decision would give the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, another victory in his strategy of opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran while he visits Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week.
Yemen has been embroiled in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Al-Hadi, and the Houthi movement for several years.
Since March 2015, an Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia, working in cooperation with Al-Hadi's forces, has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the rebels, who control the capital of Sana'a and large areas in the north and west of Yemen. This is part of an armed conflict that is ravaging Yemen and leading to a situation defined by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
