Arab League calls for labelling Yemen's Houthis 'terrorist organisation'

The Arab League on Sunday called for Yemen’s Houthi rebels to be labelled a terror group, days after the group claimed an attack on the United Arab Emirates and hours before a second attempted strike on the Gulf state.

The Iran-backed Houthis launched an unprecedented attack on an oil facility in the Gulf state’s capital, Abu Dhabi, killing three people and injuring six others.

Members of the pan-Arab bloc slammed the strikes as "a flagrant violation of international law... and a real threat to vital civilian installations, energy supplies, and global economic stability" in a statement released after an extraordinary session was held.

The Houthis were designated a terror group by the US under former president Donald Trump in a move later reversed by President Joe Biden. Leaders of the rebel group were, however, targeted by individual sanctions by the Biden administration.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have battled a Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, for more than six years, repeatedly carrying out cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Last week’s attack on the UAE marked a major escalation in the group's tactics, endangering areas often considered to be sheltered from regional conflicts.

On Monday, the UAE’s defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles, with no casualties reported.

The Saudi-led coalition has in the past week conducted deadly airstrikes in Yemen it says are aimed at crippling the capabilities of the Iran-aligned movement in a conflict that is largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Human rights organisations have accused all sides in Yemen's war of having committed serious abuses in what the UN has described as the "world's worst humanitarian crisis".