Shipping attacks give Iran-backed militants a long-sought regional role

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels are slowly turning the group of mountain fighters into a prominent regional player, a recognition they have long sought to acquire, according to experts.

The threat they pose to supply chains has attracted global attention, marking their transition from an Iran-backed local rebel group to an influential militia in the Middle East.

There are also growing fears that the Houthis could use this as leverage in any talks to end the war in Yemen after 10 years of fighting, which has caused one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.

“Before the war in Gaza, they were seen as a local group,” Maysaa Shuja Al Deen, a Houthi expert and senior researcher at the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies, tells The National.

“But the world has begun to see them as an Iran-backed faction … part of the axis of resistance.”

The Houthi militia are from a tribe in the poor, mountainous Saada region of northern Yemen. Since 2014, they have controlled vast northern, central and western parts of the impoverished country.

They have purged pro-government figures from the civil service and public life, established their own school curriculums and indoctrinated thousands of young people at summer camps.

The Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea in October after Israel launched its war in Gaza to eradicate Hamas, another Iran-backed group. In response, the Pentagon formed an international mission to protect shipping in the waterway.

“The Houthis are definitely in a different position than they were in a couple of months ago. As a result, they have managed to gain global attention. And with it, they’ve gained global relevance,” maritime security expert Ian Ralby tells The National.

“It is farcical and also extremely dangerous for the prospects of longer-term peace in Yemen, as the government of Yemen will never accept the Houthis using this situation as a way of gaining renewed legitimacy inside of Yemen’s conflict.”

Days before the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the Houthis arrested people demonstrating against them during celebrations of the 10th anniversary of their takeover of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. The show of dissent reflected the group’s growing unpopularity among ordinary Yemenis as taxes increase and governance remains weak in territory controlled by the Houthis.

However, since they began the attacks on what they say are Israeli targets, the rebels’ image at home has been bolstered.

“So many people believe that within Yemen itself, the Houthis’ involvement in the war on Gaza has helped them gain legitimacy in the areas they control – as if to paint them as defenders of Yemen from American and Israeli aggression during a time that Israel launches brutal attacks on Palestinians,” Ms Shuja Al Deen says.

Yemen’s warring sides were slowly moving towards a peace agreement before the Gaza war. However, the Houthis’ newfound status as an important member of Iran’s regional proxies means they will probably not accept any deal without major concessions from the internationally recognised government.

“They were essentially muddling along through the peace process, slowly moving towards being resigned to an outcome that they had not wanted. It wasn’t what they had fought for or what they’d risked their lives for over the last decade,” Mr Ralby says.

When the opportunity came to use their slogan of “death to Israel”, the group took it as a chance to make a bigger name for themselves, he says.

There are growing fears that the Houthis will use their newfound status as leverage in any talks to end the war in Yemen