The Houthis Are Ready to Play Their Part in a Total Iran-Israel War

A senior official of the powerful Yemeni movement already engaged in direct confrontation with Israel and United States forces has revealed to Newsweek that the group is committed to coming to the aid of its Iran-aligned alliance in the event that the ongoing conflicts surrounding Gaza spiral into a major regional war.

"As for our defense of ourselves, our region, and those with whom we have alliances, such as the Axis of Resistance," Nasreddin Amer, deputy information secretary for Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, told Newsweek, "we will certainly never stand idly by in the face of any foreign, Western aggression against any country in our Islamic world."

Other Axis of Resistance factions, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have also entered the fray since the conflict in Gaza began nearly seven months ago.

Tensions soared significantly earlier this month, however, after Israel conducted a deadly airstrike on a building attached to Iran's embassy in Syria, killing several military personnel, and Iran launched a major direct missile and drone attack on Israel. Ansar Allah joined in on that historic salvo alongside other Axis of Resistance factions in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, after which Israel reportedly responded with a missile strike on Iran.

Now, Amer asserted the group would take a leading role should an all-out escalation erupt, one that would include defending its Axis of Resistance allies.

"Even if it is one of those countries with which we disagree, we will never leave it alone," Amer said. "So, when it comes to those with whom we have alliances, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and other parties of the Axis of Jihad and Resistance, we will certainly stand with all strength and determination alongside each other, and these are basically the teachings of the Quran."

The comments come as Ansar Allah presses on with its unprecedented campaign of maritime attacks against mostly commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as long-range missile and drone strikes against Israel itself. Already facing repeated rounds of airstrikes by the United States and the United Kingdom, the group has asserted that its campaign would not end until Israel ceased its offensive against Gaza, where war has raged since the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Ansar Allah has also claimed direct attacks on U.S. equipment. In the Yemeni group's latest announced operation, Ansar Allah military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed on Monday that naval, missile and air forces conducted a successful hit against two U.S. warships alongside a strike against the Cyclades cargo ship, identified by U.S. officials and maritime trackers as being Malta-flagged and Greece-owned.

In response, U.S. Central Command issued a statement saying that the "Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) and three UAVs from Yemen into the Red Sea" toward the Cyclades.

The statement also said that U.S. assets "successfully engaged and destroyed one Houthi launched airborne unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a flight path" toward the U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Philippine Sea and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Laboon in the Red Sea.

CENTCOM later on yet another incident in which U.S. forces were said to have "successfully engaged and destroyed an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen."

"It was determined the USV presented an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region," CENTCOM said. "These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels."

Just two days earlier, Ansar Allah took credit for the downing of a U.S. MQ-9 reaper drone said to be "carrying out hostile missions" over Saada province. The Pentagon has acknowledged the loss of one of its UAVs without confirming that it was taken down by enemy action.

Newsweek reached out to U.S. Central Command for comment.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that they will continue to carry out more military operations in support of the Palestinian people until the siege is lifted and the aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is stopped," Saree said at the time.

Washington has sought to dispel the narrative that Ansar Allah was acting in the true interest of Palestinians, but the group's messaging has proven pervasive.

A poll published last month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that some 83 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank were satisfied with Yemen's performance in the conflict, substantially more than any other regional actor in question, including Qatar, Hezbollah, Iran, Jordan and Egypt.

Though not internationally recognized, Ansar Allah considers itself to be the legitimate representative of Yemen. The Zaidi Shiite Muslim group led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi seized Sanaa in 2015 amid worsening instability that rocked one of the Arab world's poorest countries in the wake of the Arab Spring protest movement that ultimately toppled longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh and now exerts control over up to 80 percent of the country's population.

Shortly after the capital fell to the rebels, Saudi Arabia established a regional coalition that began waging U.S.-backed operations in support of Yemen's exiled government, initially led by Saleh's deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and then by Presidential Leadership Council Chair Rashad al-Alimi for the past two years. Ansar Allah managed to withstand the intervention, however, and responded by commencing a campaign of missile and drone attacks on the neighboring kingdom.

The U.S., Saudi Arabia and other partnered nations have accused Iran of directly providing military aid to Ansar Allah, something both sides deny.

Fighting in Yemen's civil war has declined significantly since a United Nations-brokered ceasefire was first reached two years ago. Tensions further subsided last year after Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish relations in a deal mediated by China.

The conflict in Gaza, however, has reignited regional frictions. While efforts continue toward a negotiated solution to the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen and only one Arab state, Bahrain, has so far officially joined the U.S.-led coalition established in December to safeguard maritime trade, the monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula have been increasingly put on edge by the growing unrest off their shores.

At a joint meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Gulf Cooperation Council General Secretary Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi expressed the eight-nation regional grouping's "great concern over the escalating tensions in the Red Sea, following the ongoing attacks by the Houthis on maritime navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb and the Red Sea area, which pose an unacceptable threat to international trade, regional security, any other national interests."

Blinken also lashed out against Ansar Allah, which he said has "not only undermined security, but they're undermining the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the region, including in Yemen," as well as against Iran, referring to the Islamic Republic as "the greatest threat to regional stability and regional security."

Iranian officials, meanwhile, hailed Tehran's role in maintaining regional peace as the country celebrated Persian Gulf National Day on Monday. The day marks the end of the Portuguese Empire's 117-year occupation of the region four centuries ago. In a statement issued Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran's proposal to establish a coalition with neighboring states.

"Most of the problems in the Persian Gulf stem from the intervention and presence of foreign powers in the region who have a superficial, false and profiteering understanding of its developments," Amir-Abdollahian said. "The intervention and role of extraregional countries not only did not bring stability and security to the people of this region, but it also turned peaceful cooperation to confrontation and disunity."