Yemen asks Arab states to designate Houthis a terrorist organisation
Yemen Herald News 
TUNIS, Tunisia — Yemen asked Arab governments on Wednesday to designate the Houthi movement a terrorist organisation and to detain and extradite its members.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Dhahiri made the request in a speech to the 29th Arab Conference of Officials Responsible for Combating Terrorism.
He is director general of the General Department for Combating Terrorism and Organized Crime at Yemen’s Interior Ministry.
Saba, Yemen’s state news agency, reported his remarks. No independent account of his speech has been published, and Yemen Herald could not confirm it elsewhere.
Al-Dhahiri asked Arab states to take what Saba described as the necessary legal measures against the group.
He also asked them to pursue Houthi members and hand them over as terrorists, according to the agency.
The Yemeni government pressed for closer Arab security cooperation, Saba said.
It asked for practical measures against terrorism and organised crime, and for work to trace funding sources and support networks.
Al-Dhahiri said artificial intelligence and digital communication tools were being used for recruitment, incitement and the planning of attacks, the agency reported.
He asked Arab states to build up their digital monitoring capacity.
The conference opened in Tunis on Wednesday and was scheduled to run for two days.
It met at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab Interior Ministers Council.
Mohamed Ben Ali Koman, the council’s secretary general, gave the opening address.
Koman said efforts should target the financing of attacks, including the use of cryptocurrencies.
Karim Abdu Al Sayed Al-Boraï of Egypt chaired the meeting.
Al-Boraï said counter-terrorism work had to go beyond responding to attacks after they happened.
He called for prevention, earlier detection of threats and the sharing of information between states.
That work had to be balanced against the rule of law and human rights, he said.
Representatives of Arab states’ security services attended.
So did the Arab League, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, Europol, Interpol and the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.
The agenda covered extremism, the financing of attacks and the use of artificial intelligence to carry them out.
Delegates reviewed the conclusions of Arab and international counter-terrorism meetings held in 2025 and 2026.
They also examined the findings of the sixth meeting of the Arab Expert Group on monitoring and analysing terrorist threats.
The agenda also included accounts from member states of their own counter-terrorism work.
Yemen’s request came during an escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s cabinet said on Tuesday that the Houthis would face consequences for repeated attacks on the kingdom.
The statement followed a meeting chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The cabinet said it would not tolerate threats to Saudi national security or to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
It referred to attacks on Saudi airports and on visitors to the Two Holy Mosques.
Airports at Riyadh, Abha and Dammam have been hit in a series of attacks, Al Arabiya reported.
A projectile struck Riyadh airport on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 11, Saudi authorities said.
A missile struck an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran on Tuesday night.
The Saudi energy ministry confirmed a fire there. It said nobody was killed or hurt.
Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said his forces had attacked Aramco sites and an airport serving Riyadh.
Saree named three targets: the Aramco headquarters in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco-affiliated refinery in Riyadh.
He called Saudi oil sites a legitimate target and told employees and nearby residents to leave them.
Saudi authorities said they intercepted missiles aimed at the capital.
Debris from two of them injured four people and damaged 15 homes, the civil defence authority said.
The coalition said it intercepted three drones north of Riyadh.
The Saudi-led coalition struck energy sites in Houthi-held parts of Yemen late on Tuesday.
It named the al-Sabahah station in Sanaa and fuel berths in Hodeidah, Sanaa and Dhamar.
The coalition told civilians near the Sanaa site to leave before the attack.
The Yemeni Oil Company said its storage tanks there were empty and that supplies would not be affected.
Several airlines have suspended flights to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring states.
They include Air France-KLM, Air India, Etihad, Lufthansa, Delta, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways.
The United Nations says at least 46 civilians have been killed in Yemen since August and more than 130 injured.
It says more than 200,000 people have been displaced since September.
The UN humanitarian plan published in March said more than 22 million Yemenis needed aid.
It put the number facing acute food insecurity at 18.3 million.
It recorded more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely.
The plan sought 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million people.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said the attacks could have negative spillover everywhere.
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, called for de-escalation.
US President Donald Trump said the Houthis were behaving very badly. He said he might ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to intervene.
Delegates in Tunis were also due to review the work of the council’s operational subgroups.
About the Author
