- Their attacks began shortly after the Israeli offensive that followed Hamas group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
- The Houthi group later sent missiles and drones towards Israel over their offensive on Gaza but they were all intercepted.
The name Houthis has been on news headlines for the past few months for various attacks on different entities. All this has been in solidarity with their ‘Palestinian brothers’.
Their attacks began shortly after the Israeli offensive that followed the Hamas group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The Houthi group later sent missiles and drones towards Israel over their offensive on Gaza but they were all intercepted.
They then resorted to attacking commercial ships on the southern part of the Red Sea, which they control on the Yemen Coastline.
While they claim to only target ships that are owned, or operated by Israelis as well as those that are headed to Israel, the missile and drone attacks have included vessels belonging to private people from other countries.
However, only a few of the attempted strikes have hit their targets.
The Houthis started their attacks last year and despite persistent attacks, the United States and the United Kingdom restrained themselves from retaliating until December 31, 2023.
The UK and US mainly target Houthi settlements in Yemen in an attempt to degrade their military capability. The Houthis, however, say that they are not discouraged by the attacks.
The Houthis have also tried boarding ships using small boats, and on one occasion successfully hijacked a cargo ship known as the Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023.
The group used a helicopter to land an assault team on the deck of the cargo ship and it is still being held off the Yemeni coast.
So who are the Houthis?
The group’s official name is Ansar Allah which means (Defenders of God).
Houthis are an armed political and religious group that champions Yemen's Shia Muslim minority known as the Zaidis. Others have described them as a Militia group.
The group emerged in the 1990s and was founded by politician and Zayidi activist Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi. It’s currently led by his brother Abdul Malik Al-Houthi.
The Houthis run a de facto government which collects taxes and prints money.
The Houthis are believed to be backed by Iran and are opposed to Saudi Arabia’s religious influence in Yemen.
The group is estimated to have about 20,000 fighters under its arm and controls most of northwest of Yemen, the Capital Sanaa and is in charge of the Red Sea coastline.
Most of Yemen's population lives in areas occupied by the group.
Early 2000s, the group fought a series of rebellions against Yemen's long-time authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. They wanted self-rule in the north of Yemen.
After Saleh handed power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi in 2011, the Houthis seized control of the northern province of Saada before taking the Yemini capital, Sanaa, after forming an alliance with Saleh and security forces loyal to him. In 2015, they seized more parts of western Yemen and forced Hadi to flee abroad.
The internationally-recognised government of Yemen is based in the southern port of Aden.