Somewhere in Yemen, morning dawns on a military camp in searing heat. Dark-haired children leap out of their narrow beds. They are wearing military uniforms and are about to undergo another day's training under their tough commanders. In a short time, they will become soldiers. Despite the declarations of a ceasefire, despite the low intensity of the fighting, the Yemeni civil war still simmers under the radar. To the north: the Ansar Allah (Supporters of Allah) militia, led by the Houthi tribe and supported by Iran; to the south, the pro-Saudi Yemeni government; and in the eastern desert of Hadramaut, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
According to the United Nations, 3,995 cases of children being recruited to the pro-Iranian militia were confirmed between 2015 and 2022 alone, but estimates from the past year are immeasurably larger. Children are recruited in several ways. One is to take advantage of their parents' difficult situation. According to testimonies taken from children who were recruited to the militias, they were lured in exchange for increased food quotas for their relatives. Others were recruited at school and at summer camps, where they underwent a process of indoctrination. In families that resist, the children are taken by force.
"We are not afraid of the missiles of the United States and Britain, we are afraid for the people of Gaza who are dying of hunger. We are sending a message to Mr. Abdul Malik al-Houthi [the leader of the Houthis movement]. We come with advanced military capabilities, in the name of Yemen and for Palestine. Morale is high. We are your people and victory is coming. Allahu Akbar, death to America, death to Israel," two Yemeni children from al-Jouf province decked out in uniform said for the cameras just a week ago. "The Houthis' goal is to turn Yemen into a recruitment camp for their future wars. That's why they focus on indoctrinating children," says Nadwa al Dawasari, a researcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. n are already being killed fighting for the Houthis. On March 24, for example, a sniper took up a position opposite the besieged enclave in the mountainous province of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen. He spotted the boy, shot him dead, and wounded two others. Houthi forces have surrounded the province from both sides for years; they have attacked countless times and captured parts of the enclave. Last February, the Houthis stepped up recruitment of children. Many thousands who had participated in Houthi summer camps, were called up as a reserve force to undergo combat training. A human rights organization noted that such camps had been set up in all Houthi-controlled provinces, taking advantage of international preoccupation with the war in Gaza. Some fear that the militia is already preparing for a large-scale offensive in southern Yemen.
The recruitment of child soldiers is not of course a Houthi invention. It was the Houthis' Iranian allies who sent children with keys to paradise to the killing fields of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s when tens of thousands of children were killed. But for the Houthis, the recruitment of child soldiers is not just a brutal tactic, it is a comprehensive strategy, part of a doctrine designed to grow future generations of the militia – soldiers, commanders, clerics, and even the leadership itself.
Until the turn of the millennium, almost no one paid attention to this radical Shiite faction in Yemen. The Houthis originated in Zaydism, a branch of Shiite Islam that settled in the north of Yemen back in the 9th century. Yahya bin al Hussein insisted on a Zaydi caliphate of his own. Because of a succession dispute, he wandered from the Hijaz to Saada province in northern Yemen, fighting, losing, and winning – until he established the first Zaydi dynasty in Yemen. He was nicknamed "Al Hadi il'al Haq" – the Guide to Truth.
The Zaydis have lived there since. Sometimes they ruled, others they were forced underground by the military force of the Sunni kingdoms. For a brief period, a string of military coups in northern Yemen and the unification with the southern republic created an optimistic illusion. The Zaydis seemed to have integrated into politics, and the era of the Imam, the successor of the Prophet Muhammad who held power, was gone forever. After all, those of them who enthusiastically embraced pan-Arab socialism even took part in the assassination of members of the ancient institution.
Over time, however, what emerged was a new elite among the Zaydis – the Houthi tribe, or more specifically, one family, that of Badreddin al-Houthi, which held more extreme positions and rode on the back of the Houthi resurgence in the early 1990s. The Houthis believed that not only was it better for the ruler to be a scion of the family of the prophet of Islam, but that it was also his duty and divine right, and that on the Day of Judgment, he would rule the entire universe.
