Ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and armed UAVs that were launched in three different incidents in the last two weeks towards Israel are only the seeds of what the world is expected to see from the largest and richest terrorist organization in the world. An organization that was built by the craft of Iranian thought in the last decade.
To be precise, the taste of this terrorism has already been experienced by Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and American forces in the region since 2015 as the Houthis took over Yemen and turned it into a source of instability and a threat to the region. This even threatens global stability considering Yemen’s strategic geographic location and its control of the trade route: Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea.
In a post published on Twitter on behalf of the official spokesman of the Yemeni army, he expresses Yemen’s support for the Palestinians and notes the attacks they carried out against Israel. Hence, the Houthis today control the country and its institutions.
Content, rhetoric, threats, and above all active participation and the very act of attacking Israel with long-range fire, even before specifying the type of missile and its source, prove that this is an Iranian proxy force. Yemen is the only Arab country that actually attacks Israel. In Lebanon the story is different, where the attacks are not carried out in the name of the Lebanese state but in the name of the terrorist organization and the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah.
All according to the writings on the Houthi flag inspired by Iran: “Allah is great, death to the USA, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam”.
Background
The Houthis are a neglected and disadvantaged Shia-Zaidi minority in the “Zada” district in northern Yemen. They took advantage of an opportunity during the Arab Spring and gained strength until they took control of the capital city of Sana’a at the end of 2014. By February 2015 they already declared control of the country. Along with the rebels’ takeover of the Yemeni army and its multitude of arms, the rise of the Houthis’ power was supported by the Iranians and their affiliates, including Hezbollah, which was physically present in Yemen to aid, arm, and train the Houthis.
Since 2015, fighting has been going on between the Houthis and the Sunni axis led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the US. This fighting serves the Shia-Iranian axis which assured arming the Houthis with advanced weaponry that slowed down the Sunni coalition and caused it heavy losses, including damage inflicted on strategic installations, airports, oil fields, and the civilian front. The Iranians created a complex balance of power with instability and entrapment of the Saudis and the region, very similar to Hezbollah’s complex equation in the Lebanese/Syrian arena against Israel.
Recent events of the Houthi fight against Israel:
As mentioned, in the last two weeks we have witnessed the launch of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and armed UAVs towards Israel.
As of this writing:
• 19.10: The American destroyer USS Carney intercepted 4 cruise missiles and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles launched at Israel
• 27.10: Two UAVs were intercepted, but there were attacks in Nuweiaa and Taba, Egypt.
• 31.10 Launching of UAVs, cruise missiles, and a ballistic missile towards Israel. The ballistic missile was intercepted by the Israeli Arrow system. The cruise missiles were intercepted by F-35 aircraft, with the remains of a cruise missile falling in Jordan.
• 1.11 – The IDF intercepted an aerial threat south of the city of Eilat. After this a member of the political bureau of the Houthis in Yemen tweeted – “Eilat” – in fact, clarifying the intended target who was responsible for the launch.
These attacks are accompanied by many videos of Houthi leaders calling for a fight against Israel and demonstrations of force. Yemeni flags were raised in Lebanon in Hezballah strongholds, which indicates the connection and coordination between them.
In a military parade on 9/21/23, the Yemeni/Houthi forces displayed their weapons arsenal. Some of the ammunition seen there was fired at Israel and is a security threat to the south of the country. Israel has currently chosen to contain and not respond in Yemen itself while providing a limited response.
Israel’s neighbors Egypt and Jordan incurred most of the damage from the missiles that were launched, either from falling missiles or debris or through interruptions to freedom of flight in their airspace. This led Jordan to threaten the Houthis and demand an end to the launches.
The bottom line: It is enough seeing the short history of the Houthi terrorist organization turning Yemen into an Iranian-sponsored terrorist state to understand that regional stability is on borrowed time. Israel is only the first target, and the free Western world should be worried. Last September’s military parade is not related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but to a much larger event in which the network of Iranian proxies is being built throughout the Middle East to threaten Israel, American assets, and anyone who opposes the regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran in the Middle East.
In contrast to Lebanon, which is a country controlled by a terrorist organization, Yemen has been transformed into a terrorist state. Iran’s ability to carry out a move of this magnitude in such a short period of time and in such an important geographical location should keep the international community very worried.
