Red Sea tensions reach new high as US considers labeling Houthis as terrorists

Israel and the Houthis in Yemen have exchanged fire for the first time, raising tensions nine months after commercial ships in the Red Sea began being threatened by the rebel group – in a waterway the US Navy has patrolled since the start of the Gaza war.

An Israeli strike on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Saturday left three dead and 87 wounded, the Yemeni Health Ministry said, in an assault by fighter jets more than 1,600 kilometers from Tel Aviv.

Israel said it was in response to a Houthi drone strike on Friday that killed one person in Tel Aviv. The exchange of fire was a first in the Red Sea conflict, where Houthi attacks forced the closure of an Israeli port but did not hit its territory.

The U.S. Navy has been engaged in combat against the Houthis since October, striking Houthi launch sites and repelling incoming drones and ballistic missiles. U.S. Central Command reports that 14 such missiles and nearly 60 drones were fired by the Houthis and destroyed by the U.S. Navy in June alone, making it the most sustained U.S. naval combat since World War II, by some estimates.

The United States, which in January designated the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group, has extended security guarantees in the Red Sea – where their attacks have hit ships flying the flags of various nations – and increased pressure on the local rebel group to stop its attacks.

In an interview with ABC News before the weekend’s series of attacks, U.S. special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking, the top U.S. diplomat in Yemen, said there was growing concern that a more severe official designation of the Houthis would be considered.

“There is increasing talk today of a designation as a foreign terrorist organization, which we believe will compromise our ability to support humanitarian and commercial activities in Yemen,” the special envoy told ABC News.

A State Department designation as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), which would put the Houthis on the same level as groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and Hamas, could make it more difficult for international humanitarian groups to operate in Yemen by requiring a license to interact with the Houthis, who control key ports including Hodeidah and the capital, Sanaa.

“It’s the Houthis who are leading this debate and putting on the table these options that we all thought a few months ago, when Joe Biden came to office, were not the way forward,” Lenderking said.

“But when the Houthis behave and act very clearly like a terrorist organization, these issues come to the forefront,” the diplomat said.

In Yemen, 24 million people, or 80% of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance and 4.5 million are internally displaced. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 20 million people are food insecure.

The ICRC’s deputy head of delegation in Yemen, Freya Raddi, told ABC News that the initial designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group in January had “no concrete impact” on the organization’s humanitarian work.

“However, it is not certain that this will remain the case in the coming months… the current escalation in the Red Sea has led to delays in the import of ICRC aid into Yemen,” Mr Raddi said.

“The ICRC is concerned that any additional measures could have negative consequences for affected populations and the provision of impartial humanitarian assistance,” said Mr Raddi, noting that 90 per cent of Yemen’s food is imported and that “counter-terrorism measures may create additional administrative and logistical burdens.”

“Humanitarian organizations cannot replace the commercial import system,” she said.

Israel has said it acted alone in its Saturday attack on the Houthis, whom it considers part of Iran’s “axis of evil.” Israel’s defense minister called U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before the attack to brief him, but the Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that the United States played no role in the Israeli strikes.

In January, the United States intercepted weapons it said were destined for the Houthis from Iran, which recently elected a new president, and sanctioned Houthi financial networks, but it is unclear whether the Houthis take orders from Tehran or sometimes act “outside Iranian dictates or recommendations,” Lenderking said.

“We don’t see any change yet from the new leadership in Iran, in any dimension, but certainly not with regard to the conflict in Yemen,” Lenderking said of Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“I think there is a strong commitment on the part of the Iranians to continue to support the Houthis,” he said.

Regional powers including Iran, Saudi Arabia and neighboring Oman – a facilitator of talks between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government – have denounced Israel’s airstrike on the Gulf country’s port, which engulfed the port in flames.

Lingering tensions on the Red Sea increasingly threaten a fragile peace on Yemen’s borders, where an April 2022 truce froze an eight-year civil war between the Houthis and the former government in Sanaa. The truce has “largely held,” Lenderking said, and a U.N.-led “road map” in December 2023 brought the Houthis and the exiled government to the same table to agree on a way forward.

There are, however, “very serious questions about the Houthis’ commitment to a peace process in Yemen,” Lenderking said.

“They seem much more intent on strengthening their credibility as part of the (Iranian) axis of resistance and building ties with other terrorist organizations, deepening their ties with Iran. That seems to have been their focus rather than the Yemeni people, which is precisely where we want to see an improvement in support,” the envoy said.

The Houthis have said they would cease fire in the Red Sea if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, something President Joe Biden has repeatedly said is his top priority, along with the release of hostages held by Hamas. “He wants to see that work continue at full speed over the next six months,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said of Biden on Monday.

The president also brought together a coalition of nations to protect sailors and commercial shipping in the Red Sea as the Houthis began deploying drones and missiles.

Lenderking said the multinational defence agreement, which includes countries as far away as Australia and as close as Bahrain, could be strengthened.

“Of course, the United States and the seven allies participating in this coalition always have the possibility to reconsider this question,” he said.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.