Self-proclaimed members of the “axis of resistance”, a term referring to armed groups hostile to Israel aligned with Iran, the Yemeni Houthis have claimed, since October 7, 2023, multiple launches of explosive drones and ballistic missiles, as well as attacks on commercial and military vessels putting the maritime traffic in the Red Sea under pressure. Actions that demonstrate their disruptive capabilities — but above all their regional ambitions.
In response to these repeated attacks, the United States and the United Kingdom launched several strikes on Houthi-held military sites in early January 2024, raising fears of escalation in the region.
Why does this group of rebels, which controls a large part of Yemen, multiply attacks in the Red Sea?

Who are the Houthis?
Taking their name from the Al-Houthi family clan, the Houthis represent a politico-military movement that developed in the 1990s in northern Yemen, in the governorate of Saada, a province bordering Saudi Arabia. Unlike about two-thirds of the Yemeni population who are Sunni, the Houthis affiliate with Zaydism, a minority branch of Shiite Islam mainly located in the country.
Nostalgic for the Zaydi imamate — a politico-religious regime long established in North Yemen that ended after the republican revolution of 1962 — the Houthis share the idea of a revival of Zaydi cultural identity. An identity that, in their view, was gradually erased by the central government, especially after the unification of Yemen in 1990. The Houthis therefore structure themselves around feelings of marginalization and discrimination, experienced as loss of political, social, economic and religious influence. They see as a threat the spread of strict Sunni currents such as Wahhabism coming from Saudi Arabia.
These grievances, combined with complex clan rivalries, lead Houthi supporters to oppose the central government ever more confrontationally. Through armed conflicts against the regime in the early 2000s, the popular uprising of 2011, and the civil war that began in 2014, the rebels gradually imposed themselves as the new masters of Yemen.
Today they control about 30 % of the territory: a large portion in the north and west of the country, the port of Hodeida on the Red Sea, and the capital Sanaa. Altogether, the Houthis exert authority over nearly two-thirds of the population.

How did they manage to expand their power in Yemen?
In the early 2000s, the movement led by Hussein Al-Houthi, a former parliamentarian turned dissident, gradually emerged as the only force capable of challenging the regime’s policies. The Houthis particularly criticized the alliance between the United States and Yemen in the counter-terrorism fight. They railed against American imperialism and Israel, seen as major threats to the country’s sovereignty. The slogans raised by its supporters bear witness: “God is great. Death to America, death to Israel, the curse on the Jews, victory for Islam.”
The leader in power — the ageing autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, in office since 1978 — grew uneasy at this movement that found resonance among the population. This confrontation between government forces and Zaydi insurgents led, from 2004 onward, to a long armed conflict called the “Saada war”, during which Hussein Al-Houthi was killed. His death helped radicalize the movement.
From 2011, in the wake of the Arab Springs, popular protests led to President Saleh’s departure. Houthi militias used that uprising to consolidate their territorial control in the north of the country. The former vice-president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was tasked with leading a transition intended to produce a new constitution that would include all forces in the country. However, the government proved unable to deliver a convincing solution to political and communal divisions, and failed to meet the population’s aspirations.
The Houthi rebels capitalized on that failure and, aided behind the scenes by Iran and former president Saleh, seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014, then the presidential palace a few months later.
That coup d’état sparked the internationalization of the civil war. Saudi Arabia, where the deposed president took refuge, formed a regional military coalition in 2015 and committed to restoring the internationally recognized government.
But the conflict became bogged down and the jihadist threat loomed. Despite massive efforts, Saudi Arabia failed to shift the balance of power against the Houthis, and acknowledged the failure of its coalition. Seeking now to extricate itself from this quagmire, Riyadh opened the way in April 2023 to peace negotiations with the rebels. The cost of the conflict is extremely high: according to the UN, the war has resulted in 400,000 casualties, including many civilians. The country is presently enduring “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” according to UNICEF.

Why do the Houthis attack Israel?
The armed group, which acquired its military arsenal with the help of Iran, has long made the struggle against Israel an ideological hallmark. The recent attacks do not surprise experts on the Yemeni conflict. “One could expect that a group whose ideological formation is anti-Israel and anti-American is not just a slogan to take part in that front, with or without Iran’s green light,” explains to Le Monde Farea Al-Muslimi, researcher at the Chatham House think tank (London).
The Houthi rebels are primarily conducting a show of force intended to increase their legitimacy among their people, rather than to meaningfully influence the conflict between Israel and Hamas. “Their participation in the struggle against Israel is a tremendous opportunity to unify the Yemeni population, which is overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian yet suffers hunger and corruption under mafia like governance,” adds the Yemen specialist.
While gaining the support of a population torn by a severe humanitarian crisis, the rebels also hope to extend their influence in the region and to compete with Saudi Arabia. It is a “calculated strategy” whose aim is to “put pressure on the Americans” in order to “accelerate the conclusion of an agreement with the Saudis”, says Maged Al-Madhaji, co-founder of the think-tank Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.
However that strategy could backfire on the Houthis. After the seizure of the vessel Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in November 2023, the United States had announced that it might again designate the rebel group as a “terrorist organization”. A decision that, if taken, could block this quest for legitimacy.
• This January 2024 article was republished following the Houthi rebels’ strike on Tel Aviv airport in Israel on Sunday May 4.
See also: Les houthistes, révoltés insoumis du Yémen