Table of contents
- Who are the Houthi rebels?
- How strong is the militia?
- Who supports the Houthis?
- Why are Iran and Hezbollah supporting the rebels?
- What do the Houthis want?
- How dangerous is the militia for Israel and the region?
- What are the Houthis' views on the Gaza war?
- What goals are the rebels pursuing with these attacks?
Questions and answers - International alliance against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea: Who are the rebels?
For a long time, the Houthi rebels were underestimated as a limited threat to Israel and the USA. In the Gaza war, the insurgents from Yemen have now become a new threat. Over the past few weeks, they have turned the Red Sea into a sideshow of the war between the Islamist Hamas and Israel. The Houthis have stepped up their attacks on merchant ships and recently attacked several freighters.
An international coalition against attacks by the pro-Iranian rebels on cargo ships is currently taking shape: Great Britain and Italy want to send warships or have already done so. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had previously announced a "multinational security initiative" to protect shipping in the Red Sea. In addition to the USA, Bahrain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain will be part of the initiative. Germany is not involved for the time being but, according to the Federal Ministry of Defense, is looking into participating.
The most important questions at a glance:
Who are the Huthi rebels?
The Huthi rebels officially call themselves "Ansar Allah" ("Supporters of God"). They belong to the Shiite Saidite movement, whose imams ruled northern Yemen until 1962. Since then, they have repeatedly instigated uprisings against the Sunni leadership in the capital Sanaa. In 2014, they took control there and now dominate large parts of the country, especially in North Yemen. They owe their name to their former leader Hussein al-Huthi, who turned the group into a political movement. Around a third of the Yemeni population are Saidis.
How strong is the militia?
A 2019 analysis estimated that there are between 180,000 and 200,000 armed fighters. They have access to tanks and technical vehicles as well as anti-tank guided missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles. Since their uprising in 2014, the Houthis in Yemen have been fighting against the government and a military alliance led by Sunni Saudi Arabia, which wants to prevent the Houthis from further expanding their influence in the neighboring country. The war, with an estimated 377,000 casualties, has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.
Who is supporting the Houthis?
Above all Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Without their help, the Houthis would not have been able to build up their arsenal of weapons - including missiles with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers - according to experts. The Al-Quds Brigades, part of an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces, provided various types of weapons from 2014 onwards, writes the US think tank CSIS. The Al-Quds Brigades and Hezbollah also trained the fighters in order to improve the Houthis' combat tactics and enable them to use missiles and drones. The weapons are said to have been smuggled into Yemen by sea. Both Iran and Hezbollah deny or play down the connections for their Shiite co-religionists.
Why are Iran and Hezbollah supporting the rebels?
Israel has been Iran's declared arch-enemy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Since the 1990s, Tehran has expanded its relations in the region in order to create an "axis of resistance" against Israel by supporting Shiite militias. The Houthis are just as much a part of this as the Hezbollah movement. Because Hezbollah successfully drove Israel's army out of Lebanon, the militia is a kind of role model and mentor for the Houthis in their civil war, even though the two groups belong to different Shiite movements.
What do the Houthis want?
Above all, the rebels want to rule the whole of Yemen and gain international recognition for it. In the north, they have established a dwarf state in which they enforce their ideology in a totalitarian manner, presumably also by torturing and killing critics and journalists. Since 2016, they have increasingly attacked infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, particularly oil facilities, in order to undermine their military operations in Yemen. Around the same time, they began attacking merchant ships near the Bab al-Mandab strait.
How dangerous is the militia for Israel and the region?
The Houthis do not have as large a supply of weapons as Hezbollah in Lebanon, for example. But with their drones and missiles, they still pose a threat to shipping traffic in the region in particular, as well as to US military bases. Further attacks on ships could severely damage the economy and cause turmoil on the oil market. One of the world's most important shipping routes passes along the Yemeni coast, through which around ten percent of all global trade passes. As the attacks increase, so do concerns about an even greater escalation in the region.
What are the Houthis' views on the Gaza war?
The Houthis have declared their solidarity with Hamas and have also been attacking Israel since October 7. They attacked Israel from the south of the Arabian Peninsula with drones and rockets, hitting the southern Israeli city of Eilat. They have also threatened to attack all ships with links to Israel. In one spectacular action, they boarded a cargo ship by helicopter with assault rifles and filmed the operation for propaganda purposes. During the attacks on cargo ships, a US destroyer also intercepted several drones.
What goals are the rebels pursuing with these attacks?
The attacks are in line with the anti-Semitic and anti-American rhetoric of the Houthis and the hope of gaining wider recognition as part of the Iranian "Axis of Resistance". They also fit with the rebels' narrative of being victims of a conspiracy between Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia, which resonates with the Yemeni population. The rebels also use the attacks to distract attention from their own problems and demonstrate their strength.
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Source: www.stern.de
