The Department of State has announced that it will rescind  the terrorist designation of the Houthis made by the Trump administration. The international community has been decrying that designation since it was put into place. The reason for the international outcry was that it limited aid to the starving people of Yemen.

It should be noted that the aid flowing into Yemen comes from the World Food Program, who gets the largest portion of its budget from the US taxpayer. Last year they reported 3.6 Billion in aid from the US.

Also, the state department has noted that most of the population of Yemen lives in areas controlled by these terrorists:

“Some 80 percent of Yemen’s civilian population lives under Houthi control in Yemen, which is why we’re profoundly concerned for the humanitarian applications of [the group’s] designation [as a terrorist organization],” Ned Price, a spokesman at State, told reporters on Monday.

So when the aid shows up to these Houthi controlled areas, guess who controls its flow:

Since discovering in December 2018 that donated food in Houthi areas was being systematically diverted through a local partner connected to Houthi authorities, the WFP has pressed the Houthis harder to implement a biometric registration system used globally to combat corruption in aid distribution.

It isn’t a stretch to assume that the Houthi rebels are siphoning off enough of the aid to make sure that their fighters are fed.

The Associated Press reported Dec. 31 that armed factions on both sides of the conflict were stealing much-needed food aid, diverting it to their fighters or reselling it for profit. Some groups are blocking deliveries to communities they view as their enemies, AP found. WFP confirmed the report.

In the absence of free food from the international community, the Houthis would need to get aid from somewhere:

A senior Iranian official said Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force – the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – met top IRGC officials in Tehran last month to look at ways to “empower” the Houthis.

“At this meeting, they agreed to increase the amount of help, through training, arms and financial support,” the official said.

“Yemen is where the real proxy war is going on and winning the battle in Yemen will help define the balance of power in the Middle East.”

So allowing aid to flow into Yemen, provided in part by the US, helps support Iran’s proxy war against Saudi Arabia.