The approval of a UN Security Council resolution renewing sanctions on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia and naming them a terrorist group for the first time has been hailed by the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement, Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said, “The goal of this resolution is to limit the capabilities of the Houthis and to limit the escalation of the war in Yemen.”

“It also asks for an end to assaults on international navigational waterways and boats, as well as an end to civilian suffering in Yemen and the region as a result of these terrorist acts,” she continued.

The United Nations Security Council decided on Monday to extend an arms embargo against the Houthis to all of Yemen’s Houthis, which had previously only targeted a few leaders of the Iran-backed militia.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil conflict involving the Houthis and the internationally recognized government since 2014.

In 2015, an Arab coalition led by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia intervened in support of the government.

Since the involvement, the Houthis have launched frequent attacks on Saudi Arabia, and in January, they staged unprecedented attacks on the UAE, killing three foreign nationals.

After President Joe Biden’s administration reversed a Trump-era decision to designate the Houthis as terrorists, the UAE has demanded that the US relist them as such.

At a press conference on Wednesday, January 19, President Biden claimed that re-designating the Houthis as terrorists was “under consideration.”