Saudi Arabia pressures EU to label Yemen’s Houthis a terrorist group

Reuters — Saudi Arabia is pressing the EU to designate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization, but has yet to overcome European concerns that this could undermine a future peace process, according to six European officials.

The campaign reflects a broader effort by Riyadh to increase international pressure on the group, which has been carrying out near-daily attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks after the resumption of war that began more than a decade ago.

The Houthis are already subject to EU sanctions, including an arms embargo and asset freezes on 12 commanders. The EU has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a key backer of the Houthis, as a terrorist organization.

But the bloc has so far stopped short of designating the Houthis themselves as terrorists, a step that has been taken by other Western countries including the United States, Australia and Canada.

Saudi Arabia has for over a decade led a military coalition fighting against the group on behalf of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which the Houthis drove out of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Few European countries support designation, officials say

European countries worry that listing the Houthis as a terrorist group would close off the limited channels they maintain with the group and potentially undermine any European involvement in a future peace process in Yemen, the six European officials said.

Adding the Houthis to the terrorism designation list would require unanimous support of the EU’s 27 member states. So far, support has been limited to only a small number of them, one of the six officials said, declining to identify the countries because the discussions were private.

Saudi Arabia’s government communications office did not respond to a request for comment. EU foreign policy spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said the bloc was in regular contact with Riyadh on a range of issues, including regional developments, but declined to comment on any specific discussions underway.

In a move that is largely symbolic but which signaled support within Europe for a tougher stance against the group, the European Parliament last month adopted a resolution calling for the EU to list the Houthis as a terrorist group.

Joana de Deus Pereira, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense research group in London, said European states wanted to show solidarity with Saudi Arabia, but remained hesitant about listing the Houthis as a terrorist group, which she said would have limited practical impact.

Among European concerns, de Deus Pereira said, were that the Houthis could retaliate for any listing by targeting European vessels near Yemen, and that a designation could complicate the work of aid groups operating in Houthi-controlled areas.

Another potential reason why the EU may be cautious: several of the European officials noted that an EU terrorism designation is particularly difficult to reverse, as once imposed it would require unanimous support of members to lift it.

Yemen’s coastline runs along the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at its mouth, a critical waterway linking Europe and Asia. Any Houthi attacks there could further disrupt global trade, already reeling from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Civilians killed, injured in Houthi and Saudi attacks

Riyadh, with backing from the US, led a years-long disastrous military campaign against the Houthis before the Iran-backed group and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government agreed to a truce in 2022.

That truce fell apart in July this year after the Houthis accused Riyadh of bombing Sanaa airport. Since then, both sides have carried out cross-border attacks that have killed and injured civilians.

After a deadly Houthi missile strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport in October, the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc stood in solidarity with Saudi Arabia.