Weeks ago, US air strikes hit the Hethis targets in Yemen, such as oil refineries, airports and missile places, with US President Donald Trump’s promise to use a “overwhelming power” until the government reached its goal from preventing the group from attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis began a series of attacks on commercial ships in solidarity with the Palestinians when Israel entered the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The group led to more than 100 attacks and sank two ships. The result: 70 % of the merchant ships that have previously traveled across the Red Sea make the long road around South Africa.
The United States says the American process is working. National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, said that many Houthi leaders were killed.
But each round of attacks causes more challenge.
The Houthis is what the veteran observer in Yemen calls resistance, referring to the well -known mammals of his brave stance towards predators. A bite of the snake, and they rise after minutes and attack the snake.
Although 80 military officers were killed, according to analysts, the hierarchy of his military and political leadership appears to be sound. So there are at least some of your missile launch sites. Since mid -March, the Houthis have launched dozens of ballistic missiles against Israel, as well as drones and missiles at US Navy. Although no longer causes great damage, the threat remains.
A CNN On Friday, he informed that the total cost of the US military operation against Iranian fighters in Yemen It approaches $ 1 billion In less than three weeks, according to three people, knowing the operation, but the attacks have so far had a limited impact on the destruction of the group’s capabilities.
One of the officers said: “We are burning ready – ammunition, fuel, at the time of implementation.”
Away from exposure to intimidation, the Houthis threatened to extend their targets group to Eau, which supports the government’s competing government in the Yemeni civil war. Likewise, the Saudi authorities say that the air defenses in the country are on top alert.
The Houthi spokesman said earlier this week: “Dozens of air attacks against Yemen will not prevent the Yemeni armed forces from fulfilling their religious, moral and humanitarian duties.”
There is no doubt that The American operation is working to determine the group groups. Michael Knights, a senior colleague of the Washington Institute, says he suspected of Hethis “has lost many of the curtains of drone manufacturing, and it seems that there is a more effective objection to the upcoming renovations of the sea and through Oman.
But the story shows that Hethis has an unusually significant tolerance for pain. and Trump’s government design to eliminate the threat They can eventually represent a ground attack.
“The Houthis are accustomed to being in war with the army of the first world,” says Knights. “They are ideological, but they are also very difficult warriors from northern Yemen.”
The Houthi ability is helping to survive through a complex smuggling network characterized by missile cutting and other equipment. Last year, a hideout was discovered between the usual ship’s load, air structures, artillery fins, small turbochargers and hydrogen fuel cells, according to the investigation conducted by conflict armament research (CAR).
This equipment can allow Houthi drones to carry longer loads and travel for much longer periods. This would greatly expand the possible threat to the Houthis, “Car said.
The Houthis survived the attack during the presidency of Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, a Saudi attack ten years ago, followed by an Israeli and British and the latest air strikes.
Ahmed Nagy, the chief analyst in Yemen in the international crises group, says that Israel and Western powers have no deep understanding of pollution. “His mysterious leadership and internal structure created continuous gaps in intelligence.”
Another expert in Yemen, Elizabeth Kendall, is wondering about the end of the American operation. “The Houthis have been bombed tens of thousands of times over the past decade and remain firm. Therefore, it is believed that the bombing leads to a large extent: let’s show the world-do that because we can.”
The knights said, CNNIt is “very difficult”.
“It is a very aggressive movement. The best way to end it permanently is to throw them, remove it from the capital, and remove it from the Red Sea coast.”
Regional diplomatic sources, as well as analysts, say that in the end, only one ground attack can be expelled from Heithis, which currently controls the Yemeni capital and SANA, its main port, Hudaida, and many northern Yemen.
Ahmed Nagy, chief analyst in Yemen in the international crises group, says The United States of America is wrong in the belief that air strikes can press Heithis to retreat. “This approach has failed in the framework of the Biden administration and is unlikely to succeed in the era of the Trump administration.”
“Their logic is for years of war; they see flexibility as a form of strength and lead to proving that it is not easily designed.”
Knights said: “The only times when I saw the Houthis go to the negotiating table or are committed to the threat of the realistic perspective of defeat on Earth: the regional loss, the loss of control of the population and the loss of access to the Red Sea coast.”
This briefly happened in 2017, when the forces supported by the United Arab Emirates threatened to reach the Red Sea, and the critic of revenue and military supplies.
The group may really have attacks. Freia Al -Muslimi, a Yemeni researcher in Chatham House, said it was “a direct response to the Houthi prayer for a war with the United States.” The group “wants to withdraw the United States to a greater regional escalation.”
Ground attack
The Houthis are struggling to control Yemen against the internationally recognized government, which controls a part of the south and mainly supported by Eau. The question that has not been answered is whether the forces loyal to this government can bring the struggle to the Houthis. “They have already been trained and equipped,” says Knights. But there are doubts about your unit.
Analysts do not expect the United States to put any forces on the ground, as well as a handful of special forces to help direct air strikes. Knights says: The United States (Yemeni forces) may provide “a few logistical services and a specific basic ammunition.”
He adds that the United Arab Emirates will be “silently solidarity” because it has long been presented to the government that depends on Aden.
The Saudi perspective is less clear. KNIGHTS believes that Riade is a revenge against long aircraft and missiles against its infrastructure. But the United States has accelerated the delivery of analysis defenses to Saudi Arabia in recent months.
The United States will have to say to his view, “We will protect him in the same way that we protect Israel in 2024 from the Iranian attacks,” says Knights.
Regional diplomatic sources say that the preparations for the land process that will be launched from the south and the east are underway, as well as along the coast. The coordinated attack can also include a Saudi maritime marine support in an attempt to resume Hodeidah Port.
Nagy told CNN.
The relationship with Iran
Since the first day, President Donald Trump and other American officials linked the campaign against the Houthis to Iran. Trump said that Iran will blame all the “shots” launched by the rebels and that he would face “terrible” consequences for any attack by Yemeni militants.
To date, it is not clear whether Tehran can simply ask the Houthis to stop shooting. Although part of the Iranian resistance axis, the Houthis maintain great independence.
Trump continues to warn Iran that it will face a huge bombing if it does not agree to reduce its nuclear programs and ballistic missiles. For the American administration, the Hethis campaign and the “maximum pressure” campaign in Tehran are two sides of the same currency.
The Iranians wander carefully, and provide moral support to their ally in Yemen. The former commander of the Iranian revolution guards, Mohsen Razai, received “the resistance forces of Yemen, barefoot, which will bring the warship ships to their knees.”
But the Iranian leadership does not want to see by providing more military support for the poll.
The United States looks ready to expand its campaign. BBBERS and KC-135 STUELING AIRCRAFT have arrived at Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean. This can generate targets in Yemen, but it can also be a reference to Iran.
The next few weeks may be a decisive test of the elasticity of the emblem.
