US Should Expand Houthi Sanctions, Yemeni Researcher Says

The U.S. government should make greater use of economic sanctions against the Houthis to weaken the Yemen-based group’s ability to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, a Yemeni think-tank leader recommended Sept. 4.

The new sanctions should target networks of wealthy Houthi businesspeople that launder money for the group to enable it to move and invest its assets, said Maged Al-Madhaji, chair and co-founder of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.

“I think the Treasury here in the U.S. has to sanction these people,” said Al-Madhaji, who spoke through a translator at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The sanctions should be crafted carefully to ensure they don't hurt Yemen's mostly impoverished population, he added.

Existing U.S. sanctions have targeted companies and people that have helped the Houthis procure weapons (see 2407310008). The U.S. also has sanctioned companies and people across the Middle East and Asia for aiding the Houthis through illegal shipping and financing networks (see 2407180011, 2406170026 and 2406100018).

Al-Madhaji explained that the Houthis have enriched themselves and funded their activities by taxing and stealing foreign food aid, selling donated Iranian oil, selling Yemen-made ammunition in the region and the Horn of Africa, smuggling illegal drugs and making investments in other countries, including China. "The best-held skill of the Houthis is making money and collecting taxes," he said.

While the Houthis generate about three times the revenue of the Yemeni government, they don’t spend any of that money to help civilians in the areas they control, Al-Madhaji said. "The Houthis do not provide any services of any kind for the people," he said. "The Houthis only pay for their militia members."

Al-Madhaji asserted that the U.S. seems to have no clear policy toward Yemen and is focused on its November elections, leading the Houthis to believe they can do whatever they want without punishment. That bravado was on display with the Houthis' recent attacks on oil tankers, one of which is in danger of leaking 1 million barrels of crude into the Red Sea. Such a spill would cause an environmental and economic disaster, Al-Madhaji warned.

While the U.S. has conducted air strikes against the Houthis, Al-Madhaji cautioned that further U.S. military intervention in Yemen would be widely unpopular and that the U.S. should instead arm the Houthis’ enemies.