The US and the UK launched airstrikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in response to the group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea for almost two months. The war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has drawn in the Houthi rebels, who have controlled north-western Yemen for nearly a decade. Like Hamas, the Houthis are hostile to Israel and backed by Iran.

The rebels have said they are targeting Israel-linked vessels, though ships with no such direct connection have been affected. The leader of the Houthis has threatened a “big” response against the US and its allies for any military action.

1. Who are the Houthis?

They are rebels who seized control of Yemen’s capital Sana’a, in 2014, launching a civil war that continues to this day. Part of a clan that hails from Yemen’s north-western Saada province, the Houthis are followers of the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, which accounts for an estimated 25 per cent of the country’s population.

After North Yemen and South Yemen were unified in 1990, the Houthis waged a series of rebellions before taking the capital in 2014. The Houthis are anti-Western and anti-Israeli.

Analysts say the Houthis get training, technical expertise and increasingly sophisticated weapons – including drones and ballistic and cruise missiles – from Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hizbollah, a Shiite militant group. The US in 2021 revoked its designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group out of concern that the label would harm Yemenis’ access to basics such as food and fuel; the Biden administration in mid-November said it was reviewing that reversal.  

2. Have the Houthis declared war on Israel? 

The Houthis have declared Israel an enemy. In a televised statement in October 2023 after attempted missile and drone strikes on Israel, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the movement was targeting the country “in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine”, and said the operations would continue “until the Israeli aggression stops”.

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Israel launched a military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to an Oct 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, which is dedicated to Israel’s destruction and considered a terrorist group by the US and European Union.

3. What’s been happening in the Red Sea?

The Houthis have fired missiles on ships passing through the Red Sea and tried to board and take control of some of them, largely without success. Many of the attacks are launched from near the Bab al-Mandab strait that vessels pass through to enter the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean.

In November, the Houthis seized a ship beneficially owned by a unit of Israeli businessman Rami Ungar’s Ray Shipping Group. The Houthis fired a ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday (Jan 11), in what US officials said was the 27th attack on commercial shipping by the group since Nov 19.

4. Can the Houthis really attack Israel?

The Houthis claim to possess a liquid-propellant missile with a range of between 1,350 and 1,950 km – enough to potentially put Israel within striking distance. Yemen and Israel, separated by Saudi Arabia, are about 1,580 km apart at their nearest point.

The US military said cruise missiles and drones launched towards Israel on Oct 19 were intercepted by an American destroyer in the Red Sea. An attack on Oct 31 involved ballistic missiles and drones, according to the Houthis. On Dec 6, Israel’s military said the Arrow intercepted a Houthi missile over the Red Sea.

5. What triggered the Yemen civil war? 

In 2011, an Arab Spring revolt forced the country’s ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down after three decades in power. Under a US-backed transition accord, President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi replaced him, and talks set the stage for a constitutional convention and new elections. The Houthis, however, rejected a federation plan that arose from those discussions.

In 2014, the government lowered fuel subsidies, triggering protests, and the Houthis dislodged Hadi’s government, whose forces retain control of the eastern part of the country. In 2015, Saudi Arabia intervened in the war on behalf of Hadi’s government.

The violence has devastated ordinary Yemenis, who say that between airstrikes, economic collapse and growing starvation, life has become almost unbearable. BLOOMBERG