The Treasury Department announced new sanctions Tuesday against leaders of the Houthi movement said to be behind the attempted violent takeover of Yemen.
The Office of Foreign Assets Controk took action against Abdul Malik al-Houthi as well as Ahmed Ali Saleh, son of Yemen’s former president and a key supporter of the Houthi movement, which is sometimes referred to as the Ansar Allah.
“Using violence and other means, al-Houthi and Saleh continue to undermine the political process in Yemen and obstruct the peaceful transition of power in Yemen despite repeated calls from the international community that they desist from their destabilizing actions,” said an OFAC statement announcing sanctions that lock them out of the U.S. financial system.
The sanctioning of al-Houthi and Saleh was made possible through a May 2012 executive order that allowed for sanctions against insurgents seeking to destabilize the government of Yemen, a neighbor of oil-rich U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.
“The United States condemns the assault by the Houthis and their allies on the Yemeni state,” Adam Szubin, acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement. “The U.S. designations today and the related United Nations action demonstrate that the international community stands in solidarity with the Yemeni people and will hold accountable those who undermine its democratic aspirations.”
Al-Houthi is said to have assumed the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi movement in 2004 after the death of his brother, Hussein Badredden al-Houthi. He has repeatedly threatened Yemeni authorities with further unrest, said Treasury officials, if they do not respond to his demands.
Saleh allegedly has issued thousands of rifles to tribal sheikhs and others opposed to Yemen’s current president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Saleh’s father Ali Abdullah Saleh, sanctioned by the United States late last year, stepped down in 2011 but his son remained on as commander of Yemen’s Republican Guard. More than a year later, Abdul Saleh was fired by Hadi but retained considerable influence over elements of Yemen’s military.
Saudi Arabia began bombing what it said were Iran-backed Houthi strongholds in late March. Human rights groups have criticized the kingdom for civilian casualties during the cross-border air strikes.
Houthis are an offshoot of Shiite Islam known as Zaidism.
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