For much of the past decade Yemen’s Houthi militia built its reputation as an insurgent force fighting a domestic war against the internationally recognized government and Saudi-led coalition. Today, however, its military campaign extends far beyond Yemen’s borders TurkicWorld reports via arabnews.
From missiles and drones fired at populated areas to attacks on airports, energy facilities and commercial shipping, the Houthis have demonstrated both the capability and willingness to place civilians and critical infrastructure at risk as part of a broader regional strategy.
That threat returned to the forefront on Friday after Houthi attacks targeted Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran region, drawing strong condemnation from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi described the attacks as a “heinous terrorist crime” and a “flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” accusing the Houthis of deliberately and indiscriminately targeting civilians and civilian objects, or non-military targets.
Such attacks required accountability and represented a serious threat not only to regional security but also to international peace and stability, he said.
Albudaiwi said that Saudi Arabia’s security was inseparable from that of the wider GCC and that member states stood united with the Kingdom and supported measures taken to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, citizens and residents.
The Najran attacks are the latest illustration of a strategy the Houthis have developed over years of conflict: using missiles, drones and other relatively inexpensive weapons to threaten population centers and economically significant infrastructure far beyond the territory they control.
“The Iran-backed Houthi militia has repeatedly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure since it seized power by force in a coup in northern Yemen in September 2014,” Badr Qahtani, Gulf affairs editor at Asharq Al-Awsat, told Arab News.
“Even oil export facilities, which had helped Yemen’s internationally recognized government generate revenue to pay some public sector salaries, have been targeted by Houthi attacks.”
Years of conflict have transformed the movement from a largely domestic militia into one possessing an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, armed drones and naval weapons.
Western governments, Gulf states and UN experts have repeatedly accused Iran of providing weapons, technology and training to the group.
Qahtani argues that the relationship with Tehran is fundamental to understanding the movement’s actions.
“The group has one function: to advance Iran’s agenda by attacking civilians, military personnel and Yemen’s neighboring countries,” he said.
“The Houthis have not built hospitals, schools or other institutions that support civilian life. Instead, much of what they inaugurate consists of cemeteries and ideological mobilization centers aligned with Iran.”
The result is a non-state actor capable of projecting force hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of kilometers beyond Yemen.
The attack on Najran fits a pattern established during years of Houthi attacks against Saudi territory. Airports, cities, oil installations and other infrastructure have repeatedly come under missile and drone attack, particularly during the most intense phases of the Yemen war.
Abha International Airport was targeted multiple times, including attacks that killed or wounded civilians, demonstrating the danger posed when military operations are directed at or near facilities overwhelmingly used by the public.
Saudi energy infrastructure has also been a frequent target.
The 2019 attack on the Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities temporarily disrupted roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. The Houthis claimed responsibility, although the US and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran.
The attack illustrated how strikes against infrastructure could generate consequences extending far beyond the immediate target, affecting international energy markets and economic stability.
Inside Yemen itself attacks on oil infrastructure have carried a different but equally damaging consequence.
Facilities used by Yemen’s internationally recognized government to export crude have been attacked by the Houthis, disrupting a vital source of state revenue in a country already devastated by war and economic collapse.
The loss of this oil income has constrained the government’s ability to fund basic services and pay public sector salaries, illustrating how attacks on infrastructure can ultimately inflict their greatest costs on civilians rather than governments.
Such incidents highlight a defining feature of the Houthi strategy: the ability to use relatively inexpensive weapons to threaten targets whose disruption carries vastly greater economic and political costs.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war that strategy has increasingly extended into the maritime domain.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea and around the Bab Al-Mandab Strait while launching missiles and drones toward Israel.
The militia says its maritime campaign is intended to target ships connected to Israel and pressure it over its military operations against Palestinians.
The broader threat has forced commercial shipping companies to reconsider passage through one of the world’s most important trade corridors.
The Bab Al-Mandab connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and ultimately the Indian Ocean. Together with the Suez Canal, it forms a critical route between European and Asian markets.
Threatening that corridor therefore allows the Houthis to impose costs far beyond Yemen.
Shipping companies have diverted vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, adding thousands of kilometers to journeys. Insurance costs have risen, delivery times have lengthened and supply chains have been disrupted.
Civilian crews have also found themselves on the front line of the conflict.
“The group’s impact has gone beyond Yemen and its immediate neighbors, as it now poses a threat to maritime navigation and international shipping, with the potential to drive up the prices of goods,” Qahtani said.
“This threat prompted the United States and European Union countries to establish two separate coalitions to address the problem.”
The US established the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian in response to the Red Sea attacks, while the EU launched its own maritime security operation to protect freedom of navigation.
For Qahtani, the longer term concern is what happens if the Houthis continue acquiring weapons capable of extending their reach and increasing their leverage over these waterways.
“If the Houthis continue to acquire increasingly sophisticated military capabilities they will, like their Iranian backers, continue to hold strategic waterways hostage and destabilize the region in pursuit of Iran’s interests,” he said.
Albudaiwi’s accusation that the Houthis deliberately and indiscriminately targeted civilians and civilian objects places the latest incident within a broader international-law debate surrounding the movement’s methods.
Ports, airports and energy infrastructure can complicate that assessment because some facilities may have both civilian and military functions.
The Houthis maintain that their operations are directed against legitimate targets associated with their enemies. Their critics argue the pattern of attacks demonstrates a willingness to expose civilians to unacceptable risk in pursuit of political and military objectives.
The expansion of Houthi operations has triggered an extensive international military response.
The US and its allies have deployed naval forces to protect commercial shipping, intercepting missiles and drones launched toward merchant vessels.
The US and UK have also carried out repeated strikes against Houthi missile launchers, radar installations, weapons storage facilities and command infrastructure inside Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has launched a multinational maritime defense initiative backed by 14 countries to protect commercial shipping and energy routes through the crucial passages.
Yet military pressure has not eliminated the threat.
Today the Houthis can influence international shipping, global energy markets and the security calculations of governments from the Gulf to Washington.
Their weapons do not have to overcome sophisticated air defenses every time to achieve strategic impact. Forcing airports to suspend operations, ships to change course or governments to deploy expensive defensive systems can itself produce political and economic consequences.
For Saudi Arabia and its GCC partners Friday’s attack also reinforces the collective nature of the threat.
Albudaiwi’s declaration that Saudi security is an integral part of GCC security reflects growing recognition that missiles and drones launched by non-state actors do not respect national borders and that attacks on civilian infrastructure can quickly acquire regional consequences.
The question confronting the region is therefore no longer simply whether the Houthis can be contained inside Yemen. It is how governments can deter a movement that has learned to translate comparatively inexpensive drones and missiles into outsized economic, political and security pressure — while threatening the civilians, infrastructure and maritime arteries on which the region and the wider global economy depend.
