The regime in Tehran has been humiliated by Israel over the past year. Proxies Hamas and Hezbollah are decimated. Israel’s strike into Iran was itself humiliating, and it also gave Turkey and the HTS jihadist army in Syria impetus to overthrow proxy Bashar Assad. The Houthis of Yemen — the last proxy standing for the moment — are simply, a mercenary army.
They have no political philosophy except to kill the enemies of their patron.
After tolerating missiles aimed at its civilian population, Israel struck back. The Air Force targeted strategic infrastructure, including ports, the main airport and the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. There were also strikes on military infrastructure, power stations and fuel storage facilities.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was outraged, specifically referring to threats to the WHO delegation in Yemen at the time. “[A]irstrikes on Red Sea ports and Sana’a Airport pose grave risks to humanitarian operations at a time when millions of people are in need of life-saving assistance,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson.
He is aware, then, that Yemen is one of the poorest, most miserable, starving places in the world, suffering under the rabid, immoral, terrorist Houthi regime. Who says? Well, the UN, for one.
A review is important here.
Having seized the northern part of Yemen, overthrowing the internationally recognized government in in Sana’a in 2014, the Houthis turned outward immediately even as they produced the sort of misery for the Yemeni people that should make Gazans grateful that their enemy is Israel.
Oxfam, the international relief agency, posted these facts five years ago, They are here to show how long the “international aid community” has been aware of the torture of the Yemeni people:
—In less than four years, the number of people who are food insecure has risen from 11 million to nearly 20 million.
—According to the UN, 14 million people — half the population — face a clear and present danger of imminent famine.
—One quarter of Yemeni women between the ages of 15 and 49 are acutely malnourished.
—Three million women and girls are at risk of gender-based violence and incidents of violence against women have increased by more than 63 percent over the last two years.
Feeding people was of no interest to the Houthis, focused as they were on pursuing a war against Iran’s enemies — Israel, yes, but also Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Between 2015 and 2021, they launched 430 ballistic missiles and 851 armed drones at Saudi Arabia, killing 59 Saudi civilians. A 2019 Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia damaged critical oil facilities. They shot down Reaper drones in 2017 and 2019, leading then-President Donald Trump to list them as a terrorist organization in 2020.
They were delisted by President Joe Biden in February 2021.
The Biden administration announced the delisting in diplo-speak: “This decision has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens.”
Then why do it? To pave the way for Biden’s hoped-for improvement in relations with Iran.
The delisting was coupled with the release of billions in funding to the Islamic Republic and the waiving of certain sanctions, which allowed Iran to purchase and produce equipment for the production of missiles, drones, and launch capabilities — not to mention nuclear facilities. All but the nuclear capabilities were shared with the Houthis, giving Iran a military asset in the Red Sea, on the back end of Saudi Arabia and south of Egypt, Israel and Jordan — long an Iranian goal.
The Houthis were quick to boost the shipping war. Total vessel transits in the Red Sea fell 56% in September 2023 compared to September 2022. A report in December 2023 showed a further 20 percent decline.
In January 2024, even the Biden State Department had enough, and the Houthis were relisted. They appeared not to care. In the third quarter of 2024, shipping in the Suez Canal was down 56% over the same quarter of 2023 and net tonnage dropped 70 percent from the previous year.
Having no reason not to, the Houthis turned to rocketing Israel.
Then Israel fired back.
But just as he justified Hamas’s murderous rampage in Israel in October 2023 because it “did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres repeated the meme about the Houthis, adding, Gazans have been living for “56 years of suffocating occupation.” And so, in his view, unrelated parties wanting to “help” Hamas in Gaza can legitimately target civilians in Israel. His view is warped by his political animus.
It is also possibly warped by the understanding that the “international aid community” has failed the people of Yemen.
But there should be no mistaking the central role of Iran in the decimation of Yemen, the war against Saudi Arabia and UAE, and the war against Israel — all carried out by proxies.
At some point, Iran will have to pay a price.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of the Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFocus Quarterly magazine.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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