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Canada Designates Yemen’s Houthis as a Terrorist Organization
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Canadian government announced on Monday that it designated the Houthis in Yemen as a “terrorist entity,” joining other Western governments in proscribing the Iran-backed group.
The Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, have been waging an insurgency in Yemen for two decades in a bid to overthrow the Yemeni government. They have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of a civil war.
“Ansarallah is a militant group that has waged an insurgency in Yemen since the early 2000s seeking to unseat the internationally recognized government of Yemen,” Canada’s government said in a statement. “As a now-listed entity, Ansarallah has met the definition of a ‘terrorist group’ under Canada’s Criminal Code. The Criminal Code prohibits certain actions in relation to terrorist groups, including those related to terrorist financing, travel, and recruitment.”
The designation makes it a criminal offense to interact financially with the Houthis, and anyone affiliated with the group is also barred from entry to Canada.
“[The] addition of Ansarallah as a listed terrorist entity contributes to our efforts in fighting terrorism globally and aligning Canada with our allies,” Dominic LeBlanc — minister of public safety, democratic institutions, and intergovernmental affairs — said in a statement. “Acts of violent extremism and terrorism have no place in the world, and we will continue to take action to curtail the spread of these activities internationally and to counter threats to Canada, its citizens, and its interests around the world.”
Canada’s announcement came six weeks after the country announced that it and the US jointly imposed sanctions on Samidoun, explaining that the prominent anti-Israel group has been operating as a “sham charity” fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist group.
In its most recent terrorist designation, Canada noted that the Houthis have “contributed to unrest in the Middle East through numerous attacks targeting civilian and naval vessels on the Red Sea and other waterways, as well as those against Israel.” The announcement added that the Houthis are “closely linked” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and Hezbollah, two internationally designated terrorist groups.
The Houthis, a US-designated terrorist group, began disrupting global trade in a major way with their attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, arguing their aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The Houthi rebels — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — have said they will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea, and claimed responsibility for attempted drone and missile strikes targeting Israel.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have routinely launched ballistic missiles toward Israel’s southern city of Eilat. In July, they hit the center of Tel Aviv with a long-range Iranian-made drone.
Then in September, the Houthis reached central Israel with a missile for the first time. Israeli air defenses intercepted fragments of a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen that exploded over Israel’s central region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Houthis for the attack.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a report in July revealing how Iran has been “smuggling weapons and weapons components to the Houthis.”
The report noted that the Houthis used Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to conduct over a hundred land attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and within Yemen, as well as dozens of attacks on merchant shipping.
Iran also backs Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the Islamist terrorist groups with weapons, funding, and training.
While the Houthis have increasingly targeted Israeli soil in recent months, they have primarily attacked ships in the Red Sea, a key trade route, having a major economic impact by disrupting global shipping and raising the cost of shipping and insurance. Shipping firms have been forced in many cases to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa to avoid passing near Yemen.
In September, the Houthis’ so-called “defense minister,” Mohamed al-Atifi, said that the Yemeni rebels were prepared for a “long war” against Israel and its allies.
“The Yemeni Army holds the key to victory, and is prepared for a long war of attrition against the usurping Zionist regime, its sponsors, and allies,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian state-owned media
“Our struggle against the Nazi Zionist entity is deeply rooted in our beliefs. We are well aware of the fact that this campaign is a sacred and religious duty that requires tremendous sacrifices,” added Atifi, who has been sanctioned by the US government.
Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and in some cases actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes multiple times against Houthi targets in Yemen.
On Sunday, the Houthis announced they had attacked three US-flagged commercial vessels as well as a US Navy destroyer.
A US-led coalition of over 20 nations has mobilized to address the threat to global trade and freedom of movement in some of the world’s most economically vital waterways.
In October, the so-called “foreign minister” of the Houthis warned that if the US takes military action against the western Yemeni port of Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea, it will suffer consequences severe enough to make the “hell” experienced by American soldiers during the Vietnam War feel like a “walk in the park.”
