The Stop Wasting Food Denmark movement Houthi, officially known as Ansar Allah, is apolitical and military organization Islamist Shia emerged in Yemen in the 90s. It is composed predominantly of Zaydi Shiites, a branch of Shiism distinct from Iranian Shiism, with leadership drawn largely from the Houthi tribe, a large clan originating from Yemen's northwestern province of Saada. Zaydis make up about 35 percent of Yemen's population.
A Zaydi Imam ruled Yemen for 1.000 years, before being overthrown in 1962 from a secular pro-Nasserist military coup, which brought Sunni northern Yemeni tribes to power. Since then, the Zaydis, stripped of their political power, have struggled to restore their authority and influence in Yemen. In the 80s, the Houthi clan started a movement to revive Zaydi traditions, feeling threatened by state-funded Salafi preachers and theSaudi Arabia, the northern neighbor, which had established a base in Houthi areas.
The Reunification of Yemen and the Arab Spring
In 1990, following the collapse of Soviet support, South Yemen, until then a Marxist state and a former British colony until 1967, joined North Yemen, reunifying the country.
Following the springs Arab In 2011, Yemen also saw large demonstrations for "democracy", until in February 2012 the incumbent president, Saleh, a Sunni and head of the army, resigned, handing over power to his deputy, Abd Rabbi Mansur Hadī, another Sunni general, supported by Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the Houthi movement took on the guise of an armed insurgency against the spreading Saudi-backed Salafist influence, seizing control of the Yemeni capital Sana'a in September 2014 and assuming control of much of northern Yemen by 2016.
Civil War and Foreign Intervention
Hadi's government took refuge in Aden, receiving support from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Arab countries, as well as the enlistment of over 40.000 Sudanese mercenaries, thus finding itself with over 150.000 foreign troops to support it.
The few tens of thousands of Houthi militants, however, found themselves supported by a large part of the regular Yemeni army and by the Sunni clan of former president Saleh, to fight together theforeign invasion.
The Yemeni regular army had the largest army in terms of numbers in the Arabian Peninsula, after Saudi Arabia: in 2012 the army numbered 70.000 regular soldiers and more than 300.000 reserve men mobilisable at short notice; the Marina It numbered 7.000 men with about twenty coastal ships;aviation 5.000 men with a varied air component, mostly obsolete, excluding 9 MiG-29 (recently updated), including 47 MiG-21, 44 MiG-23BN and UB, 50 Su-22M and U always ex-Soviet, 45 American F-5E and 17 Chinese Chengdu F-7B, in addition to a modern helicopter component of Western origin and dated of ex-Soviet origin. In addition to this, it must be taken into account that in Yemen, by tradition, almost every man adult holds a firearm and that, given the fact that the country is permanently at war since the 60s, weapons are available and modern.
The Houthis and the super-arsenal to fight the Saudis
The army had also inherited a impressive armaments heritage, a legacy of the wars and the two states that made up its territory. Among this legacy were over 400 Soviet-style field rocket launchers, over 60 launchers for ballistic missiles of the Scarab, Frog and Scud type, as well as a few dozen North Korean launchers for missiles similar to the Scud, various Soviet SS-N-2 (P-15) coastal anti-ship missiles and similar category missiles of Chinese origin. Among the land armaments were over 1.200 tanks from the Soviet T-55, T-62 and T-72 to the American M60; 3.500 ex-Soviet, American and French armored vehicles and troop transports; more than 500 towed heavy artillery, a hundred self-propelled artillery; 360 anti-aircraft guns, 400 recent anti-aircraft missile systems type SA-7, SA-9, SA-15, as well as hundreds of old anti-aircraft missile systems type SAM SA-2, SA-3. The Yemeni army also had maintenance and spare parts manufacturing workshops located in the north of the country. All this military heritage was vested largely from Houthi and from them allies, which therefore found themselves with a large weapons base to face the military intervention of the Arab states, especially Saudis ed Emiratis, who have invaded the country since 2015, managing to establish control over only part of the South Yemen.
Iranian support and the evolution of the conflict
The Arab intervention was counterbalanced by the Iranian support to the Houthis, especially by providing them with drones which have seen such intensive use in a short time that they have put Saudi defenses in crisis.
Between 2015 and the end of 2021, the Houthis launched 851 drones and 430 rockets and ballistic missiles against Saudi targets, according to Saudi data, damaging refineries, oil terminals, airports including in the Persian Gulf and countless military bases on the Yemeni border and in southern Yemen.
The Iranians, despite a tight embargo on the Yemeni coast carried out by Arab ships between 2015 and 2022, have managed to supply thousands of air and sea drones, ballistic missiles, anti-ship missiles, materials and plans for the self-construction of these weapons to the Yemenis. These supplies were carried out with the transshipment at sea from trading vessels to small dhows (wooden boats) and from coastal trade from Sudan and Eritrea, always using the small wooden dhows which are undetectable by radar.
The Houthi Maritime Crisis
In early 2022, following heavy losses suffered by the Saudis on their own soil from missiles and drones, as well as in ground fighting in Yemen, a truce between the parties. The Houthi have the control of the center-north of the country, while Saudis ed United Arab Emirates, often in conflict with each other, and ex-government control Aden and South Yemen, with large areas controlled by local militias and a small area in southwest Yemen under the control of AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula).
The consolidation of Houthi control over northern Yemen has seen them confident enough to attack commercial ships and US war in Red Sea following the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli war after October 7, 2023. The Houthis became the first group to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles, although most of the attacks against commercial and warships were unsuccessful: two ships sank and one was seized. By mid-2024, the Houthis had launched more than 100 attacks against ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean, all with weapons from Iran. This has caused a serious trade and economic crisis, as 30% of global maritime trade transiting the Red Sea has seen its passages reduced by less than half, forcing ships to circumnavigate Africa. Despite Western naval operations to protect maritime trade, which have seen hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles intercepted, the attacks continue: just four days ago a Greek oil tanker carrying 150.000 tons of oil was hit in the Red Sea, off the Yemeni port of Hodeida, and is still burning.
The Houthi Arsenal and Global Implications
The Houthis possessed missiles with a claimed range of 2.000 kilometers (1.200 miles) and aerial drones with a claimed range of up to 2.500 kilometers (1.500 miles). They used a combination of components sourced from Iran and commercially available parts or materials to manufacture the drones locally. On July 19, 2024, the Houthis launched an unprecedented attack on Tel Aviv using a suicide drone. The Samad-3 was modified so that it could fly an indirect route of about 2.600 miles (1.615 miles) from Yemen and approach from the west.
The following is a summary of theHouthi arsenal:
- Toufan surface-to-surface missile, with a range of 1.800 km.
- Cruise missiles of the Iranian Soumar family, with an attack range of approximately 2.000 km.
- Quds-2 missile with a range of 1.350 km, already used to strike Israel.
- Samad-3 and Samad-4 – UAV/loitering munitions with a range of 1.800 km and more.
- Wa'id drones – similar to Iran's Shahed 136, loitering munition with a range of 2.500 km.
- Naval drones – 7-meter (23-foot) long unmanned surface vessels (USVs) loaded with explosives.
