Who Are Houthis, The Fierce Supporters Of Hamas (X image@ Voice_of_yemen)

Yemen’s Houthis are boiling with rage. The group has warned Israel to be aware of a wave of retaliation for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political leader. It said Israel has crossed a very big red line amid the ferocious battle. A Houthi leader said the assassination “has elevated the battle for wider scope”. He said the group will “inevitably” mount a military response to Israel’s recent “escalation”.

Sayyed Abdul Malik al-Houthi said “the criminal enemy’s involvement in targeting the martyr (Haniyeh) has elevated the battle to a wider scope and greater dimensions, the consequences of which will be dire for the enemy, God willing”, as per the statement published by the group’s Al-Masirah TV channel.

He said Houthis will not spare Israel, and will avenge the “martyr” (Ismail Haniyeh), and all the martyrs and the injustice suffered by the Palestinian people”. The assassination has charged up more motivation for the group to “punish the criminal enemy”, he added.

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The Yemeni group is one among the first responders to the Israel’s barbaric attack on Gaza, after Hamas, the resistance group of the besieged Strip has unleashed an unprecedented attack on Tel Aviv. The attack was the result of the choke years of choke hold restriction on Palestinian enclave.

The group unleashed attacks on all commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea, and has link to Israel. It primarily started the attack in December last year. Before that, it had taken over a cargo ship called the Galaxy Leader, which they have since turned into a tourist attraction for Yemenis. US has formed a multilateral coalition to safeguard the commercial traffic in one of the busiest routes of global trade, accounting to 30 percent of the world’s container ship traffic.

Who are Houthis?

The Houthis are an armed group that control most parts of Yemen. including the capital, Sanaa, and some of the western and northern areas close to Saudi Arabia. The group first emerged in 1990s. they rose to prominence in 2014, when it rebelled against the Yemen’s government, which led to government’s stepping down, and a crushing humanitarian crisis.

For years, Houthis fought a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, with covering from Iran. Both the parties also tried to hold peace talks.

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According to analysts, the Houthis should not be seen as an Iranian proxy. It has its own base, its own interests – and its own ambitions, reported Al Jazeera.

The group control significant parts of the country. Sana has been in a decade-long civil war. They had been in ceasefire talks with Saudi Arabia while Yemen’s official government is based in Aden and led by President Rashad al-Alimi. Al-Alimi came into office in 2022 after the country’s exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi handed over power to him. Relations between Hadi and the Houthis were especially stressed.

In March 2023, United Nations called Yemen’s condition as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, owing the civil war. An estimated 21.6 million people or two-thirds of Yemen’s population are “in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection services”, said UN.

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The fighting between the two group largely subsided last year, and has exchanged over 800 prisoners within three days, said Al Jazeera report.

Houthis stood strong on their solidarity with the resistance group of Gaza, Hamas. It pledged to not to stop targeting the Red Sea, until Israel stopped its genocidal war in Gaza. Even after the strike from US and UK started, Houthis never took a step back from their stance.

“They were wrong if they thought that they would deter Yemen from supporting Palestine and Gaza,” wrote Houthi chief negotiator and spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam.

Analysts also believe that the attacks helped the Houthis in other ways. In Yemen, the group has seen a sharp uptick in recruitment, riding on popular support for the people of Gaza.  The attacks, and the response from major powers like the US, also force other countries and governments to negotiate with Houthis, giving them de facto legitimacy, at a time when they are not officially recognised internationally as Yemen’s government.