Yemen's Houthi rebels, who a few days ago announced that they were ready to intervene in the war in the Middle East, yesterday again attacked Israel with missiles, raising fears that the conflict could escalate and oil prices jump even more if they again try to block the sea lanes in the Red Sea.
The Houthis officially joined the war on Saturday when they fired two missiles at Israel. A day earlier, Mohammed Mansour, deputy minister of information in the Houthi government, told CNN that closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait "is a real possibility, and the consequences will be borne by the American and Israeli aggressors." The Houthis have a wide arsenal of weapons, including drones and anti-ship missiles, which pose a huge threat to ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb. The first missile launches against Israel on Saturday were very limited, and some analysts viewed the attack as a symbolic gesture rather than a large-scale action in support of Iran, CNN reported. "The truth is that (Israel) is at war with us and is in a state of continuous aggression against us," Nasr al-Din Amer, a representative of the Houthi political bureau, told the American media. The Houthis' actions, however, are raising the question of what strategic benefit they would have to join the conflict in the Middle East at this very moment.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are an armed group that was formed during the long-running civil war in Yemen, and has become the most powerful political force in the country, writes the British newspaper "The Guardian".
It is believed that the fighters of the Yemeni rebel movement currently number about 20,000. They belong to the Zaidi Shiites, who differ significantly from the more familiar Twelver Shiite movement, followed by Iranian and most Arab Shiite Muslims, notes the American think tank "Middle East Forum".
The Houthi movement, also known as "Ansar Allah", was founded by the tribal leader Hussein Badr ad-Din al-Houthi. in the 1990s. In 2004, the Houthis launched an armed struggle against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Houthis captured the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and overthrew Western-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi a year later. As a result, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with Western support, launched a military campaign against the Yemeni rebels. The fighting has killed an estimated 377,000 people and displaced 4 million by 2021.
In 2022, the UN brokered a ceasefire between the warring parties in Yemen.
How the Houthis have fared
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis attacked over 100 merchant ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
At that time, Yemeni rebels regularly fired missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems. In response, the US launched massive airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, including in the capital Sanaa, recalls "Time" magazine.
Israel also intervened and between July 2024 and October 2025 launched dozens of airstrikes against Houthi weapons depots in Yemen and also killed several senior military officers.
Despite the heavy losses that the Houthis suffered, they managed to protect themselves from complete defeat thanks to the fact that much of their arsenal is hidden in mountainous areas. The Houthis can still exert military pressure in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb straits, where even an attack on an oil tanker could block most commercial ships from ports.
Since Israel and the United States began their war on Iran, the Houthi leadership has been carefully preparing a pro-Iranian mobilization through public statements and media propaganda, writes Eleonora Ardemani, a senior researcher at the Italian Institute for International Policy Studies, a think tank. Leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi has repeatedly condemned the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, calling them a "brutal and unjust act of aggression". The Houthis portray the war against the Islamic Republic as an attack on the entire Islamic community (Ummah) aimed at realizing the project of "Greater Israel".
However, the Houthis refrained from declaring direct participation in the war until March 28, when they launched a missile attack on Israel.
What would the Houthis gain by entering the current conflict
According to Ardemani, the reasons why the Houthis have so far avoided participating in the Gulf War are related to one fundamental question - what could the Yemeni rebels gain from becoming a party to the conflict.
The attacks that the Houthis launched against Israel and against shipping in the Red Sea during the Gaza war have increased international attention to the Yemeni rebels, their status and the role they play in the Middle East and beyond. But the Houthis did not join the 12-day war between the United States and Israel against Iran in June last year.
The situation is different now, however, because of the role that Saudi Arabia has begun to play in Yemen.
In late 2025, the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) launched an offensive in the eastern province of Hadramawt, where much of Yemen's oil reserves are located. The JSP is a separatist movement founded in 2017 with the support of the OAE, and is trying to revive the state of South Yemen that existed from 1967 to 1990.
Hadramaut borders Saudi Arabia, and the kingdom has close religious and cultural ties with the province's residents. Saudi authorities saw the actions of the Houthi militias as a threat to their country's national security, and Riyadh-backed militias expelled the Houthi forces from eastern Yemen.
In January of this year, the Houthi militia was expelled from the ruling coalition.
The conflict has caused tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but Abu Dhabi has ultimately lost influence in Yemen, and Riyadh has assumed its strongest position since the Houthi coup in 2015.
Saudi Arabia has decided to increase its support for the internationally recognized Yemeni government, providing it with hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and helping to centralize its military command.
Saudi Arabia may now change its approach to the Houthis, predicts Alison Miner, who heads the Middle East Integration Division at the Atlantic Council.
In 2022, when The first national ceasefire in years was negotiated with the UN mediation, and the so-called Presidential Council of Yemen was formed. Riyadh viewed this body as a partner in possible future negotiations with the Houthis.
Negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, however, were suspended in 2023.
Recently, Riyadh has begun to strengthen the Presidential Council of Yemen, seeing it as an effective governing body that could pose a direct threat to the Houthis, commented Miner.
If the Houthis assess that Saudi Arabia's approach has changed and that there is no longer a possibility of concluding an agreement, the Yemeni rebels may resume their military actions, Miner predicted. It is possible that the Houthis may decide that while the Yemeni government is still recovering and Saudi Arabia is engaged in Iranian attacks, the time has come to launch a military offensive to seize Yemen's oil and gas resources, the American expert also wrote.
According to Ardemani, by joining the Gulf War, specifically through attacks against Israel, the Houthis can achieve three goals at once: to get even closer to Iran, to counter the US in the Red Sea, and to strengthen their leverage over Saudi Arabia.