Hezbollah condemns U.S. decision to re-designate Houthis as 'foreign terrorist organization'

Hezbollah condemned on Saturday the decision by the new U.S. administration to re-designate the Houthi movement as a "foreign terrorist organization."

The White House announced on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump had signed an order to reclassify Yemen's Houthi rebels as a "foreign terrorist organization." Former Democratic President Joe Biden had removed this designation shortly after his election in 2020, later classifying the Houthis as an "entity specially designated as a global terrorist," a year later — a less severe category aimed at maintaining the flow of humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

Hezbollah described the re-designation as an "unjust classification and a direct attack on the oppressed Yemeni people who have suffered and continue to suffer from the siege, terrorism and continuous American aggression on their land and resources for years."

"Successive U.S. governments, [which] have practiced and continue to practice terrorism against the peoples of our nation and support the Zionist entity and its terrorist attacks — especially in Lebanon and Palestine — are the first to belong on terrorism lists", the statement read.

The group added that this decision "will not dissuade Yemen from continuing its support for the Palestinian people in their rightful cause, nor will it alter its convictions and determination to confront U.S. and Israeli ambitions in the region."

Finally, Hezbollah expressed its pride in the "honorable role played by Ansar Allah in support of Gaza", adding the latter was a "partner in the victory over the Zionist enemy."

Since November 2023, the Houthis, who control large swathes of territory, including the capital Sanaa, have launched attacks off the coast of Yemen on ships they claim are linked to Israel, but also the United States and the United Kingdom. The group has stated that these actions are in solidarity with the Palestinians in the context of the war in the Gaza Strip.

These attacks have disrupted traffic in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, critical waterways for global trade. This promted the U.S. to establish a multinational naval coalition and strike rebel targets in Yemen, occasionally with the help of the United Kingdom. In late December, the U.S. military targeted several Houthi military targets, notably in Sanaa.