The US and UK bombed Houthi militia positions in Yemen in the early hours of Friday. The operation, in retaliation for that group's attacks on ships in the Red Sea, runs counter to Washington's stated intention to prevent the Gaza war from spreading to the rest of the Middle East. The reality is that the conflict has already spread across the region and the measure is unlikely to stop the rebels. In their support of the Palestinian cause, they enjoy the support not only of Iran, but also of a large part of Yemenis and the sympathy of the Arab population.
The bombings, which the United States repeated in the early hours of this Saturday, will weaken the Houthis' ability to attack in the short term, but the militia is once again being equipped by the Iranian regime. As expected, Tehran condemned its ally's punishment as a “clear violation of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity” and international law. Nobody expects him to take a step forward: he is not interested in a direct clash with the USA and has already managed to involve them on several fronts. More significant was the demand for containment by Saudi Arabia, an ally of Washington but which, after eight years of pitting its strength against the Islamic Republic through its war against the Houthi militias, was in the midst of a thawing process with the First and foremost peace talks with the rebels.
In addition to the risk of failure in its withdrawal from the war in Yemen, Riyadh, like other Arab capitals, is disregarding his words because its population is sympathetic to the challenge the Houthis pose to Israel. It does not matter that the missile and drone launches against the coasts of the Hebrew state did not cause significant damage; or that some of the merchant ships attacked in the Red Sea appear to have no connection to Israeli interests. They are the only ones taking action in the face of the tragedy that the Palestinians are experiencing, watching them almost every minute on their mobile screens.
The Houthi movement is often referred to as a “pro-Iranian militia.” They are, but not only. The group, whose name is Ansarullah or Ansaralá (depending on whether the transcription is from Arabic to English or Spanish, meaning supporters of God), emerged at the end of the last century from an evangelization movement aimed at reviving Zaydism (the branch of Shiite Islam , which a third of Yemenis follow). Inspired by the Lebanese Hezbollah (Party of God) and against the background of their political marginalization, they evolved towards social welfare and established a military branch that confronted the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh in successive wars. It was then that they became known as the Houthis (pronounced júzis, with a soft j), after the name of the clan that led these uprisings. After Saleh's departure, after the popular protests of 2011, Ansaralá allied with the part of the army that supported him and took power in Sanaa; That prompted Saudi Arabia to intervene on behalf of the ousted president, sparking a civil war that still keeps the country divided, with the internationally recognized government installed in Aden, the southern capital.
Unlike Hezbollah, the Yemeni militia movement was not a creation of Iran, although it soon enlisted its help, serving as an alibi for Saudi Arabia's cross-border intervention. For the Islamic Republic, Yemen was not a priority country in its regional strategy. When the Houthis took Sanaa in early 2015, they acted against Tehran's advice. However, Iran's Revolutionary Guard quickly realized that the rebel group represented an advantage in keeping its Saudi rivals at bay, without too much cost. Since the Israeli intervention in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, Ansaralah has emerged as one of the boldest agents of the so-called Axis of Resistance, the network of pro-Iranian militias whose common denominator is the rejection of Israel and the US Presence in the region.
Now Arab governments are hoping that the storm will pass and the attacks on shipping will stop. It's unlikely. The Houthis claim they are preventing Israeli-affiliated ships from crossing the Red Sea because of the Gaza war. As last Friday's mass demonstrations in Sanaa, Taiz and Hodeida (the main Yemeni cities under militia control) show, these actions that have brought international trade under control have broad popular support. In addition, their spokesmen have promised to “deal a painful blow” to the United States and the United Kingdom in retaliation for the bombings. The risk is that one of the rebels' missiles will directly hit a warship from those countries, representing an even bigger lesson for Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries.
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