LONDON: Iran has deepened its support for the militia to offset setbacks suffered by its allies elsewhere in the region, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council said on Tuesday.

Rashad Al-Alimi’s remarks came during a meeting with Clemens Hach, director for the Middle East and North Africa at the German Foreign Office, Yemen’s Information Ministry said.

Revolutionary Guard networks included dozens of experts who were involved in the operational planning and development of Houthi missile and drone capabilities, Al-Alimi said. Their involvement went beyond providing money and weapons to include assistance with the direction of military operations and threats to international shipping, he added.

He accused Tehran of exploiting Yemen’s strategic location near international trade routes as a means to rebuild its regional influence through the Houthis.

Further transfers of weapons, technology and expertise would make it harder to deter the group, prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people, and increase the threats to regional security and shipping, he warned.

Al-Alimi also accused the Houthis of escalating attacks across multiple fronts, maintaining a suffocating siege in Taiz province, and shelling residential neighborhoods and civilian facilities.

He said the government’s Operation Dawn of Yemen counteroffensive against the Houthis would continue, with support from the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, until state institutions were restored and government authority extended across the country.

He accused the Houthis of committing war crimes and serious abuses of human rights, including killings, abductions, enforced disappearances and the detention of UN personnel and human rights activists. He said the group’s reach and its methods posed a threat greater than that of Al-Qaeda and Daesh, which warranted a stronger international response.

Al-Alimi urged Germany to help build EU support for the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization. He also called on EU member states to use their national laws to take action against the militia’s networks and the platforms used to incite violence.

He praised Germany for its condemnation of Houthi attacks on civilian facilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but urged Berlin to follow this up with measures that impose greater costs on the group. He thanked Saudi Arabia for the economic and humanitarian assistance it provides to Yemen.

Al-Alimi also praised Germany for its support to his government and the assistance it provides for development, basic services and heritage preservation.

The German ambassador to Yemen, Thomas Schneider, and the director of Yemen’s presidential office, Yahya Al-Shuaibi, also attended the meeting.