Yemen Minister Urges US to Blacklist Houthis as Terrorist

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani urged on Thursday the United States to blacklist the Iran-backed Houthi militias as terrorist due to the crimes they have committed against the Yemeni people.

Such crimes are tantamount to genocide against innocent civilians, he said during a meeting in Riyadh with US Ambassador to Yemen Matthew Tueller, said official sources according to the Saba news agency.

The two officials discussed the latest developments in Yemen amid the militias’ ongoing stalling in implementing the Sweden agreement that was reached with the legitimate government in December.

Eryani accused the militias of raising a whole generation of Yemenis on “jihadist, terrorist and hostile ideology. These acts are a ticking time-bomb that could blow up against the entire world, not just the Yemeni people.”

The most dangerous act committed by the Houthis is raising a generation on hatred, spite, terrorism and extremism. The militias are not only destroying the people’s present lives, but their future as well, he said.

He therefore, warned the international community against shirking its duties towards helping the legitimate state restore its power in the country.

The Houthis, Eryani continued, are manipulating school curricula in Yemen to recruit child soldiers and spread their extremist ideology in order to alter the people’s identity and destroy their social fabric that has existed for thousands of year.

More than 50,000 children have been brainwashed by the Houthis and given military training, he revealed.

“By nature, the Yemeni people long for life, while the militias sanctify death,” he charged.

On peace efforts, he remarked that returning Hodeidah under legitimate government control will force the Houthis to come to a “real dialogue table.”

For his part, Tueller warned that Iran was seeking to destabilize Yemen through its support for the Houthis, adding that the militias took advantage of divisions in the country to capture several provinces.

He also did not rule out the possibility of the Houthis working with al-Qaeda to create chaos and maintain their hold on the country.

On Wednesday, the legitimate government warned against the Houthis’ attempts to “implement the Sweden deal in installments.”

It also warned the UN against focusing on “superficial” progress made on the ground, “because that will threaten the peace course.”

The Houthis’ stalling tactics and refusal to withdraw from Hodeidah city and its three ports are clear evidence of their disregard of peace efforts, it added, while saying that the militias were defying the international community and UN by refusing to adhere to the Sweden deal and Security Council resolutions.

Should the international community continue to turn a blind eye to these violations, the Houthis will only go further in their obstruction of peace in pursuit of their agenda that is a threat to local, regional and international stability, it warned.