Houthis

March 18, 2025 5:33 PM

Yemen’s Houthis won’t ‘dial down’ under US pressure or Iranian appeals

Yemen's Houthis will not "dial down" their action against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in response to U.S. military pressure or appeals from the group's allies such as Iran, the Yemeni militant group's foreign minister said. Jamal Amer spoke to Reuters late on Monday after the U.S. launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza. Two senior Iranian officials...

March 17, 2025 10:00 AM

US vows to keep hitting Houthis until shipping attacks stop

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the U.S. defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned group signaled it could escalate in response to deadly U.S. strikes the day before. The airstrikes, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 53 people, are the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One U.S. official told Reuters the campaign might continue for we...

March 16, 2025 10:13 AM

Who are Yemen’s Houthis and why are they under attack by the US?

U.S. President Donald Trump has launched the biggest military operation in the Middle East since taking office against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis after they resumed Red Sea shipping attacks. The strikes, which have killed at least 24 people so far, could last for weeks according to one U.S. official and come as Trump ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE HOUTHIS? In the late 1990s, the Houthi family in the far north of Yemen set up a religious revival movement fo...

March 16, 2025 7:47 AM

Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 24 killed

U.S. President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 24 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days. Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis' main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!" The unfolding strikes ...

March 12, 2025 2:47 PM

Yemen’s Houthis to resume attacks on Israeli ships after Gaza aid deadline ended

Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire. The Houthis had launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping from November 2023, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. During that period, the group sank two vessels, seized another and killed at least ...

December 31, 2024 9:43 AM

Israel, at UN, warns Houthis risk sharing same fate as Hamas, Hezbollah

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations issued on Monday what he called a final warning to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants to halt their missile attacks on Israel, saying they risked the same "miserable fate" as Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria's Bashar al-Assad if they persisted. The ambassador, Danny Danon, also warned Tehran that Israel has the ability to strike any target in the Middle East, including in Iran. He added that Israel would not tolerate attacks by Iranian proxies. But hours l...

December 24, 2024 3:44 PM

Israel asks diplomats to seek Houthis’ listing as terrorists

Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen designated as a terrorist organisation. The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what the group describes as acts of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israeli forces in Gaza. The attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation...

September 27, 2024 11:17 AM

US diplomacy in Mideast falters as clock ticks down for Biden

U.S. efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire remain stalled after nearly a year of fighting. Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to attack Red Sea shipping. And now, despite intense U.S.-led diplomacy, the Israel-Hezbollah conflict threatens to flare into an all-out regional war. With the clock ticking on his administration, U.S. President Joe Biden faces an arc of Middle East crises likely to defy solution before he leaves office in January and which look all but certain to tarnish his foreign polic...

September 26, 2024 9:24 PM

Iran, Hezbollah enabled Houthis’ rise, says UN report

Yemen's Houthi rebels have grown "from a localised armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization" with the help of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists, according to a confidential report by U.N. sanctions monitors. The independent panel of experts, who report annually to the U.N. Security Council, said Houthi fighters had been receiving tactical and technical training outside Yemen, traveling on fake passports to I...