The comment by Jamal Ahmed Ali Amer came four days after the US carried out a round of strikes in Yemen against the Iran-backed group, hitting five underground storage facilities housing weapons used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.
That same month, Samantha Power, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, lambasted the Houthis for holding around 20 Yemeni employees of the US embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, for the past three years. The embassy suspended operations in 2014.
“It’s been 3 years since the Houthis unlawfully detained US government local staff,” Power posted on X/Twitter at the time. “Several of our Yemeni colleagues may now face prosecution on false charges. We fear for their safety — & will not rest until these individuals & all detained UN, NGO & diplomatic staff are released.”
The post Canada Designates Yemen’s Houthis as a Terrorist Organization first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Members Suspected of Plotting Attacks Go on Trial in Germany
View of the courtroom as Judge Doris Husch presides over a trial for defendants accused of acting as foreign operatives for the Hamas terrorist group in Europe, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin on Tuesday, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against terrorists of the Islamist group in Germany.
The Hamas members were detained in late 2023 on suspicion of planning attacks, German prosecutors said at the time.
“For the first time in Germany, suspects are facing charges of having participated as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten told Reuters.
He added the defendants were accused of seeking to locate a secret weapons depot in Poland for possible attacks, while receiving orders from the deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades in Lebanon.
According to previous statements by prosecutors, the defendants are also accused of operating other weapons caches in Europe.
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Israel Looks to Extend Phase One of Gaza Truce as Long-Term Deal Proves Elusive
Israeli military jeeps maneuver in Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Feb. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel is considering an extension of the 42-day truce in Gaza as it seeks to bring home the remaining 63 hostages, while putting off agreement on the future of the enclave for now, Israeli officials said.
The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, launched with the backing of the United States and the help of Egyptian and Qatari mediators on Jan. 19, is due to end on Saturday and it remains unclear what will follow.
“We are being very cautious,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem, when asked whether the truce might be extended without the start of talks on a second phase which would include difficult issues such as a final end to the war and the future governance of Gaza.
“There wasn’t a particular agreement on that, but it might be a possibility,” she said. “We didn’t close the option of continuing the current ceasefire, but in return for our hostages, and they have to be returned safely.”
If no agreement is reached by Friday, officials expect either a return to fighting or a freeze in the current situation in which the truce would continue but hostages would not return and Israel may block the entry of aid into Gaza.
Two officials who have been involved in the ceasefire process told Reuters that Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas have not engaged in negotiations to finalize an agreement over phase two of the ceasefire which will have to bridge wide gaps between the two sides to be concluded.
“I think it’s unrealistic to see something like that forming within a few days,” Haskel said. “This is something that needs to be discussed in depth. This is going to take time.”
The deal, which included the release of 33 Israeli hostages in return for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza, has survived numerous hiccups.
So far, 29 Israeli hostages – plus five Thais – have been released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, with the bodies of four more hostages, initially due to be handed over on Thursday, still to come.
There is now a standoff over the release of more than 600 Palestinians, which Israel has delayed, accusing Hamas of breaching the agreement by making a public show of the handover of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Hamas official Basem Naim said progress could not be made while the prisoners were still being held but that Hamas was committed to a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Haskel said she hoped a solution would be found to secure the handover of the final four in the next few days.
WITKOFF DUE IN ISRAEL
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, is expected in Israel on Wednesday to continue discussions on the second stage, opening the way to a final end to the war in Gaza.
Negotiations over the second phase, intended to secure the release of the remaining hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, had been meant to start this month, 16 days after the start of the truce.
Qatar’s prime minister flew to Florida on Feb. 6 and met Witkoff to discuss the “full implementation” of phase one and “to kick-start negotiations for the second phase,” according to an official briefed on the talks.
But officials in the ceasefire process say that so far none of the principal negotiators have met face to face since the first phase was agreed last month and there is little clarity on options for the “day after.”
“This is the day after Gaza, after the war in Gaza and what’s going to happen there, and so we are continuing that channel with the Americans,” Haskel said.
