The new American Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone conversation with the Prime Minister of the UN-backed Yemeni government Ahmed bin Mubarak.
The phone call took place in the course of making contact with officials in the region. But since it was within hours of President Donald Trump issuing an Executive Order re-designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, it had greater significance. According to a State Department statement, Rubio discussed “cooperation to stop attacks by the Houthi militias in the region and eliminate their capabilities”. Rubio and bin Mubarak shared concerns regarding “unlawful Houthi detentions of diplomatic, UN, and NGO staff,” including current and former Yemeni staff of the US Mission to Yemen, as well as the most recent detentions of additional UN staff.
They also discussed “the importance of ending the Houthi threat to the Red Sea maritime security and surrounding waterways”. It is reported that Rubio told the Yemeni PM that “he looks forward to continuing to support the Yemeni government in confronting the Iran-backed Houthis.”
Re-designating the Houthis as a terrorist organisation is one of many decisions Trump took to overturn his predecessor Joe Biden’s policies on internal and foreign policy issues. The Houthi group took issue with the move, calling it a politically motivated attack on Yemen’s sovereignty. In a statement by their Foreign Ministry in Sanaa, the group described the decision as “a deliberate attempt to pressure Yemen and show bias for Israel in the ongoing Gaza conflict”. The statement said the classification represents more than an administrative action. Instead, the Houthis characterised it as an assault on Yemeni solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. They emphasised their strategic position in supporting Palestinian rights and defending Yemen’s territorial integrity, warning that such “provocative measures” will only strengthen their resolve.
On the other hand, the UN-backed government believe Trump’s designation of the Houthis as terrorists marks the “end” of Houthi militia. In an interview with The Guardian at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Yemeni Vice-President Aidarous Al-Zubaidi said the decision will further boost US “momentum in the region” at a time when Iran “has become toothless”.
Al-Zubaidi, a southern figure closer to the UAE than Saudi Arabia, called on the West to seize the opportunity to target the Tehran-backed Houthi leadership in Yemen while the Iranian government is weakened. He said that the decline of Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza has left Iran “massively weakened. They have one remaining domain and that is Yemen,” Al-Zubaidi told The Guardian. “Now is the time to counter the Houthis and push them back into their position.”
Trump’s decision, and the phone call from his foreign minister, led some commentators to suggest there would be more American involvement in Yemen, arguing that the new administration might go further in targeting Houthis than Biden’s since the militia started attacking ships in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians suffering from the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.
Others doubt the Trump administration will be more involved in Yemen, even though Israel started attacking the Houthis in retaliation for their ballistic missiles hitting Tel Aviv. Andrew Hammond from Oxford University told Al-Ahram Weekly of Trump’s decision that “it will simply make life very difficult in Houthi areas since it raises the possibility of completely cutting North Yemen off from the international banking system… But sanctions mean Trump is probably not leaning towards war. It looks more like an alternative. It was also expected. Biden was going to introduce them too. The Houthi crime is attacking Red Sea shipping over Gaza and they [the Americans and Israelis] want to punish them for that.”
The US and the UK have been striking Houthi positions in Yemen since last year to deter the targeting of ships in the Red Sea. The Israelis have complained of lacking intelligence about Houthi positions in Yemen, and American reconnaissance is not as good as intelligence from the ground. Repeated bombing of Yemen did not stop Houthi attacks on Israel or ships in the Red Sea, including American navy vessels.
Since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the Houthis have announced they will limit attacks in the Red Sea to Israeli-linked vessels. They also released the crew of a cargo ship, the Galaxy Leader, over a year after the vessel was hijacked as part of the campaign in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
As Trump cosies up to Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, some commentators in the region argue that he might be more aggressive towards Houthis than Biden by way of advancing a favour to Riyadh. But Andrew Hammond disputes this line of thinking, not only because of Trump’s reluctance to go to war but based on the Saudi position as well. “It’s not a favour to Saudi Arabia because Riyadh wants to move ahead with its pre-October 7 plan for peace with the Houthis. They don’t want the Houthi government cornered since a cornered regime could do crazy things, like target Saudi Arabia.”
Even if military action against the Houthis is to be intensified, it will be left to Israelis to do it. It is not clear if Israel can repeat what it did in Lebanon by defeating the Houthis in Yemen.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 30 January, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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