U.S. Redesignates Houthis as a Terrorist Organization

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. legal efforts to counter Yemen’s Houthis, EU lawmakers’ concerns about appeasing Hungary, and the fight over the United Kingdom’s Rwanda bill.

Biden’s About-Face

The United States announced plans to reclassify Yemen’s Houthis as a “specially designated terrorist group” (SDGT) on Wednesday. Under the classification, U.S. financial institutions will be required to freeze all funds to the militant organization. The designation will take effect in 30 days. However, the Biden administration has so far opted not to add the group to the separate but related list of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), which would have brought additional restrictions, including some that could more directly impact the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen.

The decision follows dozens of Houthi-launched strikes in recent months against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, including ships under U.S. command. The Iranian-backed group said the strikes are intended to prevent the “transit of Israeli ships or those carrying goods to the occupied Palestinian ports” and that it would only cease the attacks once Israel ends its war in the Gaza Strip. Following joint U.S. and U.K. strikes on Houthi targets last week, the group said that “all American-British interests” had also become “legitimate targets.” Washington said it would only reevaluate the Houthis’ terrorist designation if they halt their assaults in the Red Sea and nearby waters.

The Trump administration first classified the Houthis as both an SDGT and an FTO in January 2021 despite warnings by the United Nations and rights groups that the move could catalyze a large-scale famine. Yemen faces one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world. According to the World Food Program, 21.6 million people, or more than two-thirds of Yemen’s population, were in need of critical aid last year, with 17 million people facing food insecurity.

U.S. President Joe Biden reversed former President Donald Trump’s decision in 2021, delisting the group from both the SDGT and FTO lists to help assuage Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and encourage a diplomatic solution to the underlying war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia that caused it. But recent Houthi strikes on commercial vessels forced Biden to make an about-face.

“We’re not looking for a war. We’re not looking to expand this,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. “If they choose to keep conducting these attacks, we will continue to defend against them and counter them as appropriate.”

The White House is also preparing “unprecedented carve-outs and licenses” to the SDGT designation to ensure critical commodities are not barred from Yemen, according to a U.S. official. These include avenues to ensure food, medicine, and fuel provisions enter the nation and telecommunications and transportation infrastructure are not hindered.

In response to the announcement, a Houthi spokesperson said the designation would not impact the group’s attacks against ships in the Red Sea, telling Al Jazeera that the group will “not back down in its position in support of the Palestinian people.”

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What We’re Following

“Giving in to blackmail.” European Union lawmakers on Wednesday discussed taking legal action against Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s decision last December to unfreeze part of Hungary’s EU funding. The European Parliament’s four largest political parties accused von der Leyen of restoring Hungary’s access to nearly $11 billion in EU funding too early in order to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to support Ukraine’s EU membership bid.

“The fact that [those] who are supposed to protect the EU’s financial interests are now giving in to blackmail is unbelievable,” said Malik Azmani, the leader of the liberal Renew Europe political group.

Von der Leyen defended her decision at a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, saying she was solely following previously agreed-upon rules that granted Hungary funding for making democratic progress. However, von der Leyen left the parliamentary session less than one hour into the two-and-a-half-hour debate, angering some of her colleagues. Von der Leyen is expected to declare her candidacy next month to seek a second term as the commission’s president.

Rwanda bill. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continued to struggle on Wednesday to get his Rwanda asylum bill through Parliament, narrowly avoiding a revolt by 60 members of his own Conservative Party who had threatened to vote against it. The bill would send asylum-seekers who arrive in the United Kingdom by boat to Rwanda to be processed in order to discourage illegal migration. This is the second time Sunak has attempted to pass such a measure, with the nation’s top court ruling against a previous version in November 2023 over concerns that migrants would be wrongly returned to their countries of origin.

Sunak still expects the bill, which was scheduled to be voted on late Wednesday evening local time, to pass, but the messy fight over it has weakened his political standing. Already, two Conservative deputy chairs have resigned over the tense proceedings, and even Rwanda’s president has complained about the lengthy process, saying, “There are limits to how long this can drag on.”

Deadly blast in Thailand. At least 19 people were killed in a major fireworks factory explosion in rural Thailand on Wednesday. Local rescue workers said there were no survivors, and the damage’s severity is making it difficult to determine an exact death toll. It is unclear what caused the blast, but local authorities are investigating.

Last July, Thailand experienced another fireworks factory explosion. At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in the warehouse blast. Fireworks are commonly used in Thai festivals, including in next month’s Chinese New Year activities.

Odds and Ends

What would you do with more than $27 million? Austrian heiress Marlene Engelhorn is struggling with that exact predicament. This year, she is asking 50 strangers whom she feels represent her country’s population to council her on how to spend her vast inheritance. She hopes these efforts will help combat wealth inequality in Austria, an issue exacerbated by the fact that Vienna does not tax inheritances.