Badreddin al-Houthi was a Zaydi cleric who was born in northern Yemen in the 1920s. Like many of the Zaydi elite, Badreddin identified himself with the Hashemite dynasty, which goes back to the circle of the Prophet Muhammad, and to the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Little is known about the founding father of the Houthis. He was known as a scholar of the Koran and took part in the founding of the "Party of Truth" (the name is not coincidental and alludes to the moniker of the founder of the dynasty).
The Party of Truth was a religious faction formed in the unified Republic of Yemen in the 1990s and which represented the Zaydi elite. However, the Party of Truth fared miserably, gaining only two seats. It fared even worse in the next elections, failing to get a single representative elected.
The elderly cleric died of illness in 2010 at the age of 84, but his 13 sons were the driving force behind the conquest of power in present-day northern Yemen. The eldest son Hussein, who founded the Ansar Allah militia, and the youngest son Abdul Malik, the current leader, rose to prominence.
Hussein was born in a mountain village 240 kilometers from the capital, Sana'a, just years before the Imam's rule was overthrown. As a young man, he accompanied his father on his travels to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and later to Hezbollah's strongholds in Lebanon. Inspired by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he studied at Shiite educational institutions in the city of Qom in Iran and believed he could one day lead a similar revolution in his country. In the 1990s, Hussein was a key partner in the founding of the Party of Truth, until he angrily quit it. Thanks to his new status, he won a scholarship to study abroad in Sudan and studied there for a master's degree in Koranic studies, after first having completed his bachelor's degree at Sana'a University. He is said to have ripped up his academic certificates in a fit of religious fanaticism.
Enthused by the ideas of the Islamic revolution, Hussein was the one who institutionalized and instilled antisemitism in the Ansar Allah movement. The slogan he chose for the organization in 2002 was "God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam." What began as a slogan however quickly became a cruel reality: In recent years, the last Jewish families of Yemen fled the country after being persecuted and extorted by Ansar Allah. In 2015, there were around 1,500-2,000 Jews in 2015 in Yemen, by last year there were no more. A community that lived in Yemen for 2,500 years had come to an end.
Like other Islamist leaders, he launched his project from grassroots. The Yemeni government accused him of illegally establishing religious educational institutions and of trying to set himself up as the Imam. Officially, the accusations were rejected, but they were not far from the truth. In classrooms, and Friday sermons in the Zaydi mosques, Hussein and his followers spread the radical doctrine he carried with him from Tehran, including hatred for Jews and America. They founded the "Merran Region Charitable Association" which raised and distributed donations for the construction of schools and hospitals and the purchase of medical equipment. The similarity to the modus operandi of the Muslim Brotherhood is not coincidental. Hussein studied at one point Sunni religious institutions run by the Brotherhood, the movement that gave rise to Hamas, the terrorist organization for which the Houthis have now harnessed their strategic capabilities.
Hussein considered the "Believing Youth" movement that he founded to be the pinnacle of his activities. It focused on establishing schools in the Saada, al-Jouf, and Sana'a areas through fundraising (some apparently from Iran). These institutions included summer camps and boarding schools. Other tribes also sent their disciples to these camps where the Houthi power base would be formed. And it is these camps that the Houthi movement hopes will be the foundations on which the new Zaydi kingdom, which currently has some 300,000 men in arms, will be built.
A clash with the central Yemeni government was only a matter of time. After leading an uprising, Hussein was killed along with several family members when his compound in the Marran province was bombed in 2004. About a month ago, his brother and successor Abdul Malik al-Houthi, speaking at an event marking 20 years to Hussein's death said this action was "the first war of three wars still ongoing against the Koranic project of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi."
The Yemeni regime was sure that Hussein's death would be the end of the Houthi uprising. After all, in the same operation, hundreds of Houthis were also arrested. It proved however to be merely the opening shot. Over the next 20 years, the Houthis rebelled and were suppressed, demonstrated, fought, won, and lost again: from year to year their power increased. When the Arab Spring began in 2010 the Houthis seized their opportunity. Crowds packed Sanaa's squares to protest against the corrupt government and their dire economic situation. Beneath the surface, plots were being hatched. Within months, the Obama administration called on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. By May, civil war had broken out. four years, Sana'a fell to the Houthis.
