AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: A former US ambassador to Yemen and veteran analyst has urged the Biden administration to redesignate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization for resisting peace efforts to end the war and staging attacks on neighboring countries.
Writing for the US-based War on the Rocks platform on Tuesday, Gerald Feierstein said that the Biden’s administration should consider redesignating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since it is the only option available to pressure the Houthis to stop hostilities on the ground and comply with peace initiatives.
The former ambassador, who until now had opposed the proposed designation, added: “But, in the absence of other viable options to pressure the Houthis to abandon their military campaign and seek a peaceful political outcome to the war, it would be foolhardy not to consider the possible use of a terrorist designation as a tool in America’s kit.”
The senior vice president and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC was among 100 former US diplomats and military officials who signed a letter in 2020 to the then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo arguing against adding the Houthis to the terror list.
Feierstein also opposed the designation in an interview with Arab News in March 2020, arguing that the militia should be treated and “defeated as an anti-Yemeni movement.”
But after a surge in fighting over the past year and renewed Houthi missile attacks on neighboring countries, Feierstein has argued that the US has little choice but to reclassify the militia.
“While the designation would still lack tangible, immediate effects on Houthi leadership, it would nevertheless send a powerful, symbolic message that delegitimizes the Houthi movement as a participant in Yemen’s political future,” he said, adding: “The past year has demonstrated that the Houthis will not return to the negotiating table until they accept that there is no alternative to a political resolution.”
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Gerald Feierstein said that the Biden administration should consider redesignating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since it is the only option available to pressure the Houthis to stop hostilities on the ground and comply with peace initiatives.
Feierstein is among many experts and Yemeni government officials who have warned against tolerating the powerful and radical Iran-backed Houthi movement. The militia’s arsenal of advanced ballistic missiles and long-range drones are being used to kill Yemeni civilians and target neighbouring countries, analysts have warned.
“As a member of Iran’s ‘axis of resistance,’ uncontested Houthi control of Yemen would pose an enduring challenge not only to the well-being of the Yemeni people but also to vital US interests, including stability in the Arabian Peninsula, freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandeb, and even to Israeli security as the Houthis expand their missile and drone capabilities to reach as far as southern Israel,” Feierstein said.
To address the possible repercussions of designating the Houthis, the US should talk to international aid organizations that operate in Yemen, international monetary institutes, companies and other parties who might be impacted by the decision, Feierstein added.
“If the administration decides to pursue the option, it should discuss the terms of the designation with international humanitarian organizations, banks, commercial enterprises and others who might be affected by it to ensure that it’s crafted in a way to minimize unintended consequences,” he said.
The former US ambassador weighed in as the Houthis on Wednesday demanded that the Arab coalition end military operations and “the blockade and aggression” in order for peace talks to begin.
Responding to the UN Yemen envoy’s call for all factions in Yemen to accept UN-brokered peace efforts, Hussein Al-Azi, a Houthi official, said that the Arab coalition should lift restrictions on airports and seaports, and stop airstrikes on Houthi territory.
“Yes, addressing the humanitarian and economic aspect represents the only gateway to serious and real peace in Yemen,” Al-Azi said on Twitter.
Briefing the UN Security Council on Tuesday night, Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said that he is working on a plan to revive peace efforts with the aim of reaching a political settlement in Yemen that would address the interests and concerns of the country’s warring parties.
“I count on the support of this Council to encourage all actors to participate constructively without delay. This is a real opportunity for Yemeni parties to shift gear and charter a peaceful way forward,” he said.
