U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that Washington has formally designated Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
In a statement on Tuesday, Rubio said the State Department was fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s early promises made soon after taking office by officially putting Ansarullah on the FTO list.
On January 22, Trump signed Executive Order 14175 to designate the ruling Ansarullah movement, claiming that its activities in support of Palestinians threatened American civilians and military personnel in the Middle East, and destabalized global maritime trade.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Ansarullah has declared its full support for its Palestinian ally, Hamas, carrying out strikes on Israeli-affiliated shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
It later said that U.S. and British vessels were also targets following joint airstrikes by those countries against Yemen.
According to U.S. Department of State, FTO designations go into effect upon publication in the Federal Register, which, in Ansarullah’s case, was done on March 4.
Meanwhile, Yemeni media reported on Tuesday that a U.S. plane crashed off the coast of Hodeidah, Yemen’s principal port on the Red Sea. No further details were immediately provided.
A coalition led by the U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, targeting critical infrastructure, including power stations, seaports, and the international airport in the capital. The air raids have been framed as a response to operations in the Red Sea.
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