The Houthis once again fail to read the ‘regional room’
Fighting has flared up in Yemen once again, this time involving Saudi Arabia, in what could be a pivotal moment for the Arabian Peninsula. The Iran-backed Houthi militia, which controls much of Yemen’s north-west and the capital, Sanaa, reportedly attacked a Saudi oil tanker near the Red Sea port of Yanbu on 24 August, just days after attacking areas under the control of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, including the port city of Mokha, which sits close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic waterway.
Yemeni government forces have responded to the attacks, leading some to ask why a military resolution to the conflict has been delayed. The fighting broke a four-year period of relative calm, after a temporary peace deal was reached in 2022. There have been at least four rounds of talks to find a more permanent solution, but all have failed to persuade the Houthis to alter their course.
The United Nations, as well as Arab and foreign governments including the United States, has undertaken mediation, with former President Joe Biden appointing Tim Lenderking as Special Envoy for Yemen. He said the US had its own tools and approach to addressing the Yemeni crisis, but a breakthrough never materialised, and the Houthis are now working in tandem with Iran to exert pressure on the US over two international shipping routes: Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively controlled by Iran.
In search of results
The US military has launched airstrikes against what it described as the Houthis’ “ballistic missile launch platforms and military manufacturing workshops”. US President Donald Trump’s administration also reinstated the group’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, while the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on entities, banks, exchange companies, and individuals it said were linked to the Houthi militia and involved in smuggling weapons and funds to them. These measures have yet to produce any tangible results.
Israel has also launched airstrikes, but these damaged civilian facilities that constitute national assets and are not linked to the Houthis, who have little concern for their destruction or loss. Israel said it had killed several Houthi leaders, but the veracity of this claim remains unclear. The Houthis operate in secrecy and often do not publicise the identities of those killed for months or even years.
The United States and Britain have been mentioned in claims that weapons supplied by the two countries were being misused by some parties within the governing coalition. Some now want Washington and London to suspend their military, intelligence, and logistical support for the coalition. Western capitals have believed that they could deal with the Houthis directly, bypassing Iran, and that this would lead to the militia’s appeasement and containment, but time has shown that the Houthis are increasingly determined to stand alongside Tehran.