US Expects Terrorism Designation to ‘Put Some Hurt’ on Houthis
The Biden administration hasn't ruled out the possibility of designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), but it first wants to see whether its recent labeling of the Yemen-based group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) has its intended effect, a State Department official said Feb. 27.
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“I think we have come down hard with this designation that we have,” U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia & Counterterrorism. The SDGT designation “will cut off financial networks, their ability to fundraise. It will put some hurt.”
However, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who asked Lenderking about the FTO designation, said he would “like to see more than a little hurt. I would like to see this addressed.”
The administration announced the SDGT designation in January following months of Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (see 2401170025). While Republican lawmakers have argued that the administration also should label the Houthis as an FTO, the administration and Democratic lawmakers have countered that an FTO designation would make it harder for humanitarian groups to operate in war-ravaged Yemen (see 2402060075). An FTO designation would make it a crime to provide certain material support or resources to the Houthis.