US officials privately acknowledge the Houthis’ determination in the face of multinational attacks, and voice fears the rebels may seize on other reasons to continue their campaign even if a ceasefire can be reached in Gaza, as they have demanded.
One US official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to address sensitive security assessments, described the group as a “fanatical sect”, which he said was in some ways more ideological than Hamas and Hezbollah.
Houthi supporters attend an anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday.Credit: AP
“They want a fight and a scrap,” the official said. “When we talk about them being deterrable, we have to keep that in mind.”
But aid organisations are warning that recent Israeli strikes, which have struck key Yemeni transport, ports and other infrastructure, risk worsening already treacherous conditions for civilians who are trapped in a long-running civil war between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
In a new letter, a group of international and Yemeni groups, including Oxfam, CARE, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said December 26 airstrikes, which included attacks on Sanaa’s international airport, Yemen’s main Red Sea port and power infrastructure, threatened the ability of Yemenis to access food, electricity and medical treatment abroad.
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“The consequences of attacks on civilian facilities will be severe and long-lasting for Yemeni civilians, already suffering exhaustion from a decade-long conflict,” the groups wrote.
While the letter did not mention Israel by name, Israel has acknowledged the airport strike but said it was justified because of Houthi activity there.
Mohammed Albasha, a Yemen analyst and founder of the Basha Report, said that while US strikes had been more narrowly targeted on Houthi military sites and equipment, Israeli strikes targeting infrastructure in Houthi-controlled areas had wider implications for the availability and affordability of imported goods. Albasha said recent Israeli strikes had destroyed all tugboats that had been operating at the Hodeida, Ras Issa and al-Salif ports, meaning that container and bulk ships cannot dock and unload there.
This frame from video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in August 2024, shows explosions striking the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea after Houthi rebels boarded and set explosives on the tanker.Credit: AP
In a UN Security Council meeting on Monday about the Houthi threat, Israel’s representative to the United Nations, Danny Danon, vowed that the Houthis would “share the same miserable fate as Hamas, Hezbollah and Assad”. Israel has staked out military positions in southern Syria following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces in early December.
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While the Biden administration has affirmed Israel’s right to retaliate for Houthi attacks, a senior official issued a gentle reprimand on Monday at the Security Council, saying Israeli operations should not threaten civilians or civil infrastructure.
With only a few weeks before President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term and takes responsibility for US actions in the Middle East, Biden administration officials are cautioning that the effort to contain the Houthis’ rogue military drive must continue.
A second US official said that additional military and diplomatic action may be needed from countries within and outside the Middle East. “We’re all going to need to do more,” the official said.
Washington Post
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