U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement today addressing the Houthis’ recent actions against aid operations in Yemen.
“The Houthis’ arbitrary arrest of innocent aid workers and forcible takeover of critical pharmaceutical facilities in Yemen is appalling,” the statement read. “This is the direct result of years of appeasement by the international community. Innocent Yemenis have already suffered too long under the Houthis’ brutal de-facto rule.”
The lawmakers called for accountability from the international community regarding these actions. “The international community must hold the Houthis accountable for their brazen violations of basic humanitarian principles and ongoing human rights abuses, including their unjustified detention of former U.S. Embassy staff,” they stated.
They further urged immediate action from the Biden administration: “The Houthis’ ongoing abuses coupled with terrorism in the Red Sea demand that the Biden administration must also immediately re-designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
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