Who Are the Houthis? Yemen’s Houthi Family, Weapons and Iran

The recent strikes between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have seen

a resurgence in a historic conflict.

But who are the Houthis? And is Yemen's most

powerful political military movement a group

led by just one family? Well, the story starts

with Badr Eddin al-Houthi, who sat at the top as the

spiritual leader of a movement claiming to be a descendant

of the Prophet Muhammad. But it was the next generation that

created the Houthi movement that we recognize today.

Among his sons, four became prominent figures in the

movement.

Hussein al-Houthi was a founding leader, leading the

movement into rebellion against Yemen's government.

Hussein was killed in 2004 by government forces.

Attention turned to his younger half-brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.

A seasoned battlefield commander, Abdul Malik helped

transform the movement into a powerful armed force.

He remains its leader. The youngest of the four, Abdul Khaliq,

has commanded several of the Houthis' military units,

while Yahya al-Houthi is the older half-brother.

He's known for being a bit of a loose cannon.

He's headstrong and frequently outspoken.

But the inner circle spans even wider.

Their cousin, Mohammed Ali, is the movement's public face.

He appears on television and leading rallies in the

streets. Then there's their uncle, Abdul Karim, as well.

He runs the interior ministry, and that's got the state

apparatus that lets the Houthis control the north of Yemen.

So what about succession? Well, there are two front runners.

Hussein's son, Ali Hussein, who currently runs the police

intelligence service. Or the top job could go to the

son of the current leader, Jibril al-Houthi.

And strategic marriages have bound this tight inner circle

even closer together, linking the Houthi family to powerful

military, tribal, and religious networks.

Houthis have come a very long way from their beginnings as

a mountain militia. Their arsenal now includes

armed drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, and

weapons designed to strike ships.

Some of their missiles have even reached Israel.

That's more than 1,000 miles away.

Their overall military strength, well, it isn't anywhere

near Israel or Saudi Arabia, and the precision and the reliability

of their weapons vary considerably.

But they are capable of inflicting real damage, and

that makes them dangerous. The Houthis operate

one-way explosive attack drones based on Iranian

designs, some of which are capable of flying hundreds or

even well over 1,000 miles to reach their targets.

Their exact range depends on the model and the payload.

But if you think of the Iranian Shahed as the best of them, you won't be

far wrong. At sea, the Houthis have used unmanned

surface vessels, essentially explosive drone boats,

to attack shipping in the Red Sea. Now, these provide another way to

threaten and, on occasions, hit commercial vessels

without needing a conventional navy.

And they still possess a huge arsenal of more familiar

weapons: rifles, machine guns, handguns, grenades, rockets,

anti-tank missiles. Much of their conventional military

stockpile is

equipment taken from the Yemeni army, particularly

following the Houthi seizure of the capital, Sana'a, back in

2014. The result is a force that combines conventional

insurgent weapons with long-range missiles, drones, and

maritime attack capabilities. Now, that doesn't mean they've got a

military that really can go toe-to-toe with, say, the Saudis, but it

is enough to allow them to launch waves of attacks to

disrupt, to deter, spread fear, and to project

power, and that is their aim. So where's all this weaponry

coming from? Well, the Houthis' most important external

supporter is overwhelmingly Iran, which has backed the

movement for at least 15 years.

According to the United Nations, Iran has supplied

weapons, but it's also delivered components,

technical

expertise, technology, all of which has enabled

the Houthis to assemble, modify, and manufacture

weapons of their own.

It is worth saying the Houthis deny being an Iranian proxy,

and they say they developed their own weapons.

Restrictions on maritime access to Yemen and increased

interception of armed shipments have made those direct

deliveries from Iran a lot more difficult.

Difficult, but not impossible. They haven't stopped the

flow of military equipment and technology.

Weapons and components continue to be smuggled into

Yemen, while local assembly and production help the

Houthis turn those supplies into an increasingly

capable arsenal. Now, holding a significant part of the

north and the west of the country, the Houthis and the family

behind the movement have shown themselves as a key regional

player. The question is how they use the power

and how they use the weapons.