Tag Archives: AnsarAllah

Statement on US Government Designation of Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Expatriates

January 11, 2021

 

Statement on US Government Designation of Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

The Government of the Republic of Yemen takes this opportunity to comment on the latest decision by the United States Government to officially designate Ansar Allah (partisans of God), i.e., the Houthis, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). “After six years of conflict, and attempting other types of sanctions, we believe that all political and legal pressures must continue being mounted, maximized and maintained on the Houthis in order to make conditions conducive and conclusive to a peaceful solution to the conflict. The Government of Yemen welcomes this US announcement, and which is intended to engender an ultimate final resolution to this long and tragic conflict in Yemen,” states H.E. Dr. Ahmed Awad BinMubarak, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Expatriates (and former Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen to the United States of America).

Moreover, the Houthis merit an FTO designation not only for their concerted efforts in prolonging the conflict and producing the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, but also for their actual concealed terrorist actions. The Houthis are an emerging menace to both regional allies and international security; and their presence also poses a threat to US interests and national security.

Furthermore, the Houthis have perpetrated crimes against humanity, including by terrorist activities in secret collusion and collaboration with other foreign terrorist groups who have managed to operate from Yemeni territories. Truly, and even beyond Hezbollah and IRGC, there is also a hidden nexus and network of cooperation between the Houthis and other foreign terrorist groups who have global aims and ambitions to attack the US military, American nationals and involvements in the region. Consequently, this FTO designation will alter the dynamics to make it even more untenable for the Houthis to endeavor any violent actions, just as the US military did in retaliating after Houthi missile attacks against the USS Mason in October 2016 on the Red Sea near Yemen.

Indeed, it is with Iran’s ideological, financial, military, and technical support to the Houthis that have allowed the Houthis to engage in reckless and reprehensible terrorist acts (including the December 30, 2020 attacks at Aden Airport that killed and injured many people); and in causing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world that has affected millions of innocent Yemenis, with dire health deficits and other related challenges made pervasive stemming from, among other things, the Houthis appalling misdeeds with aid delivery and relief efforts.

There are those who contend that any FTO designation on the Houthis will have “unintended consequences,” both for the peace process and humanitarian concerns. We totally understand these apprehensions as articulated by well-meaning parties, especially those involved with aid operations in Yemen. However, it is the continuous and callous interference of the Houthis that has obstructed such crucial efforts, not from any other parties to the conflict. Thus, the FTO designation should be viewed as an effective tool to stop their deplorable behavior, and whose application is not designed to negatively impact the conduct of relief and humanitarian operations. Indeed, it is intended to push the Houthis to end their machinations and compel them to genuinely pursue realizing a secure and sustainable peace. It is to extricate the country from its seemingly interminable awful situation. And it is to make the Houthis give up their illusions of entitlement or divine right to rule Yemen.

Therefore, in order to realize a decisive end to this long and tragic conflict, the Government of Yemen unwaveringly supports a FTO designation for the Houthis by the US Government as a just recourse and remedy in the interest of achieving peace through practical pressures, while it contemporaneously continues to fully back all United Nations-led efforts to reach a comprehensive peace. The Houthis must respond and reciprocate. And the Houthis must stop hampering UN-led peace efforts and to cease escalating hostilities once and for all.

Statement on the Houthi attack, which killed over 100 worshipers and injured more than 100 others in Marib, Yemen

Statement on the Houthi attack and war crime perpetrated this past Saturday, which killed over 100 worshipers and injured more than 100 others in Marib, Yemen

January 21, 2020

The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington, DC, strongly condemns the most recent Houthi war crime perpetrated this past Saturday, which killed 111 worshipers and injured more than 100 others. The Iran-backed Houthi militias launched three ballistic missiles at a mosque in Al Meil during Magreb prayers, in violation of the Geneva Convention and all international human rights law. The Houthis deliberately targeted a place of worship during prayer time to maximize fatalities in direct contravention of all international human rights law, making this atrocity a clear war crime.

Since the Houthis violently overthrew Sana’a in 2014, they have committed 738 violations against places of worship and worshipers, causing the full or partial destruction of 73 mosques. These violations include the bombing, shelling, and looting of mosques, as well as detention of imams and the conversion of mosques into military barracks.

“The Iran-backed Houthis committed an egregious war crime when they targeted worshipers during prayer time,” said Ambassador of Yemen to the US, Ahmed Awad BinMubarak. “The Geneva Convention and international human rights law forbid this inhumane kind of attack on places of worship. The United Nations and international community must condemn this barbaric attack, and take action to ensure the Houthis do not get away with such blatant disregard for human life and international law.”

The Houthis have violated international law thousands of times since they stormed the capital of Yemen in 2014. The United Nations has documented proof of Houthi recruitment of child soldiers, diversion of humanitarian aid, landmine contamination, civilian targeting and countless other violations of human rights. Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights urges the United Nations and the UN Security Council to issue a binding resolution against the Houthi militias to cease all violations, especially those against places of worship. Further, the UN must do more to protect places of worship at risk during war.