OF ALL THE WARRING GROUPS in all the various conflicts in the Middle East, the Houthis in Yemen seem to me to be the least well understood relative to their importance, at least based on news reports about them.
asserted
Houthis → war → them
Too often this faction is summarized as merely an “Iran-backed” terrorist group.
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faction → summarize → group
That is true, but nothing close to the whole truth, and so misleading that I worry it may cause some Americans—including policymakers—to arrive at unrealistic and dangerous conclusions about what kind of threat the Houthis pose to American interests and what American policy toward them should be.
uncertain
policy → worry → them
Last weekend, Saudi Arabia once again defended itself against Yemen.
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Arabia → defend → Yemen
The Houthis fired at least twelve missiles and two drones at Saudi territory.
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Houthis → fire → territory
While Saudi air defenses claim they intercepted and destroyed the missiles, including one headed toward Riyadh, the incident marks the continuation of a month of bombardment against the kingdom that has grounded thousands of flights and disrupted shipping.
uncertain
that → claim → shipping
The Houthis have escalated their attacks against Saudi Arabia’s airports, energy facilities, and military installations, including a devastating attack earlier this month on Riyadh’s international airport that killed thirteen and wounded hundreds more—the deadliest attack on the country in over a decade.
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that → escalate → decade
For Americans focused on the Iran war, the temptation may be to view these attacks as yet another example of Tehran directing its regional proxies.
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Tehran → focus → proxies
That interpretation overlooks the fact that Houthis have been fighting Saudi Arabia for more than a decade.
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Houthis → overlook → decade
The current campaign reflects the Houthis’ own particular political, territorial, and economic ambitions.
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campaign → reflect → ambitions
They don’t need instructions from Iran to attack their northern neighbor (although Iran certainly benefits), they have reason enough—and now they also have cover from the ongoing confrontation between the United States and Iran.
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they → need → States
To know how to address the problem, it’s first necessary to know who the Houthis are, where they come from, and what they want.
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they → know → what
THE HOUTHIS EMERGED IN THE 1990s from a political and religious movement in northern Yemen.
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HOUTHIS → emerge → Yemen
Rooted in the country’s Zaydi Shia community, they initially challenged the Yemeni government’s political and economic policies, eventually becoming an armed insurgency.
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they → root → policies
By 2014, the Islamist group had beaten back the Yemeni Army and seized the capital, Sanaa.
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group → beat → capital
Saudi Arabia feared that a hostile insurgency along its southern border, especially one supported by Iran, could become a permanent threat to the security of the Saudi state and the royal family.
uncertain
insurgency → fear → state
What followed was a grinding war involving airstrikes, ground offensives, missile attacks, blockades, and an extraordinary humanitarian catastrophe.
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followed → follow → airstrikes
Since 2014, hundreds of thousands have been killed by violence, disease, or famine; millions have been displaced; and Yemen has become one of the world’s most desperate humanitarian emergencies.
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Yemen → kill → emergencies
But for all that, neither side has achieved its original objectives.
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side → achieve → objectives
Even with support from the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s military superiority did not translate into the defeat of the Houthis, while the Houthis’ control of northern Yemen never translated to control of the entire country.
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control → translate → country
Over time, with the help of Iranian technology and know-how, the Houthis improved their missile and drone capabilities and repeatedly demonstrated that they could threaten Saudi cities and critical infrastructure.
uncertain
they → improve → cities
A United Nations–brokered truce in 2022 significantly reduced large-scale fighting, and Saudi Arabia subsequently pursued negotiations to extricate itself from the conflict.
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Arabia → broker → conflict
But the truce never resolved Yemen’s underlying and ever-expanding political disputes, and negotiations failed to produce a lasting settlement.
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negotiations → resolve → settlement
The fighting diminished, but the war’s fundamental causes remained—a warning to contemporary American policymakers.
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causes → diminish → policymakers
The Houthis, while certainly allied with Iran and to some degree dependent on it for support, are not an arm of the Iranian government.
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Houthis → ally → government
The Houthis make decisions based on their own calculations, and their ambitions in Yemen don’t always align perfectly with Tehran’s priorities.
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ambitions → make → priorities
After the October 7th attacks, the Houthis started their current campaign of attacks against shipping in the Red Sea, with the apparent goals of raising revenue through ransoms and of positioning themselves within the Arab and Islamic world as defenders of the Palestinians in Gaza—especially as the Gulf States were initially tacitly supportive of Israel.
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States → start → Israel
That campaign paused after both Israel and the United States carried out a series of airstrikes against the Houthis, hitting both military and economic targets.
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Israel → pause → targets
Then the Houthis started up again.
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Houthis → start → ?
An American bombing campaign, Operation Rough Rider, lasted for about seven weeks in the spring and summer of 2025 but attracted relatively little media attention (with the exception of the Signalgate scandal that emerged from the Trump administration’s handling of one set of strikes).
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that → last → strikes
That autumn, as part of the fragile Israel–Hamas ceasefire, the Houthis agreed not to attack commercial shipping in exchange for an end to the airstrikes—that is, until the United States started a new war with Iran in February.
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States → agree → February
The renewed escalation in 2026 should therefore be understood not as the beginning of another war, but as the latest chapter in one that has never truly ended.
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that → renew → one
For the first month after the United States and Israel began their campaign against Iran, the Houthis were quiet.
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Houthis → begin → Iran
It’s not known publicly whether Iran asked the Houthis to retaliate at that time, but it seems possible the Yemeni group was biding its time, waiting to see what would happen in Tehran.
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what → know → Tehran
Only weeks after the election of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader of Iran, when it was clear there would be no regime change, did the Houthis restart their campaign against Red Sea shipping.
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Houthis → restart → shipping
Since July, Houthi forces have conducted offensives along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategically important city of Taiz.
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forces → conduct → Taiz
Government-aligned forces continue attempting to break the Houthi encirclement of Taiz, but even a successful operation would accomplish little without securing the roads connecting the Taiz to Aden, the nominal seat of the Yemeni government since it lost the official capital, Sanaa (though many of Yemen’s leaders spend a great deal of time in Saudi Arabia).
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many → align → Arabia
Those inter-city routes are essential for moving supplies, reinforcements, and commercial goods.
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routes → move → supplies
Meanwhile, the Houthis have sought greater control over territory near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow maritime passage connecting the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea—and therefore also connecting the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.
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Houthis → seek → Ocean
Control of this coastline provides military advantages, economic leverage, and the ability to threaten international shipping.
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Control → provide → shipping
…and 37 more, not listed.
The Aporia