During the war years, the figure of Abdul Malik al-Houthi stood out. Despite being the youngest of the brothers (he is still only 44 years old), he rose to prominence thanks to his rhetorical skills and meticulous appearance. It's hard to find militia leaders who flaunt snow-white button-down shirts, a well-groomed black beard, and, of course, a huge ring – one that is suspiciously similar to those of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force who was assassinated by the United States four years ago. On top of all this, Abdul Malik gives speeches in polished literary Arabic that roll off his tongue.
His prominence has also worked against him: Yemeni government forces tried several times to eliminate him and failed. In a speech on Yemeni television on the eve of the takeover of the presidential palace in January 2015, he demanded reforms that would allow him to share power with the government of then-President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Two days later, Hadi resigned, and on May 26, a Saudi-led coalition invaded Yemen.
The war in Yemen deepened Abdul Malik's antisemitic, anti-Western doctrine. He drew a direct line between the alliance between Riyadh and Washington and that between Washington and Jerusalem. The Abraham Accords, which were launched thanks to a green light from the Saudis, further inflamed the conspiracy theories that he preached to his followers. In light of the recent attacks by the Western-Arab coalition, he found a new object for his animosity: "The trio of evil: the United States, Britain and Israel."
The war in Gaza, the Houthis believe, has brought them even closer to fulfilling the end-of-time prophecy in which the Prophet Muhammad's Yemenite successor raises a mighty army in Mecca, to conquer Jerusalem and bring justice to the world, explains researcher Nadwa Dawasri in a comprehensive article on the Houthis. "Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis graduated 45,000 fighters as part of their 'Al-Aqsa Flood Forces,' trained for this purpose," she writes
"Moreover," Dawasri adds, "under the banner of 'Learning and Jihad,' the Houthis aimed to recruit 1.5 million children into their summer camps during 2023. They have expanded their recruitment throughout northwestern Yemen for the 'Battle of Promised Conquest and Holy Jihad,' as Abdul Malik al-Houthi and the group's leaders declared in a recent speech. His commander-in-chief, Mahdi al-Mashat, described the Houthi fighters as the "men of Allah and the knights of Jerusalem."
The civil war in Yemen went on as the Western world dealt with other matters – for example, the murderous campaign of conquest by the global terrorist organization ISIS in the years after 2014, and the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Iran, however, did not for a single moment stop pumping weapons and munitions to the militia, including drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. This is in addition to training provided by the IRGC's Quds Force. From time to time, shipments of Iranian weapons were seized by the US Navy. The shipments seized were no more than a drop in the ocean.
In mid-March, a Russian news agency reported that the Houthis now possessed hypersonic missiles. Although Moscow has provided no proof, the militia has hinted at new surprises on several occasions. After attacking dozens of vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to the war against Hamas, Abdul Malik threatened in March that the Houthis would also start targeting ships headed for South Africa's Cape of Good Hope – an alternative route to the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
How significant have the Houthi attacks been? Some 12% of global trade, amounting to $1 trillion a year, passes through the Suez Canal. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly says that his country has suffered the worst damage from military operations in the Red Sea, which have caused a series of maritime trading companies to divert their vessels toward the Cape of Good Hope, bypassing the Suez Canal, which constitutes an important source of revenues for Egypt. "The events have led to a 50% drop in the annual revenue of the Suez Canal. This highlights the need to stop the war in Gaza to prevent the conflict from spreading," warned Madbouly.
The enormous economic damage caused by the Houthis led to the formation of a US-led naval coalition and a string of attacks by it and Britain on military sites in Houthi strongholds. Military camps, ballistic missile stockpiles, radar stations, weapons depots, drones, and naval vessels have been attacked. The Arab states that have fought the Houthis for years have preferred to maintain the status quo exactly at the time the Houthis have aroused the wrath of the West.
A senior US official told Sky News that the Saudis themselves have placed restrictions on the US using the kingdom's territory and airspace to attack the Houthis. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fears the threat to the kingdom's oil infrastructure and tourism industry, which has enjoyed an unprecedented boom this year. When making the decision, he would have been looking at the 430 ballistic missiles and 851 drones launched at Saudi Arabia during the years of intense fighting in Yemen.
