US & UK Sanction Houthi Officials In Further Step Towards FTO Status

A statement from the US Treasury Dep't confirms Bloomberg's earlier reportthat the US and UK are imposing sanctions on senior officials within Yemen's Houthi movement. The sancitoning of senior individuals comes after the US earlier in Jan listed the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, a classification that comes into force in mid-Feb.

• Being labelled as an SDGT is the lower of two designations, the more severe being a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). Under this designation third parties seen to be supporting or assisting the FTO can themselves be sanctioned.
• There have been concerns that labelling the Houthis as an FTO could imperil humanitarian aid provision to Yemen amid widespread shortages due to the long-running civil war, with charities or NGOs providing aid at risk of being sanctioned themselves if their supplies end up in Houthi hands.
• The sanctions come a day after two US-flagged container vessels wereforced to turn aroundafter coming under fire from Houthi aerial attacks. This is in spite of US naval forces escorting the vessels, highlighting the difficulty even large and well-equipped militaries can have in combating the Houthis 'pop-up' attack tactics.