The television station owned by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen has been registered as a company in London for more than 10 years, The National can reveal.
Al Masirah TV uses a front company with a mailing address located at a cafe to maintain a toehold in the UK capital. One of the company's directors is listed as director general of the Yemeni station.
Its presence, and that of a series of other companies, has raised concerns over illicit funding, visa facilitation and intelligence gathering on political rivals. An intelligence expert told The National the set-up aids Houthi representatives with travel to the UK, providing plausible cover to conduct potential surveillance operations.
Jonathan Hackett, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, said it would enable access for Houthis who need visas to come to the UK.
“Using this facility as that cover makes it a lot easier in an immigration interview to be able to get a visa, because you have a plausible explanation, you have an overt reason for being in the country,” said Mr Hackett, who has also held positions at the US Defence Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.
“They're definitely not visiting to see a museum for cultural reasons. They're going to the UK most likely for two reasons.
“One is to speak to contacts they already have that are difficult to access. Otherwise, two, to gain new contacts. And I don't mean media contacts. I mean intelligence contacts for the [Houthi] movement, for Hezbollah and for Iran.”
A west London address for Al Masirah TV given on Companies House, where it is now listed as Almassira TV Channel Ltd, is located on a parade of shops in Hangar Lane. The premises is currently occupied by a coffee shop. A dingy alleyway at the side leads to a rear area used for fly tipping.
When The National visited, the owner said he frequently gets letters for companies that are registered there but do not have a physical presence. He said he knew nothing about the channel.
Al Masirah TV is the mouthpiece of the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, which has controlled large parts of northern Yemen since 2015 and exerts control over territory that is home to about 25 million people.
The movement is aligned with Iran and forms Tehran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, along with Hezbollah and Hamas. It was designated as a global terrorist organisation by the US in 2024.
The station’s output includes videos of ships being sunk in the Red Sea and missiles being fired. It reports the views of the Iranian government, for example that the recent protests were an Israeli plot, as well as those of Hezbollah.
Britain’s Royal Navy takes part in Operation Prosperity Guardian, to guarantee the safety of international shipping, which has been targeted by the Houthis in the Red Sea. Its warships have come under sustained missile and drone attacks.
The Houthi station was registered as a company in the UK in its current form in September 2014 but has never had assets of more than £200.
The company's current directors are stated to be Ammar Al Hamzy, the director general of the channel, and Yousef Ahmed Al Moyed. Both of their nationalities are given as Yemeni but Mr Al Moyed lives in Lebanon.
A former director is listed as Ebrahim Al Dulaimi, who is the Houthi ambassador to Iran and sits on the political council for Ansar Allah.
Trained by Iran
Mr Hackett, the author of Iran's Shadow Weapons: Covert Action, Intelligence Operations and Unconventional Warfare, says the Houthis have been trained by Tehran to use its techniques to gain access to western countries.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been able to use the cover of cultural and media organisations for travel and he says he believes the Houthis are following its example.
Germany shut down a mosque in 2024 that intelligence chiefs warned for years was a front for the Iranian regime. Hezbollah has been using a secret foothold stretching across northern Germany to spread its influence
Mr Hackett said a common practice employed by many countries is to seek out members of expatriate communities, such as those working in embassies, as sources of intelligence.
“This is something Iran does quite a bit," he said. "The Houthis are no different. They’ve been trained by Iran."
The length of time the company has been registered in the UK suggests that the Houthis were looking to create the impression that it has a legitimate purpose, Mr Hackett said.
“If it's going to be a successful operation, they're going to use something just like this to have a presence to say: ‘We've been here for 10 years.’”
Ella Rosenberg, a senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs and an expert on terrorism financing, said Al Marisah was an asset to the parent station.
Ms Rosenberg said while UK regulations are strict, the suspicions of compliance officers are unlikely to be aroused by a TV company.
“If the Houthis want to have a base in the UK to transfer money back into Yemen, for example, it will be much easier for them to do it with a company that's not associated with it directly, such as a media company.”
Hezbollah links
The current Al Masirah TV is not the company’s only presence in the UK.
A previous television company with the same name was registered in London in 2012, the year the station was founded in Beirut. That is also listed on Companies House as Almassira TV Channel Ltd.
The company’s sole director was Ali Krayem, a citizen of Lebanon.
Its only financial statement showed it had assets of £500,000, before it was wound up two years later, just days before the current TV company of the same name was registered.
The company was registered using a mailing address in Mayfair as another TV station, Al Ittihad TV, whose director was stated to be Nayef Krayem, the former chairman of Al Manar, Hezbollah’s TV station.
Mr Krayem’s full name is Nayef Abdel Hassan Krayem and he shares the same two middle names as Ali Krayem.
Al Ittihad TV, which lasted from 2010 until the end of 2013 as a UK-registered company, had a similar history to Al Masirah. Its only financial statement showed it was worth £2 million, with Nayef Krayem as the sole shareholder, before it was dissolved.
Bridget Toomey, an analyst at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, who researches the Houthis and Iran’s other proxies, said Al Masirah has had a presence abroad since it was founded.
“It was founded in Lebanon and senior Al Masirah figures have gone on to hold roles as Houthi representatives in Lebanon. One is now the Houthi ambassador to Iran.
“My assessment has been that they would open things like this in the UK as a cover for other opportunities they might want to pursue. So I think expanding this mouthpiece abroad would also allow them to open bank accounts in the UK.
“On the surface, a media organisation is a legitimate entity and, unfortunately, the EU and the UK have not designated the Houthis as terrorists yet, so it gives them a little bit of space to act.”
Ms Toomey said the close relationship with Al Manar could also extend to a UK-registered Al Masirah.
“Given the Al Manar support to Al Masirah (in Beirut) and co-operation there, it's entirely plausible that they would be involved in opening another Al Masirah office.”
She described Al Masirah broadcasts as containing “things that would or have, in the context of other terror groups, been classified as hate speech”.
“I think European countries should be moving to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation, which would proactively necessitate their business, their media arms, anything, being unable to operate in Europe.”