Egyptian sources who spoke to Israel Hayom ruled out the possibility of a military intervention by Cairo: "Madbouly's talk about an expansion of the conflict in the region is an empty threat. It is intended to extort more handouts from the International Monetary Fund against the backdrop of Egypt's difficult economic situation," the sources said. They explained that Cairo is not interested in being sucked into military involvement in Yemen again, which could cost them thousands of lives, as was the case during the North Yemen civil war in the 1960s. Moreover, he said, the Egyptian army's readiness for war has deteriorated due to its monopoly on the economy, in which it is involved up to its neck.
Not only Arab countries think twice before taking action against the Houthis. Israel has also preferred to keep its distance from Yemen, even though since the beginning of the war it too has operated in distant arenas, according to foreign reports. On March 18, the Houthis launched a cruise missile that fell in Israeli territory for the first time - no casualties were reported. "Despite months of attacks by the United States and its allies, the Houthis have maintained their ability to attack Israel and military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Iran is now reaping the rewards of years of investing in Houthi funding, training, and equipment," said Ryan Brobst, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington-based think tank. As for Iran, the Biden administration has already sent representatives to discuss with its people in Oman the Houthi threat to the international trade route through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called on Iran to pressure the militia to stop the attacks. Blinken, it seems, is deliberately keeping his eyes shut. The Iranians themselves helped the Houthis hijack the Japanese-owned ship Galaxy Leader in November (the Houthis then provided some comic relief by telling the kidnapped crew members that they would be treated like Yemenis). Bloomberg recently revealed that a senior Iranian commander Abdul Reza Shahlai directed, from inside Yemen, the Houthis early attacks on Red Sea shipping.
While the Houthis continue to adopt an aggressive posture from northern Yemen, a few months ago a new prime minister was appointed in the port city of Aden. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, a former Yemeni ambassador to Washington who holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration was elected by the Presidential Council to head the executive branch of the pro-Saudi government.
Regional observers expressed optimism. They believe that, unlike other central Yemeni government politicians Bin Mubarak can take advantage of his connections in Washington and note that he holds hawkish views on the Houthis. Still, his greatest challenge will be to manage state institutions – especially after years of war and famine.
Stopping any future attack by the Houthis will likely be the main mission of someone who until not so long ago served as foreign minister. "The terrorist Houthi militia project is a danger that threatens everyone in the country, without exception," Bin Mubarak said in a video conference with his ambassadors around the world. "The Houthi militia's terrorist attacks in the Red Sea have nothing to do with the Israeli war in Gaza but with Iran's methodical plans as part of its sectarian sabotage project in Yemen."
At the same time, Bin Mubarak expressed concern that UN efforts to reach a road map for a settlement in Yemen have been halted, possibly putting an end to the hopes of a political solution. For many in the country, the Houthi escalation in the Red Sea, which has led to a naval blockade of Yemen, is another step in their war to conquer the rest of the country.
"The IMF estimated that growth [in Yemen] would reach 3 per cent in 2023, but Houthi attacks have led to a sharp negative decline," says Yemeni economic expert Hossam al-Saidi. "The attacks led to poverty and inflation as a result of the decline in the value of the Yemeni rial against the dollar in areas controlled by the (pro-Saudi) government, which in turn led to higher prices. They [the Houthis] attacked the ports that export oil during the UN-sponsored ceasefire, and in the shadow of the government's silence and helplessness, the economic situation became a card they used to open the port of Hudaydah under their control."
Houthi terror attacks led to a number of countries ceasing donations to the UN agency operating in Yemen. In late December 2023, the UN food program was shut down – another disaster brought upon Yemen by the Houthis. Khaled, a teacher in the city of Damar, confirmed in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that Yemeni suffering has been exacerbated by the suspension of the program.
A lawyer living in Sana'a said that Ansar Allah is constantly looking for justifications to undermine a permanent settlement and is cynically exploiting the war in Gaza. Other Yemenis attest to a policy of extortion and starvation towards the population under their control. Even Zaydi clerics, who do not toe the line of extremist Houthi thought, are thrown in jail. Most of all, it seems that, as with other international threats, the world will wake up too late.
