The Biden administration continues to back the murderous Saudi war against Yemen, financially and militarily. According to the Yemen Data Project figures of the Saudi-led air war on Yemen, January experienced the highest civilian casualties from the air war since 2016. Now, Biden is considering re-designating the Houthi as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and/or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, at the request of the United Arab Emirates. The last time this was done, by Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January 2021, (quickly revoked by the Biden administration) the results on Yemen were devastating.
In a Feb. 9 article on his website Eunomia, “Designating the Houthis Would Be a Death Sentence for Countless Innocent Yemenis,” Daniel Larison quotes Oxfam’s Scott Paul, who reported that Pompeo’s 2021 designation immediately saw the “exporters of vital commodities like food, medicine and fuel all rush for the exits. It was clear to all that Yemen was heading toward economic freefall.” Paul goes on that should the U.S. reinstate the terrorist designation—there is apparently a fight on this issue within the State Department and National Security Council—he will already know “in graphic detail what this will mean for Yemenis who are already facing violence, hunger and preventable disease. They would knowingly be condemning Yemenis to even more desperate suffering and death.” (https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/designating-the-houthis-would-be)
