Yemen’s internationally recognised government says Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have sent 21 experts to help the Houthis plan and run military operations.
Interior Minister Major-General Ibrahim Haidan made the claim in a statement on Tuesday. He said 14 of the experts come from the IRGC and seven from Hezbollah, and argued that foreign support has moved beyond funding, arming and training to “direct supervision and participation in planning and managing operations and building military capabilities.”
Locations and specialities of the alleged foreign experts
The statement said eight of the experts are in Hodeidah, four in Sanaa, four in Saada, two in Hajjah, two in Amran and one in the coastal city of Khokha. It listed their specialities as:
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- Command and control
- Ballistic missiles and drones
- Electronic warfare
- Smuggling military components
- Coordinating naval operations and picking commercial ships as targets
- Developing explosive-laden boats and autonomous submarines
- Training fighters in mine-laying and siege tactics
Warnings over Red Sea shipping and calls for action
Haidan warned that these activities threaten shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea, and could pass military expertise on to other armed groups. He urged the international community to label the Houthis a terrorist organisation, shut down their financing and arms networks, and enforce the arms embargo under UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2624.
Renewed fighting follows the 2022 ceasefire in Yemen
The statement comes as government forces and loyalist fighters battle the Houthis in five provinces. The Houthis seized the western Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb area in September, and the renewed fighting has ended a relative calm that followed a 2022 ceasefire. That ceasefire came after a long civil war which first erupted in 2014, when the Houthis took the capital, Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015 at the head of an international coalition aimed at restoring the recognised government. The government has long said the IRGC backs the Houthis, while Tehran insists the group acts independently. The Houthis acknowledge their alliance with Iran but have long denied being an Iranian proxy, and Hezbollah has previously rejected any role in Yemen’s war. Saudi Arabia, whose airports and oil facilities have come under Houthi attack in recent weeks, has accused Iran of encouraging the escalation.
