The rebel group, engaged in a long-running war with a Saudi-led military coalition trying to restore the former Yemeni government to power, has stepped up its attacks on Saudi Arabia proper as the Biden administration moved to revoke its terror designation.
The US State Department has called on Yemen's Houthis to halt their offensive on a major Yemeni government stronghold in northern Yemen, urging the militia to cease all military operations, ‘other destabilizing actions', and to turn to negotiations.
The Houthis launched a major military offensive on Marib, the pro-Saudi Yemeni government's last major northern stronghold, earlier this month.
Earlier, Mark Lowcock, United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, tweeted that a direct assault on the city “would put two million civilians at risk, with hundreds of thousands potentially forced to flee – with unimaginable humanitarian consequences.”
Separately, the Treasury Department announced Tuesday that the US has formally removed the Houthis from its list of global terrorist entities.
The Houthis have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition looking to restore the government of ousted Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power since March 2015, with Riyadh and its allies devoting considerable military resources to the operation and blockading Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia in early 2015 after a popular…
