Tuesday, 16 February 2021 (YJC)_ The US State Department has called on Yemen's Houthis to halt their offensive.
The US State Department has called on Yemen's Houthis to halt their offensive on a major pro-Saudi government stronghold in northern Yemen, urging the militia to cease all military operations, 'other destabilizing actions', and to turn to negotiations.
"The United States urges the Houthis to halt their advance on Marib and cease all military operations and turn to negotiations. The Houthis' assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen," the State Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The Houthis launched a major military offensive on Marib, the pro-Saudi Yemeni government's last major 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 it has removed the Houthis from its list of global terrorist entities.
"Today, on February 16, 2021, the US Departmen of State has revoked the Ansarallah designations which has resulted in Ansarallah no longer being blocked pursuant to Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 594, the Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 597, or Executive Order 13224, as amended," the Treasury said in a statement, using another name for the Houthis.
The Biden administration announced its plans to revoke the Houthis' terror designation last week, specifying however that it would keep three senior Houthi leaders on its terror list, and impose new sanctions on some members of the group. In early February, the White House froze the proposed sale of some $760 million in guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, with the move widely interpreted as a sign of the end of direct US support for Riyadh's six-year-long war in Yemen.
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