The Australian Government officially designated Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, as a terrorist organization on Friday.
Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement that the decision to designate the Islamist organization as a terror group followed recommendations for the country’s security agencies that the Houthis are “directly or indirectly engaged in the preparing, planning, assisting in, or fostering of terrorist attacks.“
The statement also noted that the Houthis’ “violent attacks” in the area of the Gulf of Aden have resulted in the killing of civilians.
The Houthis have also taken hostages and disrupted “navigational rights and freedoms” in the waters where they have been conducting their activities, Dreyfus’s statement noted.
Both the US Central Command and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization have reported regular Houthi attacks in the Gulf of Aden over the last few months.
Australian Jewish community reacts
In response to Australia’s proscription of Ansar Allah, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) released a statement celebrating the designation.
The designation of the Houthis as a terror organization “brings us in line with our US allies, which re-listed the organization in January,” the AIJAC statement said.
“Ansar Allah functions as Yemen’s Hezbollah, the latter also listed in its entirety as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code,” AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Colin Rubenstein added. “Both groups are organs of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Australia designated Hamas as a terrorist organization on March 4, 2022, and Hezbollah on December 10, 2021.
Comments are closed.