Joe Biden puts the Houthis back on America’s baddies list

IT ISenough to cause whiplash. Three years ago America removed the Houthis from its list of foreign terrorist groups over the objections of Saudi Arabia, which was fighting a war against the Shia rebel group in Yemen. Now it is putting the Houthis back under broad sanctions and bombing them—while the Saudis are trying to make peace with the group.On January 17th the Biden administration labelled the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, a “specially designated global terrorist” group. That comes after two months of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and days after America and Britain began bombing Houthi targets in Yemen.