Yemen’s National Defense Council has designated the Houthi group as a terrorist organization amid international, Arab and Gulf condemnation of the attacks waged by the Iran-backed militia on oil exporting ports in the Shabwa and Hadramout governorates.
The Yemeni government might also withdraw from its obligations to the Stockholm Agreement and the collapsed UN-brokered truce.
The Houthis had attacked each of al-Dabba and al-Nashima ports in Hadramout and Shabwa. This resulted in widespread condemnation that Houthis responded to with more threats of repeating the attacks.
It was these attacks, which many observers believe were ordered by Iran, that pushed the Council to blacklist the Houthis as terrorists.
The designation came in accordance to the Crimes and Penalties Law, the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, and international and regional conventions and treaties ratified by Yemen.
The designation was met with vast internal support.
Moreover, the Council directed relevant authorities to complete the necessary procedures entailed by the decision. It also warned all entities and individuals against supporting or cooperating with Houthis in any form as it would lead to them facing strict punishment.
The Council on Saturday held an emergency meeting, headed by President Rashad Al-Alimi, to deal with the repercussions of a Houthi drone attack on oil terminals in Hadramout and Shabwa.
During the meeting, the council took a number of “firm decisions to deter such criminal attacks” and authorized the government to immediately implement them in accordance with a “time-line defensive, diplomatic and economic plan to protect the interests of the Yemeni people” and thwart all destructive attempts by the Iran-backed group, Yemen’s Saba news agency reported.
The meeting, which was attended by the Presidential Council, heads of legislative, executive and advisory authorities, and the governors of Hadramout and Shabwa, heard a number of briefings and reports from members of the defense council and both governors, and the options available to deal with these threats that “target international peace and security, and exacerbate the human suffering of the Yemeni people,” Saba said.
