Houthis are 'ISIS before Mosul,' must be ended as terror force: Princess Reema

Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, has called on the international community to set a clear goal of ending the Houthi militia as an armed terrorist force, stressing that the Houthis today are what ISIS was before its capture of Mosul and declaration of a 'caliphate'—a terrorist movement the world underestimated.

In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Thursday, she wrote that this requires designating the Houthis as a terrorist group in every capital, cutting off their funding, halting weapons shipments to them by sea, and providing the Yemeni government with the support it needs to achieve its objectives.

The ambassador began her article with the story of Ibtehal bint Abdullah, a passenger services employee at Riyadh Air, who bandaged the wound of an elderly traveler with a headscarf she found on the terminal floor after the Houthi militia targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 10. She then opened emergency exits and led passengers outside, before returning—despite her own injuries—to guide paramedics to those hurt inside the building.

'The Houthis sent a missile to spread terror, but Ms. Ibtehal responded with courage,' Princess Reema said, adding that Saudi Arabia has transformed so that young women like her can shape their country’s future, 'and they should not have to do so under the shadow of terrorism.'

She described the targeting of a crowded passenger terminal as 'a pure, simple, and evil act of terrorism' that must be met with the same global resolve that has defeated terrorist organizations in the past.

Princess Reema noted that Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi has spent two decades building a terrorist network with Iranian support, breaking every peace agreement his group has signed and using every truce to rearm. She pointed out that his slogan calls for 'Death to America,' and that an American was among the victims of the Riyadh airport attack.

The ambassador contrasted the global headlines generated by ISIS displaying a single Scud missile in Raqqa in 2014 with the more than 1,000 ballistic missiles and drones the Houthis have launched at Saudi Arabia since March 2016. She cited UN investigators’ reports that the Houthis have trained Somalia’s Al-Shabaab in bomb-making and drone modification, and referenced a US artificial intelligence company’s disclosure last month of a weapons cell in northern Yemen attempting to use its tools to write guidance software for a long-range missile.

She warned that the threat extends beyond Yemen, as the Houthis have threatened to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which about 10% of global trade passes. Their attacks on Saudi energy facilities this month have also pushed oil prices back above $100 a barrel.

Princess Reema affirmed that defeating the Houthis is possible, just as ISIS was defeated by local forces backed by a coalition of more than 80 countries. She stressed that 'this is Yemen’s fight to lead,' and that Saudi Arabia has stood by Yemen since 2015 at the request of its government after the Houthis seized Sanaa, remaining one of its largest humanitarian donors.

She explained that Yemeni government forces are currently mounting offensives on the western coast and in Al-Jawf and Marib with Saudi air support, having seized more than 750 tons of weapons en route to the Houthis. The coalition is targeting launch sites and weapons depots to dismantle the networks behind the missile attacks on the Kingdom.

She added that Saudi Arabia has closed its financial system to the Houthis and all terrorist groups, working with partners to enforce sanctions and designations. She welcomed the US designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization and urged all countries to follow suit.

Princess Reema concluded by emphasizing that ending the Houthis’ armed terrorism is the only path to a Yemeni-led political settlement, which Saudi Arabia has always supported. 'Ms. Abdullah faced Houthi terror with courage, as Yemenis do every day. We owe them a future free from it,' she wrote.