Washington DC [US], October 2 (ANI): The United States Department of Justice has arrested a 51-year-old employee of the US Department of Energy on Thursday (local time) for allegedly attempting to provide material support or resources to Yemen's Houthis, Al Jazeera reported.
The accused, identified as Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, allegedly travelled overseas and leveraged his specialised expertise to assist the Houthis. "As alleged, a US government employee travelled overseas and used his specialised expertise in an attempt to aid the Houthis, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation backed by Iran," John A Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said, as reported by Al Jazeera.
"Ellaboudy acquired materials for the construction of explosive material and drones capable of delivering these explosives. These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination," Eisenberg added.
According to a complaint filed by the Department of Justice, Ellaboudy used an official passport in 2025 to travel from Washington to Oman, after which he crossed the border into Yemen with the specific intention of reaching the capital, Sana’a, Al Jazeera reported.
The accused is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in the US state of Washington on October 2 to face charges, Al Jazeera added.
The development comes as global powers, led by the G7 nations, recently issued a strong condemnation of continued Houthi aggression in the region.
The G7 Foreign Ministers have strongly condemned continued Houthi strikes in Yemen and against Saudi Arabia, including attacks affecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and called on Iran to end its arming and support for the rebel groups.
In a statement issued on September 22, the G7 Foreign Ministers said: "We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, consider that the situation in Yemen represents an unacceptable threat to regional stability and security, to global energy security as well as to navigational rights and freedoms, and maritime security in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait."
"We condemn in the strongest terms the unacceptable continued strikes carried out by the Houthis in Yemen and against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including those affecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, which deepen humanitarian suffering," it added.
The group expressed solidarity with the legitimate Government of Yemen and Saudi Arabia and called on the Houthis to immediately halt military actions, threats and attacks against civilian shipping and return to the political process.
The G7 also directly called on Iran to end its support for the Houthis.
"We call on Iran to end its arming of and support for the Houthis in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 1747, 2140 and 2216," the statement added.
The G7 said the attacks risk further escalation and could undermine international trade and create wider economic instability, and stressed the importance of maintaining maritime safety and navigational freedoms to prevent lasting disruptions to global supply chains, particularly the movement of energy, fertiliser and food.
The statement comes after Yemen's armed forces carried out missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
In a statement on September 19, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree Qasim Saree said the attacks were carried out in response to what he described as Saudi attempts to target Sana'a.
"In response to the Saudi enemy's criminal attempts to target the capital, Sana'a, using ISIS-style tactics, including indiscriminate bombings targeting civilians. The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones. The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Both operations were successful, by the grace of God, and resulted in massive fires at the targeted locations," the statement read. (ANI)
51-year-old US Energy Dept official arrested for allegedly aiding Yemen's Houthis
