Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi movement said on Saturday that it had fired a missile as Israel joined the growing Middle East conflict. Earlier, the Israeli military announced that it had detected a missile coming from Yemen.
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), is an aspect of Yemen’s civil war. It emerged in the 1990s when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched Believing Youth, a religious revival movement of the centuries-old sect of Shiite Islam called Zaidism.
Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni government that took power after the 1962 civil war. The al-Houthi movement represents the Zaidi sect and was founded to resist radical Sunnism, particularly the Wahhabi ideology of neighboring Saudi Arabia. His closest supporters became known as the Houthis.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and overthrew the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government. The conflict escalated into a larger war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to try to repel the Houthis.
A ceasefire was signed in 2022, but expired just six months later. However, the warring parties have not returned to full-scale conflict.
The Houthis are backed by Iran, which began increasing aid to the group in 2014 amid an escalating civil war and conflict with Saudi Arabia. Iran provides the group with weapons and technology, including sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Houthis form part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, an alliance of anti-Israel and anti-Western regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
U.S. officials have tracked iterative improvements in the range, accuracy, and lethality of the Houthis’ homegrown missiles. Initially, most of the Houthi weapons produced domestically were assembled from Iranian parts that were smuggled into Yemen in pieces, a person familiar with US intelligence previously told CNN.
They have previously used drones and anti-ship missiles to target commercial ships, some of which are believed to have no ties to Israel, and prompted the Red Sea warship Carney to respond to a distress call.
