The Houthi rebels in Yemen, supported by Iran, announced on Saturday that they have launched rockets towards Israel, thereby entering the increasingly broader conflict in the Middle East. The Israeli army had previously stated that it detected a rocket coming from Yemen.
„The Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of Almighty Allah, have carried out the first military operation using ballistic missiles targeting sensitive Israeli military objectives in southern occupied Palestine,” a statement from the Houthis said.
The document specifies that the operation was a direct response to "the ongoing military escalation, targeting of infrastructure, and the commission of crimes and massacres against our brothers in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and Palestine."
CNN shows who the Houthi group is and how powerful they are.
Who are the Houthi rebels
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah ("Supporters of God"), is one of the parties involved in the civil war in Yemen. It emerged in the 1990s when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched the "Faithful Youth," a religious revival movement for a centuries-old branch of Shia Islam called Zaidism.
The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni regime that came to power after the civil war in 1962. Al-Houthi's movement was founded to represent the Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, especially Wahhabi ideas from Saudi Arabia. His closest followers became known as the Houthis.
The civil war in Yemen began in 2014 when Houthi forces seized the capital Sanaa and overthrew the internationally recognized government supported by Saudi Arabia. The conflict escalated into a broader war in 2015 when a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened to try to push back the Houthis.
A ceasefire was signed in 2022 but expired after just six months. However, the conflicting parties have not returned to large-scale fighting.
Houthi allies
The Houthis are supported by Iran, which began to intensify its assistance to the group in 2014 as the civil war worsened and its rivalry with Saudi Arabia escalated. Iran provided the group with weapons and technology for, among others, maritime mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2021 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Houthis are part of Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" – an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias supported by the Islamic Republic.
How strong is the group?
American officials have monitored progressive improvements in the range, precision, and lethality of locally produced Houthi missiles. Initially, their weapons were largely assembled from Iranian components illegally introduced into Yemen, according to an official familiar with US intelligence cited earlier by CNN.
Previously, they have used drones and anti-ship missiles to target commercial vessels – some of which were not deemed to have links to Israel – prompting the USS Carney warship in the Red Sea to respond to distress calls.
The risk of war escalation
Reuters writes that the involvement of the Houthi rebels in the war would risk expanding and prolonging the conflict, given their ability to hit targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt maritime routes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in Gaza after October 7, 2023.
If the Houthis open a new front in the conflict, an obvious target would be the Bab al-Mandab strait off the coast of Yemen, a critical point for maritime transport controlling traffic to the Suez Canal, after Iran effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz.