The past and present life of the Houthis in the Red Sea | Think tank perspectives

On January 2, 2024, the Arab television station Sky News reported that armed speedboats of Yemen's Houthi rebels, also known as Ansarra, and a U.S. warship clashed fiercely in the Red Sea.

According to statistics, in the week before the new year, the exchange of fire between the international escort coalition led by the United States, Britain and France and the Houthis has escalated, and 20 Houthi drones were shot down in just one day.

Since the outbreak of the new Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis have opened fire on passing ships from 35 countries, quickly becoming one of the most prominent geopolitical players outside of Palestine and Israel.

Since the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003, the Houthis have openly raised the banner of anti-US and anti-Israel, and to this day they have translated slogans into actions and driven ideology into geopolitical games.

There are endless grievances with the government

What kind of organization is the Houthis?

The Houthi Movement is an armed rebel force in the Republic of Yemen that has long been based in the northwestern border province of Saada. Since its establishment in the 90s, the Houthis have continued to grow and develop, and their actions have not only affected the political and security situation in Yemen, but also affected the security and stability of the Middle East.

The Houthis were formerly known as the Believing Youth, a reaction to the continued marginalization of Zaide forces after the fall of their Islamist regime. Zaid, also translated as Sa'and Zaydi, is one of the three major branches of Shia Islam, composed of followers of Zaid ibn Ali, the son of the fourth generation of Imam Ali ibn Hussein Zain Abidin.

The Zaide sect recognized the legitimacy of the four caliphs, did not believe in the theory of "hidden imams", and opposed the deification of religious leaders and saint worship, so they were quite different from the other two major Shiite branches, the Ismailis (also known as the Seven Imams, concentrated in North Africa and other places) and the Safari (twelve imams, concentrated in Iran and other places), and were closer to the mainstream Sunni Muslims. The Zayed sect currently exists only in Yemen and belongs to the moderate wing of the Shiite sect.

Historically, the Zay'd faction had long held power in Yemen, but the military coup of 1962 completely changed the fate of the Za'ids. On 26 September 1962, the Free Officers Organization launched a revolution under the leadership of Ali Abdullah Saleh to overthrow the Shiite monarchy established in northern Yemen by the Zay'd Imam dynasty and establish the Yemeni Arab Republic. After the republican government came to power, it adopted a series of marginal policies against the Zaide faction in the political and economic fields, and used high-pressure means to squeeze out the living space of the Zaide faction, which not only caused the political influence of the Zaide faction to continue to decline, but also caused a series of social problems such as the sluggish economic development of the regions and tribes to which the Zaide faction belonged, and the deterioration of the people's living standards.

In the 70s of the 20th century, in order to curb the expansion of Shiite forces in North Yemen, Saudi Arabia, which regarded Yemen as its backyard, supported the expansion of Sunni Salafism and provided it with a large amount of economic assistance.

In addition, as a branch of Sunniism, the Salafists exported to the grassroots the masses an ideology that constantly challenged the core of Zaide doctrine and threatened the authority of Zaide ideology. As a result, under the dual pressure of the marginalization of the republican government and the invasion of external forces, the leaders of the Zaide faction had to think about what to do in the future.

By the 90s of the 20th century, a rising sense of crisis prompted some Zaidites to promote a revival movement. In 1992, Hussein Houthi launched a religious revival movement called the Youth of Faith movement and founded the Young Believers, the predecessor of the Houthis.

In 1978, Saleh, a military strongman, became president of Yemen and himself was a Shiite believer. Driven by the need to counter the rise of Sunni power in the country, Saleh fostered the development of youth faithful organizations. In 1993, Hussein Houthi was elected to the Yemeni parliament with the support of Saleh, and the Young Faithful organization began to expand rapidly. In 1994, four years after reunification, a civil war broke out between the north and the south in Yemen, and Saleh quickly put down the rebellion and reunited the group with the help of tribal forces, especially the Young Believers, which further strengthened the group. In 1999, Saleh was re-elected in Yemen's first general election. However, as the Young Believers' group grew in power, the Houthi proposed a theocratic state similar to Iran, which was at odds with Saleh.

In 2003, the outbreak of the Iraq war led to a breakdown in the relationship between the two countries.

Saleh supported the U.S. military campaign against Iraq, while Hussein Houthi raised the banner of anti-American and anti-Israeli, calling Saleh's actions a betrayal of the Islamic world, and Saleh immediately stripped the Houthis of his political office. In 2004, thousands of people were killed in a large-scale conflict between the Young Faithful led by Hussein Houthi and the Yemeni government, and Hussein Houthi himself was killed by Yemeni government forces in a military operation.

