Houthis consider resuming strikes on US targets to back Iran

Yemeni rebels claimed to have launched missiles at Israel in co-ordination with Tehran

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are considering resuming strikes on US targets in the Middle East and intensifying attacks on Israel in support of Iran, Yemeni security sources said on Sunday.

The sources, based in Sanaa and Beirut, told The National that the group’s leadership is considering the escalation in response to the US's apparent military support for Israel.

"The Yemeni [Houthi] leadership may resort to escalating its confrontation against aggression in the region," said one of the sources.

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"There is information that Israeli aircraft are using US carriers in the northern Red Sea to launch attacks on Iran, and that refuelling is being conducted in the skies over northern Syria and northern Iraq."

Another source said: "The Houthis are seeing the US again as a legitimate target now."

Last month, US President Donald Trump said the Iran-backed Houthis “capitulated” and that America would stop striking the rebels after they agreed to cease attacking ships in the Red Sea.

Houthi supporters take shelter from the sun with an anti-US and Israel placard beneath paintings of pro-Iran militant figures in Sanaa. EPA

Badr Al Busaidi, Oman's Foreign Minister, confirmed later that efforts to de-escalate the situation caused by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, had resulted in a ceasefire between the two sides.

However, the recent Israeli offensive against Iran could prompt the rebels to resume attacks on US forces in solidarity with Tehran, which has come under Israeli fire since Friday and responded with missile strikes on Israel.

Taking advantage

On Sunday, the Yemeni rebels claimed to have launched missiles at Israel in co-ordination with Iran, in the first acknowledged military action in support of Tehran by one of its regional proxies since the start of Israeli attacks.

The Houthis launched ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv in the previous 24 hours, the group's spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in an announcement reported by the rebel-aligned Saba news agency.

The region is braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites killed several senior generals and nuclear scientists. Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Iran, and neither side has shown any sign of backing down.

The Houthis, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Houthi supporters wave an Iranian flag during a protest in Sanaa. EPA

Hezbollah was once considered Iran's first line of defence against Israeli attacks, but Israel's retaliatory strikes against the group last year killed its political and military leaders and largely destroyed its arsenal. Lebanese officials have urged Hezbollah not to respond to the Israeli attacks on Iran and the group has assured them it would not, security sources told The National on Saturday.

Iran-backed groups in Iraq, who also launched attacks on Israel over the war in Gaza, have responded to the attacks on Iran by calling for the accelerated departure of US troops from the country, with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah warning of “additional wars in the region”.

Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen in recent months.

"It is not unlikely that Yemen's attacks will expand if Israel's escalating crimes against our people – including against Iran – are not stopped. Israel brings ruin to the entire region, without exception. Isn’t it likely that Israel will target Iraq next?," said one of the sources close to thinking of the Houthi rebels.

"It is only natural that the Yemenis take advantage of Israel being preoccupied with facing waves of Iranian strikes," added the source.

"Applying pressure on the Israeli entity from multiple directions, fronts, and avenues, militarily, politically, and economically, helps deter the Israeli government and its crimes across the region."