Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement will likely be a persistent problem for the US in the future, a senior US military official said on Tuesday, even after Washington and the Houthis reached an agreement last month that ended a US air campaign against the terrorist group.

“The Houthis are likely to be a persistent problem … that we’ll be dealing with in the future a few times again,” Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, director for operations of the Joint Staff, told lawmakers. Grynkewich has been nominated to lead the US military‘s European Command.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced the US would stop bombing the Houthis, who had been firing at US warships and commercial vessels off Yemen’s coast. The group, which had said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, stopped firing at US ships under the agreement.

Rights groups had voiced concerns about civilian casualties during the nearly two-month-old US bombing campaign in Yemen.

Last week, the Houthis said they would again target US ships in the Red Sea if Washington became involved in Israeli attacks on Iran. Still, they have not resumed attacks after the US struck three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.

On Monday, Trump announced an Israel-Iran ceasefire deal.