The United States of America is set to re-designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as “global terrorists”.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will approve the move amid ongoing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed group.
The decision will require US financial institutions to freeze Houthi funds and its members will be banned from the US.
It reverses Mr Blinken’s 2021 decision to remove the Houthis from the list.
In the waning days of the Trump administration officials imposed the specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) and foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) labels on the Houthis.
But in 2021, shortly after the inauguration of President Joe Biden, that decision was reversed by the newly installed Secretary Blinken, who cited the dire humanitarian situation.
