Aid Groups Warn Biden Against Re-Labeling Yemen’s Houthis as Terrorists

Label would cause all the same problems it did before

Aid groups and other humanitarian groups are speaking out with news that the Biden Administration is considering putting Yemen’s Houthis on the list of terrorists. They are strongly arguing against such a move.

The argument is fairly straightforward. The US removed the Houthis from that list last February, at the behest of these same groups. At the time the designation was hindering aid shipments into northern Yemen.

The aid groups are noting that literally nothing has changed on the aid shipments concerns, and re-designating the group would just bring back all the same problems as before.

Biden has been considering re-listing the Houthis at the behest of the UAE, who demanded such a move after a drone attack in Abu Dhabi. The move would be convenient for US relations with the UAE and other Gulf states, but would be disastrous if it cut aid deliveries to millions in northern Yemen.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.