The latest pressure campaign comes as the United States says the peace plan cannot move forward if attacks in the Red Sea persist, Bloomberg reports.
The United States and its allies are increasingly seeking to block funds from reaching Yemen's Houthi group, a move that could jeopardize United Nations-led efforts to end the country's civil war, Bloomberg News reported.
According to the report released Thursday, Washington is seeking to block major parts of a U.N. peace plan that warring parties in Yemen adopted in December unless the Houthis cease their attacks on international shipping routes.
That includes $1.5 billion that Saudi Arabia will pay public officials in Houthi-controlled areas, according to the U.N. road map, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source.
An unnamed State Department official told Bloomberg that agreements linked to the UN plan can only be carried out if the Houthis stop their attacks, while adding that the United States still supports peace in Yemen.
The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing missiles and drones at Israeli targets in a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza, drawing the ire of US President Joe Biden's administration.
The United States and its allies have been bombing Houthi targets in Yemen since January, but the military campaign has not deterred Houthi attacks. The Houthis have pledged to continue attacking Israeli-linked ships as long as the war in Gaza, which has killed at least 36,654 Palestinians, continues.
Most recently, on Thursday, the group said it had attacked two ships in the Israeli port of Haifa.
Banks ordered to close in Houthi territory
In March 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition launched what would become a years-long offensive in support of Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Iran-allied Houthis, who had seized the Yemeni capital, Sana'a. .
The fighting, which sparked a major humanitarian crisis, turned into a protracted conflict, with the Houthis maintaining control of Sana'a and other major population centers and the Saudi-backed government remaining in the southern city of Aden.
The warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in April 2022, which expired in October of that year. But fighting has largely stopped amid diplomatic efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
The December UN roadmap included the “implementation of a nationwide ceasefire, payment of public sector salaries, resumption of oil exports, opening of roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen” and the easing of remaining restrictions at Sanaa airport and Hodeidah port.
Still, tensions between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government remain high, especially over economic issues. US pressure to restrict Houthi finances risks exacerbating them further.
In January, the Biden administration designated the Houthis as “global terrorists” for their attacks in the Red Sea, a move that allowed for sweeping financial sanctions against the group.
According to Bloomberg reporting on Thursday, the latest US effort comes as the Central Bank of Yemen, which remains under the control of the Saudi-backed government, moved to suspend operations at banks in Houthi-controlled areas. including Sanaa.
The central bank governor cited failure to comply with orders by all financial institutions to move their headquarters to Aden.
The move is expected to stifle the Houthis' access to foreign currency and deplete the group's liquidity. It was done with the support of the United States and its Western allies, Bloomberg reported, citing four people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi called the move against Sanaa-based banks an “American effort to benefit Israel,” adding that the United States is trying to drag Saudi Arabia into the initiative.
“It is a dangerous game: a game of adding fuel to the fire,” Al-Houthi said last month.
The UN special office for Yemen, headed by Hans Grundberg, has repeatedly said that Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and “related international military responses in Yemen” threaten the fragile truce in Yemen.
After years of war, Yemen continues to face one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN, with more than 18 million people in need of aid and more than 17 million food insecure. Around 4.5 million people in the country remain displaced.
Meanwhile, intermittent payments of public sector salaries have accelerated the collapse of health, sanitation, water and education services, according to the UN.
