The United States and the United Kingdom bombed positions of Yemen's Houthi militia in the early hours of Friday. The operation, in retaliation for the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, clashes with Washington's stated intention to prevent the spread of the Gaza war to the rest of the Middle East. The reality is that the conflict has already spread across the region and that the move is unlikely to stop the rebels; in their support for the Palestinian cause, they have the backing not only of Iran, but also of a large section of Yemenis, and the sympathy of the Arab populations.
The bombings, which the US repeated in the early hours of Saturday morning, will degrade the offensive capacity of the Houthis in the short term, but the militia will once again be equipped by the Iranian regime. Predictably, Tehran condemned the punishment of its ally as a "clear violation of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and international law. No one expects him to take a step forward: he is not interested in a direct clash with the United States and has already managed to involve the US on several fronts. More significant was the call for restraint by Saudi Arabia, an ally of Washington, but which after eight years measuring its forces with the Islamic Republic through its war against the Houthi militia, is in the midst of a thaw process with the former and peace talks with the rebels.
In addition to the risk of its disengagement from the war in Yemen failing, Riyadh, like the rest of the Arab capitals, is also measuring its words because its population is viewing with sympathy the challenge that the Houthis pose to Israel. It matters little that the launches of missiles and drones against the coasts of the Hebrew state have not caused significant damage; or that some of the merchant ships attacked in the Red Sea have no apparent connection to Israeli interests. They are the only ones they see acting in the face of the tragedy that the Palestinians are experiencing and that they follow almost to the minute through the screens of their mobile phones.
The Houthi movement is often referred to as a "pro-Iranian militia". They are, but not only. The group, whose name is Ansarullah or Ansarallah (depending on how the transcription is made from Arabic to English or Spanish, and which means Supporters of God), emerged from an evangelistic movement at the end of the last century with the aim of reviving Zaydism (the branch of Shiite Islam followed by a third of Yemenis). Inspired by the Lebanese Hezbollah (Party of God) and against the background of their political marginalization, they evolved towards social care and created a military branch that faced the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh in successive wars. It was then that they began to be known as Houthis (pronounced juzis, with a soft jack) after the name of the clan that led those revolts. After Saleh's departure, following popular protests in 2011, Ansarullah allied himself with the part of the army that supported him and seized power in Sana'a; That prompted Saudi Arabia to intervene on behalf of the ousted president and unleash 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, which served as an alibi for Saudi cross-border intervention. For the Islamic Republic, Yemen was not a priority country in its regional strategy. When the Houthis took Sana'a in early 2015, they acted against Tehran's advice. However, Iran's Revolutionary Guards quickly understood that the rebel group was a trump card to keep its Saudi rivals in check, without too much cost. Since Israel's intervention in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, Ansarallah has proven himself to be one of the most daring 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 waiting for the storm to pass and the attacks on shipping to stop. It's unlikely. The Houthis maintain that, because of the war in Gaza, they are preventing Israeli-linked ships from crossing the Red Sea. As suggested by last Friday's well-attended demonstrations in Sana'a, Taiz and Hodeida (the main Yemeni cities under militia control), these actions that have put international trade in check have broad popular support. In addition, their spokesmen have vowed 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 could hit a rebel warship, causing an even greater attack on Yemen, one of the world's poorest nations.
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