Iranian and Hezbollah commanders help direct Houthi attacks in Yemen,
sources say
Send a link to a friend
[January 20, 2024]
By Samia Nakhoul and Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI (Reuters) - Commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah group are on the ground in Yemen
helping to direct and oversee Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, four
regional and two Iranian sources told Reuters.
Iran - which has armed, trained and funded the Houthis - stepped up its
weapons supplies to the militia in the wake of the war in Gaza, which
erupted after Iranian-backed militants Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7,
the four regional sources said.
Tehran has provided advanced drones, anti-ship cruise missiles,
precision-strike ballistic missiles and medium-range missiles to the
Houthis, who started targeting commercial vessels in November in
solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the sources said.
IRGC commanders and advisers are also providing know-how, data and
intelligence support to determine which of the dozens of vessels
travelling through the Red Sea each day are destined for Israel and
constitute Houthi targets, all the sources said.
Washington said last month that Iran was deeply involved in planning
operations against shipping in the Red Sea and that its intelligence was
critical to enable the Houthis to target ships.
In response to a request for comment for this story, the White House
pointed to its previous public comments about how Iran has been
supporting the Houthis.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/20/images/ads/current/fricke_sda_LUAL_2023.png)
In his weekly news conferences, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser
Kanaani has repeatedly denied Tehran is involved in the Red Sea attacks
by the Houthis. The IRGC public relations office did not respond to
request for comment.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam denied any Iranian or Hezbollah
involvement in helping to direct the Red Sea attacks. A Hezbollah
spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis, who emerged in the 1980s as an armed group in opposition to
Saudi Arabia's Sunni religious influence in Yemen, say they are
supporting Hamas by striking commercial ships they say are either linked
to Israel or are heading to Israeli ports.
Their attacks have affected global shipping between Asia and Europe
through the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen. That has triggered U.S. and
British air strikes on Houthi targets in the country, opening a new
theatre of conflict linked to the war in Gaza.
The Gaza conflict has also sparked clashes between Israel and Hezbollah
militants along the Lebanese border, as well as attacks by Iran-linked
groups on U.S. targets in Iraq and Syria.
"The Revolutionary Guards have been helping the Houthis with military
training (on advanced weapons)," an Iranian insider told Reuters. "A
group of Houthi fighters were in Iran last month and were trained in an
IRGC base in central Iran to get familiar with the new technology and
the use of missiles."
The person said Iranian commanders had travelled to Yemen as well and
set up a command centre in the capital Sanaa for the Red Sea attacks
which is being run by the senior IRGC commander responsible for Yemen.
REGIONAL STRATEGY
The Red Sea attacks fit in with Iran's strategy of expanding and
mobilising its regional Shi'ite network of armed militias to project its
influence and show its ability to threaten maritime security in the
region and beyond, two analysts said.
They said Tehran wanted to show that the Gaza war could be too costly
for the West if it drags on - and could have catastrophic consequences
in the region as things escalate.
"The Houthis are not acting independently," said Abdulaziz al-Sager,
director of the Gulf Research Center think-tank, who based his
conclusion on a close analysis of the capabilities of the group, which
has an estimated 20,000 fighters.
"The Houthis, with their personnel, expertise and capabilities are not
that advanced. Dozens of vessels cross through Bab al-Mandab daily, the
Houthis don't have the means, resources, knowledge or satellite
information to find the specific target and attack," he said.
White House national security spokeswoman Adrienne Watson also said last
month that Iranian-provided tactical intelligence had been critical in
enabling the Houthis to target ships.
According to two former Yemeni army sources, there is a clear presence
of IRGC and Hezbollah members in Yemen. They are responsible for
supervising military operations, training and reassembling missiles
smuggled into Yemen as separate pieces, the two people said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/20/images/ads/current/ldn_booksda_CHASSKAREN_010924.png)
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/012024PIX/news_g49.jpg)
Supporters of the Houthi movement rally to denounce air
strikes launched by the U.S. and Britain on Houthi targets, in Sanaa,
Yemen January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/20/images/ads/current/graue_new_buickenclave_010824.jpg)
Abdulghani Al-Iryani, a senior researcher at the Sana'a Center for
Strategic Studies, an independent think-tank, said: "It is clearly
the case that the Iranians are helping identify the target and the
destination. There is no local Houthi capacity to do that."
One senior regional source who follows Iran and who spoke on
condition of anonymity said: "The political decision is in Tehran,
the management is Hezbollah, and the location is the Houthis in
Yemen."
WEAPONS AND ADVICE
Houthi spokesperson Abdulsalam said the group's aim was to target
Israeli ships heading to Israel without causing any human or
significant material losses. U.S. and British strikes on Yemen would
not force them to back down, he said.
"We don't deny that we have a relationship with Iran and that we
have benefited from the Iranian experience in training and military
manufacturing and capabilities but the decision taken by Yemen is an
independent one that has nothing to do with any other party," he
said.
But a security official close to Iran said: "The Houthis have
drones, missiles and everything needed for their fight against
Israel but they needed guidance and advice on shipping routes and
ships, so it has been provided to them by Iran."
When asked what kind of advice Tehran offered, he said it was
similar to the advisory role taken by Iran in Syria, ranging from
training to overseeing operations when needed.
"A group of Iranian Guards members are in Sanaa now to help the
operations," the security official said.
Iran sent hundreds of Revolutionary Guards to Syria, alongside
thousands of Hezbollah fighters, to help train and organise Shi'ite
militia fighters from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan to prevent the
downfall of President Bashar al-Assad during the Sunni-led
insurgency that erupted in 2011.
Washington and Gulf Arab states have repeatedly accused Iran of
arming, training and financing the Houthis, who follow an offshoot
of Shi'ite Islam and are aligned with Tehran as part of its
anti-Western, anti-Israel "Axis of Resistance" alongside Lebanon's
Hezbollah and groups in Syria and Iraq.
While Iran has denied having any direct role in the Red Sea attacks,
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has praised the Houthis, whose Zaidi
sect is an offshoot of Shi'ism, saying he hoped their strikes would
last "until victory".
TRAIN AND EQUIP
A leader within the coalition of pro-Iranian groups denied there
were any commanders from the IRGC or Hezbollah on the ground in
Yemen right now.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/20/images/ads/current/moriearty_sda_LUAL_2023.png)
He said a team of Iranian and Hezbollah military experts had gone to
Yemen earlier in its civil war to train, equip and build the
manufacturing military capability of the Houthis.
"They came and helped the Houthis and left, just as they did with
Hezbollah and Hamas," he said, adding that the military capabilities
of the Houthis should not be underestimated.
The person said the Houthis knew the terrain and the sea well and
already had the systems in place for attacking ships, including
high-precision equipment from Iran.
During the chaotic years after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in
Yemen, the Houthis tightened their grip on the country's north and
seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, pushing a Saudi-led coalition to
intervene militarily months later.
When Hamas attacked Israel, Iran had little choice but to
demonstrate support for the Palestinian group after years of
anti-Israel rhetoric but was worried that using Hezbollah would
trigger massive Israeli retaliation, analysts said.
Iryani at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies said a major war
between Israel and Hezbollah would be disastrous for Lebanon - and
endanger the future of the group that has become the most important
in Iran's "Axis of Resistance".
By contrast, the Houthis were in a unique strategic position to have
a huge impact by disrupting global maritime activity with little
effort, he said.
(Additional reporting by Mohammad Ghobari in Aden and the Washington
bureau; Writing by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Angus McDowall and
David Clarke)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |