WASHINGTON, Jan 23, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to once again designate Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels a "foreign terrorist organization," the White House announced Wednesday.

When former president Joe Biden took over from Trump in 2021, he removed the designation that Trump had signed near the end of his first term.

Biden's move came in response to concern from aid groups that they would need to pull out of Yemen as they are obliged to deal with the rebels, who are effectively the government in vast areas including the capital Sanaa.

But weeks after the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023, the Huthis began launching attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they said was support for the Palestinians.

They also declared US and British interests to be "legitimate targets."

In response, the Biden administration last year put the Huthis -- formally known as Ansar Allah -- back on the list of "specially designated global terrorist" groups.

That slightly less severe classification still allowed for humanitarian aid to reach the war-torn country.

The Trump administration's Wednesday move aims to reimpose the more restrictive label of foreign terrorist organization.

Trump's executive order said the Huthis had "launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure, including multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia," in addition to firing "more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023."

The order may take several weeks to come into effect.