During the period between (January 17 – February 3, 2022), Abu Dhabi and Dubai were subjected to four separate attacks. The Houthi group claimed responsibility for the first three attacks immediately and vowed to launch more. Not only that, but it was accompanied by other attacks on Saudi cities and Yemeni regions under the internationally recognized government, such as Marib, Lahj, and Shabwa. As for the fourth attack, it was claimed by the Al-Wa’ad al-Haqq brigades, which is a group shrouded in a lot of ambiguity.
The attacks caused rapid and numerous repercussions, the first of which was US President Joe Biden’s statement on January 19, 2022, he mentioned that his administration was in the process of studying reclassifying the Houthi group as a foreign terrorist organization, which was revoked by the Biden administration itself in February 2021. A few days after the first attack, the US State Department said It is consulting with its allies regarding the situation and holding members of this group accountable for their actions. This shift has revived the debate about the various repercussions of Washington’s reclassification of the Houthi group as a foreign terrorist organization, including the repercussions on the Yemeni military scene, which this paper focuses on.
