Video credit: Skye Fitzgerald, director, Spin Film

As one of its final foreign policy acts in office, the Trump administration could take a step that would push millions of people in Yemen into starvation and prolong that countrys civil war. And President-elect Joe Biden would find it extremely difficult to reverse.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is considering designating the Houthis, the Yemeni militia that rules over the vast majority of the countrys population, as a terrorist organization. The move would fit the Trump administrations strategy to weaken Iran, which supports the Houthis, and would thrill Iranian adversaries like Saudi Arabia.

It would also be devastating for Yemenis. It would make it far more costly and difficult to get crucial supplies into Yemen, where more than 13 million people already lack reliable food supplies. That could include slowing the spread of a coronavirus vaccine in a country whose health care system is already devastated by the war and the pandemic.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, humanitarian groups and national security analysts wants Pompeo to refrain, saying his decision would be tremendously destabilizing.

Creating new, additional obstacles to the delivery of food and medical aid during a global pandemic is not in the best interest of the United States, our regional allies and partners or the people of Yemen, Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued in a joint press release on Nov. 20. Murphy and Young are key congressional voices on Middle East matters and Coons is a close Biden ally.

Even before the designation, nearly 3 million more Yemenis are already expected to fall into deeper food insecurity by next year, and most areas already at emergency levels of need are Houthi-controlled regions, a collaborative project between nonprofits and governments to track humanitarian crises reported on Thursday.

While the Biden administration can reverse this, the damage done in the interim will be deadly and will add a massive burden to the already overstretched response, Scott Paul, humanitarian policy lead at the aid organization Oxfam America, told HuffPost via email after that report.

President Donald Trump and Pompeo have until Jan. 20 to make a decision, though they are expected to do so in the coming days. A State Department spokesperson said the agency would not publicly discuss its deliberations over designations.

Above is a portrait of Omeima, one child facing hunger in Yemen, from footage shot for Hunger Ward, a new documentary on the war and famine in Yemen, directed by Oscar and Emmy nominee Skye Fitzgerald.

Creating A Famine Step By Step

Millions of Yemenis are on the brink of famine not because their country lacks food, but because food which is mostly imported at ports along the coast and spread throughout the country through complicated logistical processes has become significantly more expensive since the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led forces and the Houthis began fighting five years ago.

If Pompeo moves ahead with his designation, such costs will quickly climb even more, humanitarian experts say.

With the Houthis on the State Departments foreign terror organization list, anyone who interacts with them risks being investigated by the U.S. government on suspicion of providing some form of support to the militia. That would be a major concern for aid groups, but many would try to find a work-around. For other crucial institutions that are less altruistic banks, shipping lines, insurers the new situation would probably deter any kind of work in Yemen.

Those that continue to funnel supplies into the country will likely demand a premium, particularly for shipments to the areas controlled by the Houthis where upward of 70% of Yemenis live.

A designation will cause increases in commodity prices, the most important measure of how bad the economy and living conditions are for Yemenis, Paul said, adding that such a listing has no wiggle room for humanitarian exemptions.

I havent been able to sleep since I read this [might happen] because Im just terrified, said Aisha Jumaan, who runs the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation and has family in the country. Youre talking about a population where 80% need aid, theyre surviving on whatever little there is, and were going to say were going to cut your last lifeline.