2023-12-16 10:22:49
The group has been immersed in a war with the coalition led by Riyadh since 2015 and has launched attacks against Israel since October
MADRID, 16 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Houthis, a Shiite rebel group that has operated in Yemen since the 1990s, have taken a leading role in the Middle East in recent weeks by joining the conflict that opened on October 7 after the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel and attacking numerous ships in the Red Sea area, threatening freedom of navigation in the area.
The group, officially known as Ansaralá (Followers of God), emerged in the province of Saada (north) after being founded under the name of Young Believers by members of the Al Huti clan with the aim of launching a Zaydi revivalist movement – a branch of Shiism–, which in the past had a dominant role between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the last Zaydi monarchy being overthrown in 1962.
The Houthis originally had their main figure in Hussein al Huti, who died in 2004 in the midst of the formation’s radicalization process after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to an increase in anti-American and anti-Israeli currents within the Houthis. group – which took the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah, supported by Iran, as a source of inspiration.
In fact, the death of Al Huti – brother of the group’s current leader, Abdulmalik al Huti – took place in the middle of a conflict unleashed after an order given by the then Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, for his arrest, which led to in a call to arms by the Houthi leader to his followers. The conflict continued sporadically until a ceasefire agreement in 2010.
Barely a year later, the group took advantage of the wave of protests in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ to join the criticism of the Government and achieve territorial advances in the north in the midst of the crisis, marked by the resignation of Salé in February 2012. for his vice president, Abdo Rabbu Mansur Hadi, to take office.
The Houthis’ advances materialized in an offensive launched in September 2014 against the capital and in the seizure of the presidential palace in January 2015, when they proclaimed their authority over the country, triggering a military intervention led by Saudi Arabia to support Hadi. , who continued to be internationally recognized as president, even though he had to flee the country.
The war has been marked by a game of alliances that led to surprise after Salé allied himself with them in an apparent attempt to regain the weight lost years before. The former president, who had led the country since 1978 – and who even compared running Yemen, which he unified in 1990, to “dancing on the heads of snakes” – died in December 2017 in an attack carried out by the Houthis against his vehicle days after he chose to change his alliances and announced “a revolution against Houthi aggression” and “a new page” in his relations with Riyadh.
Within the framework of the conflict that opened in 2015, the group has claimed responsibility for numerous missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which caused an increase in tensions between these countries and Iran, which has given military and economic support to the Houthis in the face of the offensive of the international coalition, backed by the United States.
Although the agreement reached in March between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore their diplomatic relations led to a diplomatic boost that has consolidated a truce that has been generally respected for months, the Hamas attacks have changed the situation on the ground and have opened the door to a new role for the Houthis in this area of the world.
PARTICIPATION IN THE CONFLICT WITH ISRAEL
The Houthis’ military operations spokesman, Yahya Sari, announced on October 31 that the group was joining the conflict by firing “a large number” of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel, while promising more such attacks. to “help the Palestinians achieve victory.”
Since then, the group – which is part of the so-called ‘resistance axis’ led by Iran and made up of Hezbollah and pro-Iran militias in Iraq and Syria – has carried out other attacks against Israel, which it assures it will maintain “until it ends.” “Israeli aggression” against the Gaza Strip. Likewise, the Houthis have expanded their activities into the waters of the Red Sea with the stated objective of affecting Israel’s capabilities and pressuring the country to end its attacks, which have left more than 18,000 dead, 50,000 injured and nearly 1, 9 million displaced in Gaza.
The Houthis announced on November 19 that they would attack all ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or flying the Israeli flag in the Red Sea, after which they hijacked the ‘Galaxy Leader’. After this, they stated last week that they will prevent the transit of any boat going to Israel until the Gazans receive “all the (humanitarian) aid they need.”
Since then, attacks against ships in the area have multiplied, including two hits in missile attacks that have resulted in no victims, which has raised alarms due to the serious threat to navigation that this poses in an area of strategic importance. for serving as a link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
STRATEGIC POSITION
The relevance of the strait is especially accentuated today, given that the majority of oil and natural gas exports from the Persian Gulf pass through Bab el Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. The international economic situation derived from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine depends largely on the stability of the energy market, which makes stability at these ‘chokepoints’ have special importance.
This importance has been reflected in the repeated condemnations issued by the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and countries such as the United States for the threat posed by the Houthis to freedom of navigation, which has led Washington to raise the possibility of creating a multinational maritime force to guarantee security in this area of the world.
However, the United States’ statements have quickly been met with a frontal response from Iran, which has already warned that this multinational force, if formed, would face “enormous problems.” Tehran has defended on multiple occasions the need for the countries of the region to be in charge of affairs in the Middle East and has requested the departure of US troops from the region.
The mission would be different from the maritime coalition that the United States already leads in the Middle East, made up of 34 countries and with its main base in Bahrain, which suffered a setback this year with the departure of the UAE in the midst of rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, responsible of various seizures of ships alleging acts of smuggling and against the environment in the Persian Gulf.
The situation has led the US authorities to once again declare the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, a list on which they were included in January 2021 just before Donald Trump left the White House and from which only one left. month later after the Joe Biden Administration came to power.
Along these lines, voices have increased in the United States in favor of a firmer stance against the threat posed by the group, which is part of an increase in attacks against US forces and objectives in the region by pro-Iranian militias. in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, without the Houthis having given any signs that they will change their position in the short term.
#Houthis #group #supported #Iran #threatens #navigation #Red #Sea #middle #conflict #Israel