Once again, the Houthis, to whom U.S. President Trump gave the order to “hit”, are on the world agenda. So, who are these Houthis? The Houthis are a Shiite organization in Yemen that is supported by Iran and is aligned with the resistance against Israel. In addition to the capital Sanaa, they also control the north of the country and the Red Sea coast.

After the attacks on the Gaza Strip by Israel began on October 7, they targeted Israeli-owned or Israeli-bound ships in the Red Sea to support Palestine. They are known as Ansar Allah and receive support from Iran. The Houthis garnered attention for attacking international commercial ships in support of Palestine during the Gaza War. These attacks made them targets of the U.S. and the U.K.

In the 1990s, they emerged to defend the Zaidi branch of Shiism. They were influential in the Saada region in the northwest of Yemen. They took their name from Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, one of the key figures in Zaidiyyah. Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Houthis started to gain attention with anti-American demonstrations. They also targeted the Yemeni government supported by the U.S., accusing President Abdullah Saleh of corruption. They drew attention with slogans like “death to America, death to Israel”.

During this period, their religious movements turned into an armed insurgency and they started to clash with government forces. Their leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi was killed by government forces in 2004. Ten years later, in 2014, they seized the capital Sanaa. Yemen’s President at the time, Abid Rabbo Mansur Hadi, who was supported by the U.S., had to flee to Saudi Arabia in 2015.

As the years-long war began in Yemen, the Houthis gained even more recognition internationally. In the internal war, Iran supported the Houthis while the coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia stood behind the Yemeni government. The U.S. also provided military support to the coalition forces. During this time, the Houthis made headlines with drone and missile attacks that crossed borders. The most notable one was the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities in 2019. Saudi Arabia’s oil production was disrupted, and oil prices rose.

A year later, they launched a ballistic missile attack on Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. In a drone attack on Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2022, three people died. After failing to defeat the Houthis, Saudi Arabia eventually sat down at the negotiation table. The peace talks are ongoing, albeit sometimes facing interruptions.

The Houthis still control the north of Yemen along with the capital Sanaa. They also have the Red Sea coast under their control. A large part of Yemenis live under Houthi rule. They collect taxes and even print money. According to the United Nations data from 2010, the number of their supporters ranges from 100,000 to 120,000, including armed militias.

After turning into an armed group, the Houthis chose the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon as their role model. It is said that they have been receiving military training from Hezbollah since 2014. The Houthis, along with Hezbollah and Hamas, define themselves as part of the resistance axis led by Iran. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of providing drones and missiles to the Houthis.

The Houthis made headlines again with the Gaza War. Describing themselves as advocates of Palestinians, the Houthis started targeting ships going to Israel in the Red Sea to support Gaza. In November, they seized a cargo ship they claimed belonged to Israel. They also launched drone and ballistic missile attacks on other commercial ships. On January 10, they announced that a U.S. ship in the Red Sea was targeted with missiles and kamikaze drones for supporting Israel.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) accepted a resolution on January 11 presented by the U.S. and Japan urgently demanding the cessation of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Approximately 12% of global trade is conducted through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, providing the shortest route between Europe and Asia.