The Biden administration is expected to soon announce plans to redesignate Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists, according to two people familiar with the White House decision and a U.S. official.
The move comes as the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The group says it has attacked the ships in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The three people familiar with the decision were not authorized to comment and requested anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of the expected formal announcement.
Considering that they are now bombing civilians and attacking boats it seems like a reasonable move
Agreed!
Now do Israel too!
God, if only.
I’m checking my notebook on descriptors for military targets and I can’t find “civilians” anywhere in here. Its just “enemy combatants”, “human shields”, and “collateral damage”.
Not trying to sealing, but when have they bombed civilians?
They probably mean bombing civilian boats/the civilians on nonmilitary boats.
Otherwise, the civilian casualties caused by Houthi bombing are Yemeni civilians rather than civilians of other countries. And also not related to the current intervention.
This has been going on for a long time. They have never shied away from attacking their neighbors.
If we don’t begin to wrap our heads around the way that Iran arms and funds terrorist proxy groups as a matter of Foreign Relations policy, then we never have a hope of understanding the path toward peace in the Middle East.
They’ve been at open war with the Saudis since, what? The 90s? Yemen is the Afghanistan of the Gulf. Endlessly having their governments toppled, fleeing into the mountains, waging war to drive the invaders out, setting up new governments, and having them toppled again.
Have they actually killed anyone?
“Your honor, I shot at my neighbor and missed, clearly I am innocent.”
Not sure you can prosecute someone for 1st degree homicide if they shoot at you and miss.
They aren’t missing, they’re striking ships all the time. Yet they haven’t killed anyone. I’m not sure they’ve even injured anyone, though I could be wrong.
That doesn’t seem like terrorism.
You’re right, they’ve been having their missiles and drones shot down by a multinational coalition. A much better look, thank you.
What, do you think they set their rockets and drones to ‘non-lethal’? This goes right back to “I shot at my neighbor and missed, clearly I am innocent”.
“Use of terror in pursuit of political goals doesn’t seem like terrorism”
What the fuck is terrorism to you, then
Daily reminder that the flag of the Houthis is:
Critical support to our holsum antiracist Houthi comrades busy executing LGBT people, amirite?
They have enough control and precision to determine where the strikes land. That’s why they don’t miss, they get shot down by air defense. It sure seems like they’re not targeting parts of the ship that have crew. Hardly “terrorism”.
A worthless label that basically just means “groups that the US doesn’t like” - two of the biggest terrorist organizations on the planet are the IDF and the US armed forces, but they aren’t labeled terrorist groups. It’s only when anyone fights back that they become terrorists.
The E.L.F. was tried as a terrorist group. It’s a joke.
Blame Israel and the US for blowing up children while waving a rainbow flag. It’s called blowback.
Before we started shooting them down, they missed quite often. But I don’t know why I was expecting any connection with reality at all from you.
So the Houthis DO sound like terrorism to you? Or are you changing definition mid-usage No True Scotsman style to avoid admitting to the fact that you’re spouting bullshit?
Oh, yes, it was our fault that the Houthis execute LGBT people. You fucking caught us. Non-Westerners have no moral agency, only Westerners are capable of independent moral action. Your reactionary racist bullshit denigrating the essential human qualities of Yemeni people in defense of the murder of innocent LGBT people in the most horrific of ways is repulsive. “Jews for Hitler”.
Like, it’s fucking insane. Blaming the US and Israel for homophobia in Yemen. It’s almost beyond belief. But tankies will do anything to bootlick far-right reactionaries who murder LGBT people.
… okay, fair. Maybe it was just luck with the rocket attacks.
I will say that the drones are precision weapons, and they never seem to use those to kill or wound civilians. I think that matters because it demonstrates that their intent isn’t to kill or mutilate civilians, their intent is to divert vessels and disrupt trade.
Let me clarify: terrorism, to me, should mean “killing/maiming civilians to achieve a political goal”. They haven’t done that and they don’t seem to intend to do that.
Terrorism, to me, is also a worthless politicized label that the US just slaps on anyone who it deems a threat to its own imperial interests. Two of the largest terrorist organizations in the world are the IDF and the US armed forces , but politically they are completely immune to the label. Instead, groups like the ELF are labeled as terrorists because they did some arson.
It’s the fault of propagandists for tying our queerness with the Western imperialist project. That’s not our fault. We didn’t choose to do that. People in power use us as totems to justify bloodshed, so the victims see this and react in a natural and entirely predictable way.
This is blowback. This is what happens when you wave a rainbow flag while blowing up children by the thousands.
I don’t know why I expected a shred of decency or respect from you. You seem to delight in harassing and belittling people.
Okay, so they were okay with killing people with the rockets they are still firing, but they aren’t okay with killing people with the drones they keep getting shot down.
So if I toss a grenade into a crowded cafe, and everyone scattered before anyone gets hurt, that’s not terrorism, right? Despite the fact that I’ve used terror against civilians with lethal weapons in an attempt to achieve a political goal.
I missed, your honor. I’m innocent.
Oh, yes, as we all know, Yemen was very queer-friendly before the evil West started supporting LGBT rights!
I honestly can’t tell if you’re honestly this deluded or just disingenuous.
I’m sorry for not treating your endorsement of the murder of LGBT people with kid gloves. I’m sure your feelings are very important to the queer people the Houthis regularly torture and murder.
I wonder why that is… are the missiles they use special ones that only damage shops but not people? Ah wait, never mind, it’s because 10+ nations are working together to protect the mercantile vessels from said missiles.
You don’t get to claim how good you are by not killing anyone only because the opposition has kept you from murdering anyone.
they are shooting miles at innocent boats that have no connection to Israel (and even if they did, that still is unacceptable). Fuck you for supporting such a thing.
Get a fucking grip jfc
Their drones don’t target people. Why is that? Can you explain that in any way without admitting they’re not trying to kill people?
I’m sure the Huthi has the skill to launch missiles on boats from a distance of 180 km and specifically only hitting the parts of the boat where nobody of the crew is unfortunately smoking a cigarette at that time.
Well, you see, they have trouble hitting the big-ass boats sometimes, but when they DO hit it’s with pinpoint precision on a pre-designated target and definitely not just “Whatever part of the boat is vaguely in the way”
The drones are remote piloted. Those they have full control over.
Sure seems like they’re avoiding civilian casualties.
The Houthis, after all, are well-known for their humane behavior in Yemen, and efforts to avoid civilian casualties. This is entirely in-line with their-
Oh, wait, no