THEN-IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Houthi official Mohammed Abdul-Salam in Muscat, Oman, last year. The most effective way to curb Houthi aggression is through direct action against the regime in Tehran, the writer maintains.(photo credit: Iran’s Foreign Ministry/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)
JERUSALEM POST | Published January 4, 2025
Iran-backed Houthis intensify attacks on Israel and global trade routes, leveraging advanced weaponry and strategic support from Tehran to threaten regional stability and global maritime security.
While Yemen’s status as a “closed territory” restricts access and makes intelligence gathering exceedingly difficult, and its distant location complicates sustained airstrikes, the key factor tipping the balance is the Islamic Republic’s support. Consequently, the most effective way to curb the Houthis’ aggression is through direct action against the regime in Tehran.
Over the past year, Houthi rebels – officially known as Ansar Allah and acting as Iran’s proxy in Yemen – have waged a disruptive campaign against maritime traffic through the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
This aggression has jeopardized the flow of goods through the Suez Canal, prompting several shipping companies to suspend operations in the region. The Houthis have targeted more than 40 commercial vessels, forcing others to reroute along longer and more expensive paths around the Cape of Good Hope.
While a US-led multinational coalition launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to address the threat, the operation has failed to halt the Houthi attacks.
Similarly, the Houthis have launched at least 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel. In response, Israel has carried out severe retaliatory strikes, targeting key infrastructure, including ports, oil facilities, power stations, and Sanaa’s international airport. Yet, the Houthis remain undeterred.
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SOURCE: www.m.jpost.com
RELATED: Who’s afraid of the Houthis? Iran’s last proxy standing is proving no pushover for Israel
Repeated nighttime missile launches have brought the danger from Yemen to the fore. How did a group of mountain rebels in a faraway country rise to become a global threat?
Supporters of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis march in the capital Sana’a on March 15, 2024, in support of Palestinians, during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Huwais/ AFP)
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL | Published January 4, 2025
Eight times in the last two weeks, including at 4.30 a.m. Friday morning, millions of Israelis have been forced to seek shelter due to ballistic missile attacks launched from Yemen, usually in the middle of the night.
Behind the attacks stand a terror group known as the Houthis, who despite being located some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away, have managed to harass the Jewish state from afar, and put a chokehold on global commerce, while proving stubbornly resistant to Western attempts to put them down.
With Hamas’s military capabilities severely degraded, Hezbollah cowed into a ceasefire, Syria’s regime deposed and Iraqi militias reportedly deciding to cease attacks, it seemed in early December that Israel might finally be free of the wailing air raid sirens, thudding interceptions and deadly impacts that had become a constant torment since October 7, 2023.
But into the void have stepped the Houthis, the only active members of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” still engaging in direct hostilities against Israel. In recent weeks, the rebel group has escalated high-powered long-range missile attacks to match the intensity and breadth, albeit not the frequency, of the threat formerly posed by their fellow Iran-backed proxies.
Historically, the Houthis have drawn inspiration from the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, once considered the strongest of Iran’s proxies with the tightest ties to Tehran.
“Their objective has always been to be the next Hezbollah,” said Mike Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a veteran expert of Iran-backed militias.
The threat posed by the group is compounded by their distance away from the Jewish state, which constrains airstrikes, Israel’s limited intelligence on possible targets, and perhaps most importantly — the Houthis’ extremism, an explosive mix of antisemitism, religious fervor, and an unparalleled willingness to die as martyrs and sacrifice Yemen for the Palestinian cause.
“Imagine a Lebanese Hezbollah that never got soft, that never had Beirut to live in and never lived a normal life,” said Knights.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
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