The Biden administration is expected to soon announce plans to redesignate Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists, according to two people familiar with the White House decision and a U.S. official.
The move comes as the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The group says it has attacked the ships in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The three people familiar with the decision were not authorized to comment and requested anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of the expected formal announcement.
Trump was tight with Erdoğan (who was, incidentally, tight with Putin) so of course he backed his buddy over some upstart insurgents without the money to fly to DC and jerk him off.
But Al-Assad is also tight with Putin, which makes Trump’s siding with Israel (which is also heavily dependent on Russia for net new immigrants and so a tentative ally) against Syria somewhat peculiar. That is, until you note that Iran is involved, and exists as its own pole within the Middle East that’s more allied with China than Russia and hostile to Saudi Arabia, which is loosely allied with Turkey and Russia, but which has been on bad terms with Iran for decades.
So… uh… its complicated?