Yemen's ambassador asks Czech parliament speaker to back Houthi terrorist listing

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PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Yemen’s ambassador to the Czech Republic asked the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday to support designating the Houthi movement a terrorist organisation.

Mohammed al-Hadhrami made the request in a meeting with Tomio Okamura in Prague, the state news agency Saba reported.

The account of the meeting rests on that Saba report. Yemen Herald found no readout published by the Chamber of Deputies, and no independent confirmation of the meeting has been published.

Al-Hadhrami also asked for more humanitarian and development aid for Yemen, the agency said.

He said the movement’s recent military escalation served Iran’s agenda, according to Saba. He said it threatened international maritime security and damaged global energy markets.

Okamura reaffirmed Czech support for Yemen’s security, stability and territorial integrity, the agency reported.

He expressed hope for peace in Yemen and the wider region, according to the same report.

The Houthis reject the designation their opponents seek. They describe their operations as support for Palestinians, and they have not responded to al-Hadhrami’s remarks.

Al-Hadhrami told the speaker that the internationally recognised government remained committed to deterring the movement and to restoring state institutions, Saba said.

He said those steps would protect international shipping and help stabilise global markets.

Saba gave no figures for the aid the ambassador sought. It did not say whether the two men discussed a timetable, or who else attended.

The meeting follows a European Parliament call for the bloc to place the movement on its terrorist list.

Parliament adopted that resolution on Oct. 22, approving it by a show of hands, according to the Brussels news service Eunews.

The text asks the bloc to list the movement’s military and political wings, its leadership and its security apparatus. It says no distinction should be drawn between armed and unarmed wings.

It calls for Houthi financing channels to be dismantled and for related funds to be frozen.

The resolution asks member states to maintain and strengthen Aspides, the European Union naval operation in the Red Sea, and to contribute further naval and air assets to it. It welcomed an extension of the operation’s mandate.

Aspides began operations in February 2024. Its warships escort merchant vessels through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The text condemns attacks on shipping in the Bab al-Mandab strait and damage to Red Sea energy infrastructure. It also condemns Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

It condemns what it called Iran’s destabilising role, and coordination between the movement, Hezbollah and other groups backed by Tehran. Iran denies arming the Houthis.

The movement said on Sunday it had fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Riyadh’s main airport and two Saudi military sites. Yahya Sarea, its military spokesman, named King Khalid International Airport, King Khalid Air Base at Khamis Mushait and a Border Guard naval base at Jazan.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Monday it had destroyed five tunnels used to store Houthi ballistic missiles, four launchers and a missile storage facility. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, the coalition’s spokesman, set out that account in a post on X.

Yemen’s armed forces said they carried out 1,276 strikes on Houthi targets in the 24 hours to Monday, according to Arab News and Al Arabiya. The reports attribute the count to a military spokesman, and Yemen Herald found no independent origin for it.

Fighting has continued on the Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf and al-Bayda fronts.

Any listing decision rests with EU member states. Parliament resolutions on the question are not binding on them.

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, asked European Union governments on Tuesday to act on the call. He made the request in a telephone call with António Costa, president of the European Council, Saba reported.

The United States designated the movement a foreign terrorist organisation in 2025.

Al-Hadhrami is a former Yemeni foreign minister. He was appointed to Prague by al-Alimi and presented his credentials to the Czech president.

Yemen’s government has pressed European capitals on the question through several channels this month. Yemen Herald could not establish how many governments have responded.

The United Nations says more than 22 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance.

Its humanitarian needs and response plan for 2026, published in March, puts the number of acutely food insecure people at 18.3 million.

More than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, according to the plan. It records 516,157 of those cases as severe.

The plan counts 5.2 million internally displaced people inside the country. It seeks 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million people.

UNICEF is separately seeking 146.3 million dollars for its Yemen programme this year. The agency aims to reach 5.2 million people, among them 3.5 million children.

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait have pushed some carriers onto longer routes around southern Africa, raising voyage times and insurance costs.

The strait carries traffic between the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden.

Czech trade with Yemen is small. The two countries established relations after Yemeni unification in 1990.

Okamura leads the Freedom and Direct Democracy party. He was elected speaker after the 2025 parliamentary election.