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The crisis in the Red Sea/ What do the Houthi rebels represent?

2024-01-14 08:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

An international coalition led by the US retaliated after weeks of attacks by Yemeni rebels on ships in the Red Sea. What do the Houthi rebels represent and what do they want to achieve?

After the "Prosperity Guardian" operation against the Houthi rebels, the situation is escalating significantly. With their attacks on ships, the rebels have been demonstrating for weeks their support for the Palestinian cause and the Islamic radicals Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They declared that they will continue to attack any ship that goes to Israel, until the Israeli army lifts the blockade of the Gaza Strip and allows the delivery of food and other necessities of life.

In the immediate aftermath of the US- and Britain-led attacks, Houthi rebels vowed revenge. "The battle will expand far beyond the imagination and expectations of the Americans and the British," the AP news agency quoted Ali al-Kahumin, a senior Houthi official, as saying.

Origin and identity

The Houthis belong to a tribal group from a mountainous area in northern Yemen that borders Saudi Arabia. Religiously they belong to the Zaydis, a sect within the group of Shia Muslims. Unlike many other Shiites, the Zaydis do not believe in the return of a hidden imam, the so-called Mahdi. However, the Houthis' affiliation with Shia Islam is an important basis for their good relations with Iran, which sees itself as the supremacy and representative of Shia interests in the region. In Yemen, the Zaydis make up a third of the population.

The Houthis and the civil war

Since the so-called Arab Spring of 2011, the Houthis have increasingly accused Yemen's central government in Sana'a of marginalizing Zaydis and suppressing their rights. They also accused the Yemeni government of being extremely close to Israel and the US. On the basis of these accusations, the Houthis were raised in 2014 against the government of the then president Abed Rabo Mansur Hadi. He was able to stay in office only thanks to an international military alliance led by Saudi Arabia. The alliance has been fighting Houthi rebels since 2015 - but without success.

The Saudi-backed government controls the south of the country, while the Houthis control the north. They are supported by Iran. This is why the civil war in Yemen is also considered a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis have tanks, vehicles and missiles of various types, which they say they have mostly looted from the regular Yemeni army.

Radical anti-Israel ideology

The ideological course of the Houthi rebels can be understood from their motto: "Allah is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, curse to the Jews, victory for the Islamic religion." In their territory in northern Yemen they have established a strict Islamic order. They combine religious militancy with a strict anti-Western and anti-Israel course. The name the Houthis use for themselves - "Ansar Allah" (helper of Allah, supporter of Allah) - also reflects this spirit.

Close relations with Iran

The Houthis are considered close allies of the Iranian government. They see themselves as part of the so-called "axis of resistance" against Israel and the US, which also includes the Lebanese Hezbollah, various Iraqi militias and the Syrian regime, political scientist Hamidreza Azizi from the Science and Politics Foundation explains in a conversation with DW. SWP) in Berlin. However, the Houthis differ from Iran's other partners. On the one hand, they are less dependent on Tehran than, for example, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and on the other hand, they are not directly dependent on the Iranian command and control system, says Azizi./ DW