Red Sea attacks: US strikes Yemen missile site, will reclassify Houthis as terror group
- US launches fresh strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen as Red Sea ship attacks continue
- US to relist Iran-backed rebel group as ‘specially designated global terrorists’, sources say
The US military carried out new strikes in Yemen on Tuesday against anti-ship ballistic missiles in a Houthi-controlled part of the country as a missile struck a Greek-owned vessel in the Red Sea.
Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have affected companies and alarmed major powers – an escalation of Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.
The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in response to American and British strikes on their sites in Yemen.
In a bid to cut off their funding and supply of weapons, US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to put Houthi rebels back on a US list of terrorist organisations, two US officials said.
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US-led coalition strikes Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen
The Biden administration in 2021 had taken the Houthis off two lists designating them as terrorists, reversing a decision by former president Donald Trump.
The latest move would put the Houthis back on one of the two lists, marking them as “specially designated global terrorists”.