The fighting in Gaza was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages back to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Israel has said Hamas cannot have any role in the future running of Gaza and has rejected a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has said it will not necessarily demand that it remain in charge of the enclave, which it has governed since 2007, but that it must be consulted.
Arab states, which are likely to have to shoulder much of the financial burden of rebuilding devastated Gaza, have been struggling to come up with a proposal of their own but are expected to demand a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Uncertainty increased after Trump proposed moving all the Palestinians out of Gaza to make way for a US waterfront development project, a plan that was endorsed by the Israeli cabinet but rejected by Arab states and Palestinians.
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Israeli Soccer Team Pays Tribute to Murdered Bibas Family With Special Orange Jerseys
A special jersey created by Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. to honor Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas. Photo: Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C./Instagram
The professional Israeli soccer team Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv FC honored the late Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists, by wearing special orange jerseys that featured their images during Monday night’s game
On the front of the bright orange jerseys was a drawing of Shiri, 32, hugging her two red-headed sons. All three family members were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, held captive in the Gaza Strip, and then brutally murdered. Their names were written in Hebrew underneath the drawing on the jersey, which also had a Hebrew message on the front that said: “We will not forget, and we will not forgive.” Three black hearts appeared under the image of Shiri and her boys.
Additionally on the jersey was a special logo that Bnei Yehuda created for Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, who was also kidnapped and survived Hamas captivity.
The team’s traditional logo is orange and features a standing lion that has one paw on a soccer ball and another paw holding a Star of David. In honor of the Bibas family, the team added to the lion’s chest an image of a ribbon that symbolizes a call for the return of all the hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Above the lion there was a message in English that read “We Will Never Forget,” and below the animal it read, “Bibas Family.”
“Bnei Yehuda is the orange group of Israel,” the team said in an Instagram post. “Our color symbolizes community, commitment, and family, and when the whole world was exposed to Ariel and Kfir’s ginger hair, the connection was instantaneous. Tonight, the color orange takes on an even deeper meaning — not only our identity, but also our way of remembering, honoring, and perpetuating.”
The club also announced that it will rename two teams in its youth department to further honor the Bibas children. The teams will be called “Bnei Yehuda — Kfir Bibs Tel-Aviv” and “Bnei Yehuda — Ariel Bibs Tel-Aviv.”
The team said, “As a club with a huge soul and heart, we decided to perpetuate the name of Ariel and Kfir in a way that will stay for generations.”
Eliran Oved, the manager of Bnei Yehuda, said the bright orange color of the jerseys “will always remind us to remember, not forget, and continue to embrace our community with genuine love.”
Bnei Yehuda players wore the special jerseys during Monday night’s game against Hapoel Ramat Hasharon. Bnei Yehuda won the game 2-0 and dedicated the victory to the Bibas family. Yarden Bibas later thanked the team for honoring his late wife and children with the special jerseys, saying it gave him “goosebumps” to see.
Ariel was 4 and Kfir was 10 months old when they were murdered in November 2023 during Hamas captivity, according to the Israel Defense Forces. They were held hostage in Gaza for 503 days, and their bodies were returned to Israel last week on Thursday. Hamas claimed they returned Shiri’s dead body that same day, but after the body’s return to Israel, forensic examination showed that it did not belong to her. Hamas turned over her real body to Israel on Saturday.
Forensics examination of Kfir and Ariel’s bodies revealed that Hamas terrorists killed the brothers “with their bare hands,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. “Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” Hagari explained. “The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
Abducted when he was 9 months old, Kfir was the youngest hostage kidnapped by terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the youngest to have been killed. Shiri’s parents, Margit and Yosi, were also murdered by Hamas during their deadly rampage across southern Israel. Three generations were murdered by Hamas terrorists that day, as well as the Bibas family dog. Yarden was kidnapped but released by Hamas on Feb. 1 as part of a ceasefire agreement between the terrorist group and Israel. Sixty-three hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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