The Houthi Problem

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The Houthis: A terrorist organization

Recently, on February 5, 2021, President Biden made the decision to reverse the designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. The Houthis are a Zaydi Shia Islamic rebel group who “have consolidated their influence over vast areas of North Yemen, taking advantage of the retreat of government forces throughout 2011” (Juneau, 2014).  Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, has reported how the Houthis have “attacked civilian targets, including schools, mosques, airports and parades” (BinMubarak, 2021) as well as “coordinated with U.S.-designated terrorist groups such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah” (BinMubarak, 2021). If violently attacking civilians and conspiring with terrorist groups doesn’t qualify the Houthis as a terrorist organization according to the United States, then the world should be highly concerned as to what the free world does consider a terrorist group. Furthermore, “about 80 percent of Yemen’s population of 30 million people live in areas under Houthi control” (Jakes and Schmitt, 2021). This means that the majority of Yemenis are subject to the terror and rule of a group that started an insurgency that has “led to six successive rounds of fighting since 2004” (Juneau, 2014). The former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike Pompeo, best summarized the consequences of reversing the Houthis designation as an FTO calling it, “a gift to the Iranians that will allow the Houthis to continue to foment terror around the world” (Jakes, 2021). Furthermore, by revoking the designation merely a week after it was initiated by President Trump, the United States looks weak and indecisive at the hands of what should be considered a terrorist organization. Moreover, it doesn’t help that President Biden has contradicted himself on the United States’ position in Yemen’s proxy war declaring that “the U.S. would pull its assistance for offensive operations and cancel relevant arms sales” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021) yet also promised that “the U.S. would help Saudi Arabia defend itself from Houthi attacks” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021). Which is it? Is the United States helping Saudi Arabia defeat the Houthis and restore legitimacy to Yemen’s government, or is it pulling out of the region due to ethical concerns? It’s bad enough the United States refuses to label a terrorist group as such without Biden making the United States look confused and incompetent when it comes to handling its foreign affairs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Iran: A dangerous influence in Yemen

The FTO designation was imposed on the Houthis in order to “advance efforts to achieve a peaceful, sovereign and united Yemen that is both free from Iranian interference and at peace with its neighbors” (Jakes and Hubbard, 2021) through the establishment of “economic and travel sanctions on Houthi rebels” (Jakes and Hubbard, 2021). The designation was enacted because it isn’t enough to merely condone the Houthis’ actions in the region through speeches. The imposed sanctions, and the FTO designation, had the potential to pressure the Houthis to negotiate an end to the war as well as to allow other countries to recognize the United States’ as an influential economic and moral superpower. The United States could have used the Houthis as an example to demonstrate its position on terrorism and its committment to improving humanitarian conditions in Yemen. Instead, with the revocation of the FTO designation, none of those outcomes are now possible. Especially in the Middle East where “adversaries read unilateral concessions as weakness unless they are made from a dominant position” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021), thereby securing the fact that the Houthis will continue to reign supreme within Yemen. 

This FTO decision has ramifications beyond Yemen as well. By imposing sanctions, the United States aimed to hamper Iran by discouraging “weapons, supplies and other support that Tehran has been sending to the rebel movement” (Jakes and Hubbard, 2021). Instead, the U.S. is now in a stalemate over sanctions with the Iranian regime which it claims it won’t lift until Iran “ends its violation of the 2015 nuclear deal” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021). Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded that “Iran won’t comply with the accord until sanctions are lifted” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021). Since the United States lifted its sanctions on the Houthis, other international actors now believe that the United States will be lenient with them too, “the Iranians believe Mr. Biden will blink first. Backed by an Iran that expects to be courted by the U.S., the Houthis think they’re winning and will try to gain ground as America retreats” (The WSJ Editorial Board, 2021). This tension and gridlock only further reinforces the danger of revoking the FTO designation on the Houthis. Not only does Iran assume the United States will back down, but it confirms the belief of other countries and terrorist groups that the Biden administration will be weak on foreign policy, leaving the United States open to be taken advantage of. 

Moving Forward

The United States must acknowledge the Houthis for what they are: a terrorist organization. While the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has raised legitimate concerns that the FTO designation will “deepen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” (Jakes, 2021) because “most of the food in Yemen is imported, and the Houthis control strategic ports as well as the country’s capital, Sana” (Jakes, 2021) there are solutions around this issue. For one, many humanitarian organizations are able to airdrop aid in the form of emergency food supplies, and therefore avoid the issue of ports. Another option is to provide money as foreign aid to a verified legitimate government entity or to communities (Ingram, 2019) within Yemen. While images like this (Walsh, 2018) of Yemeni children starving are tempting to give in to, the United States cannot “submit to fanatics who send Yemeni children to ‘indoctrination camps’ and whose motto proclaims ‘Death to America’ and “Curse on the Jews”’ (BinMubarak, 2021). The Yemeni people need the United States. Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak agrees that the war in Yemen only has a chance of ending with “sustained U.S. pressure on the Houthis and their enablers” (BinMubarak, 2021).That’s because terrorists don’t tend to “choose talks over terrorism” (BinMubarak, 2021), and Iran will likely not decide to “stop transferring advanced weaponry or training Houthi militias” (BinMubarak, 2021) on its own.  This is not the time for the United States to shirk from its international obligations and put on its rose colored glasses. The security of the international community relies on the United States. As the superpower, and leader of the free world, the United States has a duty to restore peace, order, and dignity to Yemen by seeing the Houthis for what they are: terrorists.

Works Cited:

BinMubarak, Ahmed Awad. “Opinion | Biden's Commitment to Yemen.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 9 Feb. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-commitment-to-yemen-11612912789?page=1.

Editorial. “Opinion | Biden's Yemen Gamble.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 8 Feb. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-yemen-gamble-11612827688.

Hicks, Tyler. “Amal Hussain, Who Died at Age 7. ‘My Heart Is Broken,’ Her Mother Said.” The New York Times, 1 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/middleeast/yemen-starvation-amal-hussain.html.

Ingram, George. “What Every American Should Know about US Foreign Aid.” Brookings, Brookings, 1 Oct. 2020, www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/what-every-american-should-know-about-us-foreign-aid/.

Jakes, Lara, and Ben Hubbard. “U.S. Rush to Declare Houthis Terrorists Threatens to Halt Aid to Yemen.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Jan. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/politics/trump-pompeo-houthis-yemen.html.

Jakes, Lara, and Eric Schmitt. “Biden Reverses Trump Terrorist Designation for Houthis in Yemen.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-houthi-yemen-terrorist-designation.html.

Jakes, Lara. “U.S. Prepares to Lift Terrorist Designation Against Yemeni Rebels, Despite New Attacks.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/politics/houthi-terrorist-designation-yemen.html.

Juneau, Thomas. “Yemen and the Arab Spring.” Beyond the Arab Spring: the Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East, by Mehran Kamrava, Oxford University Press, 2014.