The time has come to cut the Yemen-based Jihadists down to size

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/ MOHAMMED AL-WAFI

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ever underestimate an enemy.

This warning is crucial for Israel, which is fighting on multiple fronts and must quickly allocate and shift forces based on the most immediate threat at any moment. When Israeli security officials called for the US to promptly establish a regional coalition against the Houthis after they sank two ships in the Red Sea — an apparent provocation during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meetings with President Trump last week — the call showed that Israel is once again highlighting the Houthi threat.

The US should prioritize this issue. Unlike some policy makers who mistakenly view the Houthis as a nuisance, experts warn that the Iranian-backed Shia jihadists, who have controlled large swaths of Yemen since 2014, pose a serious military and economic threat, and not just to Israel.

American and Israeli airstrikes haven’t stopped the Houthis’ threat to global shipping. They can still sink ships, affecting oil prices and supply chains. About 15% of international trade goes through the Red Sea, where the Houthis operate. Shipping traffic in the Red Sea and Suez Canal is down 60% from its normal peak, as cargo vessels take longer but safer routes around Africa, which adds 10 to 15 days to the average route, doubling fuel and insurance costs.

Eric Navarro, a lieutenant colonel in the US Marines and director of the Red Sea Security Initiative (RSSI), said, “We have hit this area many times with air strikes and then waited or walked away. We need to root out the Houthis so they can’t reconstitute and threaten us again.”

Navarro shared his thoughts on a recent Middle East Forum podcast. The RSSI seeks to develop a long-term, unified strategy to eliminate the Houthi threat by influencing US policymakers, rallying stakeholders in the global shipping industry, and raising public awareness.

Navarro agrees that the US can’t be the only nation to control and patrol global trade routes, but he disagrees with those claiming President Trump’s America First strategy means avoiding nearly all foreign military entanglements.

“The Middle East is a critical strategic environment that must be maintained for our purposes and our allies’ purposes,” Navarro said, adding that China is watching US moves with an eagle eye. “We don’t want China taking the lead. We would not like a global order run by China.”

He contends that aside from the US and Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Oman are candidates to join a regional anti-Houthi bloc. “Those countries are looking for leadership. They want us to take the lead and clearly articulate our plans, especially after the shooting stops, and then they will get on board,” Navarro added.

Houthi Hate for Israel

The Houthis have been a power in Yemen for over 30 years. Founded by Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi in 1992, they built a power base in northern Yemen. After Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh resigned in 2012 following the 2011 Arab Spring protests, the Houthis exploited Yemen’s instability to expand their influence, seizing control of the capital of Sanaa in 2014.

The Houthis’ creed is epitomized by their sarkha (an Arabic term for a collective outcry): “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.” Their anti-Semitism is part of their political branding — a calculated ideological strategy that combines religious intolerance, drawing on Yemen’s historical harassment and discrimination against Jews, and anti-Semitic propaganda imported from Europe.

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, during Yemen’s anti-government insurgency in the early 2000s, Houthi authorities employed anti-Semitism as a political tool by threatening the Jewish community and destroying Jewish homes.

Iran took notice as Yemen descended into chaos, viewing the Houthis as potential allies and proxies to oppose Saudi and US influence in the region.

Iran’s Quds Force, the secretive branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), supplied the Houthis with arms and used intermediaries in Lebanon and Iraq to train them in guerrilla tactics, drone technology, and propaganda. Eric Navarro says all this has benefited Iran over the past two years, as the Houthis have demonstrated their advanced military skills, including the use of precision-guided ballistic missiles, an increased operational range, mass-produced drones, and the ability to mine shipping lanes.

“This isn’t like they’re taking potshots or launching a couple of dumb bombs here and there,” Navarro said. “They have demonstrated an improvement in their range and precision that we have to take notice of.”

Ask any Israelis who have sought shelter after air-raid sirens, and they will agree.

Clipping Their Wings

Navarro recommends a multipronged strategy: targeting Houthi weapon and drone manufacturing sites and missile stockpiles; forming alliances to provide rival tribes with weaponry to disrupt Houthi supply routes; using naval assets to intercept arms and establish maritime exclusion zones, while employing electronic and cyber warfare to stop drone swarms.

Air and naval power alone won’t be sufficient.

“Boots on the ground are necessary, but they don’t have to be US boots,” Navarro said.

He suggested revisiting the old doctrine of “Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” used in the War of 1812, which allows Congress to authorize private citizens to seize enemy vessels, cargos, and crews. Sea piracy isn’t easy work; however, the US often recruits mercenaries for covert operations to boost military gains and reduce risk to US forces.

Whatever the combination of strategy and tactics, the Houthis aren’t about to raise the white flag. Like all jihadists, they are willing and even eager to die for their cause. Iran, still licking its wounds from the Israeli and US attacks, is not in the same position to support the Houthis in the style they grew accustomed to, but the Houthis are not Iranian puppets. They are well armed, organized, and trained, and enjoy local legitimacy and tribal support.

Navarro agrees that eliminating them isn’t realistic. “We’re not talking about making all of them vanish,” he said. “They will probably always exist as some tribe or harassing insurgent, but we can eliminate the threat they pose to global trade routes, and get to the point where they’re not holding large parts of the territory. It might take months, or years, but it’s all connected to our strategy against Iran and what we must do to mitigate the threat Iran poses to the region.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1070)