Yemen: who are the Houthis, struck by the United States and its allies in the Red Sea?

For the first time since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the United States, at the head of the “Guardians of Prosperity” coalition since December 18, led, on the night of Thursday to Friday 12 January, a campaign of strikes against the Houthis on Yemeni soil.

British and US armies have “successfully carried out strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, US President Joe Biden said in the night. Explosions were heard in the port of Hodeidah and in Sanaa, the capital. The American president warned: he “will not hesitate” to “order further measures” to protect global trade, 12% of which circulates in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthis regularly attack commercial ships, which they accuse of links to Israel, against which they have declared war. Thus on December 31, three Houthi boats were shot down in the Red Sea by the American army while they wanted to board a merchant ship.

The name Houthis refers to a Yemeni tribe from which the members of this armed organization come. This name refers more precisely to the Muslim spiritual guide Badreddine al-Houthi and his son, Hussein, killed by the Yemeni army in 2004, recalls the French-speaking daily in Lebanon L'Orient-Le Jour. The political branch of the movement, Ansar Allah (“Supporters of God”, in French), comes from the Forum of Young Believers, a Muslim organization founded in 1992. “The Houthis want to be the heirs of the Zaidi imams who governed the north of the Yemen for a thousand years until their overthrow in 1962 by a predominantly Sunni civil revolution,” continues the Lebanese daily. 40% of the Yemeni population claims to belong to this Shiite branch - the rest being Sunni.

This rebel faction, originating from the northwest of Yemen, has never stopped denouncing “the lack of consideration of local demands by the government. The Houthis felt marginalized,” explains Jean-Loup Samaan, associate researcher at IFRI, specializing in the Middle East. This pushed them to take up arms on numerous occasions.

The Houthis thus rebelled against central power in 2014, and conquered the capital, Sanaa, forcing President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi to resign in January 2015. This event triggered the intervention, three months later, of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to support government forces. “Initially, they only demanded a better distribution of economic resources. While today, they control a large part of Yemeni territory, which raises questions about resolving the conflict,” adds Jean-Loup Samaan.

When Hamas carried out its murderous rezzou in Israel on October 7, the Houthis warmly congratulated it and assured it of their support. On November 19, militiamen filmed themselves, in stunning images, seizing a ship, owned by an Israeli businessman, using helicopters. Since then, attacks have increased in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, threatening economic supplies: 12% of world trade circulates in this area.

Also read: Naval and air drones, missiles... The battle in the Red Sea continues between the Houthi rebels and the coalition

On December 18, the United States launched Operation “Guardians of Prosperity” to secure the strait. It is joined by the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent, Greece, Denmark, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands - as well as France. Several frigates and destroyers, as well as the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower, are participating in this operation. On December 31, the American army sank three Houthi boats which were attacking a ship.

Well before the conflict between Hamas and Israel, opposition to the Jewish state was already part of “the ideology of the Houthis,” explains Jean-Loup Samaan. The latter participate in the “axis of resistance” against Israel, with terrorist groups supported by Iran, such as Palestinian Hamas or Lebanese Hezbollah. This is evidenced by their motto: “God is greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Cursed be the Jews, Victory to Islam.”

This hatred of the Jews was for a time “downplayed by some of the rebels who realized that they were frowned upon internationally,” continues the IFRI researcher. But ultimately, this anti-Semitism “remains an easy cause to mobilize which allows them to be popular and ensures them coordination with the Iranians, who encourage them in return”. However, the Houthis seek above all to increase “their political influence in Yemen and in the region”, explained to AFP Mohammed Albasha, analyst for the Navanti Group, based in the United States.

By targeting Israeli and American targets, the Yemeni rebels also seek to strengthen their position in negotiations with Saudi Arabia, which wants to extricate itself from the conflict in neighboring Yemen, comments for AFP Majid Al-Madhaji, from the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies. It is a “calculated strategy” whose objective is to “put pressure on the Americans” in order to “accelerate the conclusion of an agreement with the Saudis”, deciphers the analyst.

The Houthis benefit from significant military aid from Iran, which “provides technical assistance or directly supplies missiles and drones,” underlines Jean-Loup Samaan. The Yemeni civil war pits them against Iran's regional rival: Saudi Arabia, which Tehran wants to weaken.

Also read: In Yemen, an endless war that does not speak its name

Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of being responsible for the capture of an Israeli ship on November 19 in the Red Sea. Accusations rejected as “invalid” by Iran the next day.

“For two years, the Saudis have been seeking to disengage their troops and trying to negotiate a truce with the UN,” explains Jean-Loup Samaan, for whom the conflict is “in the resolution phase.” But “the Houthis are not ready to make concessions because they consider that they are in a position of strength,” he continues. They don't want to share power. Before the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, Saudi Arabia hoped that Iran could play a role “to lower tensions. But for the moment, nothing points in this direction,” adds Jean-Loup Samaan.