WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden said Friday that he believes that the Yemen-based Houthis is a "terrorist" group after the US and UK launched military strikes in Yemen late Thursday. 

“I think they are,” Biden said when asked if he is willing to call it a terror group.

"We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies," he said during a stop at a small business in the state of Pennsylvania.

When asked if the US was engaged in a proxy war, he simply responded: “No.”

The Biden administration delisted the Houthis as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT)” in 2021 after they were designated by former President Donald Trump.

The US and UK launched military strikes in Yemen late Thursday, following a string of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US is "not looking for conflict with Iran" and not looking to escalate.

The Houthi group said it targets Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with the people of Gaza, where Israeli attacks since the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, have killed more than 23,700 Palestinians and led to mass destruction and displacement.

The attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea have forced the rerouting of most of the trade flowing through the crucial maritime artery for goods and energy supplies, delaying shipments and raising transport costs.