Yemeni official: Current US admin ‘official sponsor of international terrorism’

The speaker of Yemeni Shura Council has condemned the US designation of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement as a terrorist group, saying the current US administration itself is the official sponsor of international terrorism.

Mohammed Hussein al-Aidarous made the remarks in a letter to a number of his counterparts in different countries, including Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, China, Japan, India, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Argentina and Brazil, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He denounced the United States’ continuous support for the Saudi-led coalition that waged a war against Yemen six years ago, Yemen News Agency (SABA) reported on Sunday.

Aidarous noted that the American support for the Saudi-led coalition has led to serious human rights violations and crimes against the Yemenis, as well as attempts to disintegrate Yemen, occupy its lands, plunder its wealth and control its decision.

Yemenis protest US blacklisting of Houthis

People take to the streets in Yemen to denounce the US decision to designate the Houthi Ansarullah movement as a “terrorist” organization.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that his department would notify Congress of a decision to designate the Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization.

Under the move, the Houthis will be blacklisted on January 19 unless Congress blocks the decision.

Pompeo also blacklisted three leaders of the movement, including their chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

In his letters, Aidarous said the US move will have negative consequences on the political settlement of the war in Yemen and the progress of peace negotiations sponsored by the UN, adding that it will cast a shadow over the security and stability of the region.

He emphasized that the Shura Council rejects any foreign interference in Yemen’s affairs and stands by Ansarullah in the fight for the country’s sovereignty and independence.

The Yemeni official also urged the recipients of his letters to condemn the US move and put pressure on the US government through diplomatic channels to reverse the decision, which he said will have serious repercussions on the already disastrous humanitarian, health and economic situation of the Arab country.

The US decision, which will become effective a day before President-elect Joe Biden assumes office, has been widely condemned throughout the world.

Fifty organizations have already called on Biden to reject the Trump administration’s designation, arguing that the move is a “recipe for more conflict” in the war-torn country.

A Biden aide and a group of 25 American lawmakers have also said the blacklisting will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Yemeni people also took to the streets after the designation was announced to denounce the move and condemn the US as “the mother of terrorism” in the world. They said the decision had been taken at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Houthis say reserve right to respond to US terrorist designation

A leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says the group reserves the right to respond to any US move to designate the group as terrorist.

The Houthi movement has said it reserves the right to respond to any US move to designate it as a terrorist organization, declaring that the US and its outgoing president, Donald Trump, are terrorists.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a war on Yemen in a bid to reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and destroy the Houthi movement.

The war, in which the United States and a number of European countries are major suppliers of weapons, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the impoverished Arab country over the past six years.

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