Yemen.. Government welcomes the imposition of US sanctions on Houthi leaders

The US Treasury Department has announced sanctions on Mansour Al-Saadi, chief of staff of the Houthi navy, and Ahmed Ali Ahsan Al-Hamzi, commander of the air force and air defense forces of the Houthis, for their responsibility for organizing attacks carried out by the Houthi forces, which harmed Yemeni civilians, adjacent countries and commercial vessels in regional waters.

In response, the Houthi group declared its rejection of the US sanctions. The group’s political bureau condemned and rejected the US sanctions, saying that the alleged US sanctions only contradict what it claims for peace, while they are against peace and the continued aggression and blockade on Yemen.

He added that such sanctions are of no real value at a time when the United States is launching aggression on Yemen with sanctions and other measures, saying that Washington’s stance extends a protective umbrella to the aggressors to continue targeting the Yemeni people.

For its part, the Yemeni government welcomed the US decision, considering it a step towards returning to the right track in dealing with the Houthis. Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said in a statement that Washington’s announcement of sanctions against two senior military leaders of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia is a step towards a return to the right track in dealing with the Houthis.

Al-Eryani added that since the US administration’s decision to declassify the Huthis, a terrorist organization has turned its back on all calls for calm and peace. The group has gone under Iranian instructions and orders to step up its military operations and increase the frequency of its terrorist attacks on civilian dignitaries in the city of Marib and Saudi Arabia using Iranian weapons.

He called on the US administration and the international community to continue to pressure the Houthi militia and classify it as an international terrorist list, and to try its leaders as war criminals.
Last month, the administration of US President Joe Biden backtracked on the previous administration’s policy of disqualifying the Houthi group from a foreign terrorist organization in Yemen, given the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.

The US decision came a few days after the UN Security Council included a Houthi leader on the international sanctions list Last Thursday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution extending the sanctions imposed on Yemeni figures for a year, adding to the list of Houthi leader Sultan Zaban, the director of criminal investigation in the capital of Sanaa.

Zaban was involved in acts that threaten Yemen’s peace, security and stability, including violations of applicable international humanitarian law and human rights violations in Yemen, the resolution said, and used multiple places to detain, investigate, rape, torture and forced labor.

Since 2015, Yemeni figures have been subject to financial sanctions and travel bans for threats to peace, security and stability in Yemen, including Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and other leaders of the group under an international resolution.

The Houthi group has been controlling Sanaa and most of Yemen’s northern provinces since late 2014, and is engaged in a bloody conflict with government forces across the country.

A few weeks ago, the Houthis stepped up military operations in Marib in an attempt to take control of the province, which includes the country’s largest oil and gas fields and is used as a headquarters by government forces.