Nothing to lose: why the Houthi are such a difficult enemy

Despite no shared border between Israel and Yemen, and more than 2000 km between them, a radical terrorist group in Yemen has become a major challenge to Israel.

Shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Houthi rebels declared their commitment to stand by Hamas in its war against Israel.

During the year and a half that has passed since, they have launched more than 350 attacks using ballistic missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that have paralysed the southern seaport of Eilat, Israel’s main gateway to the Asia and the far east, and have literally brought it to the verge of bankruptcy. Last week the Houthi spokesperson threatened that Israel’s sea port of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast will be their next target.

In addition, the Houthis’ attacks have been causing major disturbances to Israel’s main international airport. The images of a massive crater caused by a ballistic missile strike on Ben Gurion airport last month had a major disturbing effect.

According to Israeli officials, 41 international airlines were operating flights to Israel on routine days, but now only 27 do so. Companies such as Lufthansa, Ryanair and ITA Airways, Italy’s flag carrier, are still hesitant to resume their services to Israel. The accumulated damages to Israel’s economy by these attacks have been estimated at billions of dollars. 

Israel has retaliated with several long-range aerial attacks on different targets in Yemen, causing devastating damage to infrastructures. However, the effect on the Houthis’ motivations or capabilities seems to be limited at best.

To better appreciate the challenge presented by the Houthis and the difficulty in countering it, some background is needed. They are a radical Shiite Islamist group who toppled the official Yemeni government back in 2014 and took over large parts of Yemen. Thanks to a massive backing by Iran’s Shiite regime, over the years the Houthis have been equipped with sophisticated Iranian-made weapon systems including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and UAVs.

Iran was also responsible for the training of the Houthis’ militia forces as well as provision of intelligence and technical information that have enabled this local group to become a major threat to global freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

On an ideological level, the Houthis hold a deep religious animosity towards the West in general, and Israel specifically. This is expressed clearly on their banner that reads: “Allah is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse upon the Jews, victory to Islam.”

The combination of religious extremism and advanced weapon capabilities through the patronage of Iran has turned the Houthis into a regional actor that is hard to defeat. In addition, their leadership shows little concern at casualties or the price being paid by the population under its control. The devastating humanitarian situation caused by the Yemen civil war, that was initiated by the Houthis, has had no effect on the movement’s leadership, which refused any political compromise.

The Houthis’ extremism, together with their lack of regard towards the appalling humanitarian conditions in the area under their control, has put them in a “nothing to lose” state of mind, in which typical rational thinking fails to function. Over the years they have had to face far superior military rivals, starting with the Saudi and UAE armed forces a decade ago and ending with US-led coalition in the past few months.

Nevertheless, the clear military superiority of the Houthis’ enemies was ineffective in deterring them, eventually leading their rivals to disengage altogether. The recent Trump administration announcement of “victory” over the Houthis after two months of a massive aerial campaign, did end their attacks on US navy in the Red Sea, but their almost daily attacks on Israel continue as before.

Israel is now left alone to deal with the Houthi challenge that has already been proven to be especially resilient to military pressure, and it seems that only ending the war against Hamas in Gaza will lead the Houthis to cease their attacks altogether. The Houthis have made this declaration a number of times. In addition, during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas few months ago, they stopped their fire and restarted only after Israel resumed its attacks on Hamas.

Some have suggested an alternative approach, which is for Israel to retaliate against Iran, the Houthis’ sponsor and main supplier of arms. But with Washington currently negotiating a new nuclear agreement with Tehran, such a move would set Israel on a direct collision course with Trump. This could be highly risky in a time when Israel has become an international pariah and its dependence on the US support is greater than ever.

Under these conditions it seems Israel’s citizens will need to get used to living with daily bomb sirens due to the Houthis ballistic threat. They will be forced to hope that Israel’s advanced air defence systems will intercept the incoming missiles and that in the statistically inevitable case of a missed interception, the physical damage will be limited. But the absurd economic fallout of this situation will continue as long as the Israeli government refuses to end the war against Hamas.