Later, as a sign of remembrance and loyalty to Hussein Houthi, his followers officially changed their name to the Young Believers as the Houthis, and their conflict with the Yemeni government continues to this day, making it the most powerful rebel force in Yemen.

After the killing of Hussein Houthi in 2004, his followers launched six rebellions against the Yemeni authorities (also known as the Houthi Wars).

After several years of tug-of-war, neither side has been able to defeat the other, and the post-pandemic situation has fallen into a state of no war and discord, which has also provided new opportunities for international mediation operations. The United Nations, Kuwait, Oman and others have organized peace talks on many occasions, but with little success. The ongoing civil war not only seriously threatens Yemen's political stability, economic development and social security, but also triggers a serious humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands of people killed and injured in the disaster.

However, the Houthis and the Yemeni government have so far failed to reach a peace agreement, and armed clashes between the two sides have occurred from time to time.

Anti-Semitism is deeply rooted

In October 2023, after the outbreak of a new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis immediately expressed their support for Palestine and used missiles and drones to attack targets in Red Sea waters several times. The Houthis said that all ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or flying the Israeli flag would be "legitimate targets" by the group. In addition to attacking a large number of passing merchant ships and detaining individual ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis have repeatedly fired ballistic missiles and drones at the southern Israeli city of Eilat and other places, which have been intercepted by the US Navy and Air Force and Saudi forces. Houthi spokeswoman Yahya Saaria said the attacks would not stop "until Israel stops its aggression" and the Palestinians achieve a "victory".

The Houthi movement in the waters of the Red Sea has caused a major shock that has a major impact on the global shipping industry and could be a drag on the world's economic recovery. To this end, the United States and many countries launched the "Guardian of Prosperity" operation (OPG), the Palestinian-Israeli conflict spilled over to the Red Sea, and the Red Sea crisis generated a worldwide shockwave.

What are the underlying motivations for the Houthis' involvement in the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

First, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic ideologies are deeply ingrained in the ideology of the Houthis.

The Houthis have a long history of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel ideology. Hussein Houthi, the founder of the Houthis, has declared that the United States and Israel intend to occupy Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest cities. When the Iraq War broke out in 2003, Yemen's then-President Saleh supported both the United States and Israel, which was strongly opposed by Hussein Houthi and his followers. Since then, in a series of clashes with the Yemeni government, the Houthis have proclaimed mobilization with slogans such as "Allah is greater", "death to the United States, death to Israel" and "victory for Islam".

In the context of the war in Yemen, the current leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik Houthi, often refers to Israel. In 2021, for example, the Houthis announced that the group intended to retake areas of Yemen that were under the control of "enemies" or else would fall into the hands of Americans, British, and Israelis. At the same time, the Houthis expelled the last Jews living under their rule. It can be seen that anti-Semitism and anti-Israel ism is one of the core ideologies of the Houthis, which has not only become a slogan for the Houthis to incite public opinion, win social support and strengthen the organization, but also provide ideological value for them to win external assistance, especially Iranian support. In the context of the new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis have targeted Israeli-linked targets, showing that their opposition and hostility to Israel and the Jews are not empty words.

Second, the Houthis are trying to assert their power at home in a radical way. Striking at Israeli-linked targets will help the Houthis strengthen their prestige and influence in Yemen and consolidate their internal power and position. In other words, support for the Palestinian liberation cause is an attempt by the Houthis to seek political legitimacy. As a rebel force, the Houthis are not accepted by the international community, and their aggressive policies and actions are intimidating to ordinary Yemeni citizens.

Third, strengthen its position as the centerpiece of Iran's "axis of resistance." It is widely believed that over the past decade, the Houthis have received significant public opinion, political and military support from Iran, and have become an important part of the Iranian-dominated "Shiite arc" and "axis of resistance." In particular, the "axis of resistance" is an anti-Israeli, anti-American alliance led by Iran, and the Houthis, Hamas, Allah in Lebanon, and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria are all important parts of the system.

In the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis hope to prove themselves as key members of the "axis of resistance" through their support for Hamas, so as to strengthen the internal ties and external echoes of the regional alliance and enhance their influence in regional affairs.

• (Liang Guoxuan is a Ph.D. student in the School of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, and an assistant researcher at the Institute of Circum-Mediterranean Studies, Zhejiang University of Foreign Chinese; Ma Xiaolin is a professor at Zhejiang University of Foreign Chinese and Dean of the Institute of Circum-Mediterranean Studies)

Liang Guoxuan and Ma Xiaolin, special researchers of the Southern Defense Think Tank

Editor-in-charge: Yao Yijiang