Iran officers leading Houthi attacks
Commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah group are on the ground in Yemen helping to direct and oversee Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, four regional and two Iranian sources told Reuters.
Iran - which has armed, trained and funded the Houthis - stepped up its weapons supplies to the militia in the wake of the war in Gaza, which erupted after Iranian-backed militants Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the four regional sources said.
Tehran has provided advanced drones, anti-ship cruise missiles, precision-strike ballistic missiles and medium-range missiles to the Houthis, who started targeting commercial vessels in November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the sources said.
IRGC commanders and advisers are also providing know-how, data and intelligence support to determine which of the dozens of vessels travelling through the Red Sea each day are destined for Israel and constitute Houthi targets, all the sources said.
Washington said last month that Iran was deeply involved in planning operations against shipping in the Red Sea and that its intelligence was critical to enable the Houthis to target ships.
In response to a request for comment for this story, the White House pointed to its previous public comments about how Iran has been supporting the Houthis.
In his weekly news conferences, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has repeatedly denied Tehran is involved in the Red Sea attacks by the Houthis. The IRGC public relations office did not respond to request for comment.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam denied any Iranian or Hezbollah involvement in helping to direct the Red Sea attacks. A Hezbollah spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
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The Houthis likely do not have the technology and know how to do the attacks alone. I suspect that US Signal Intelligence has intercepted the Iranian communications with the Houthis who are executing the attacks with weapons Iran has supplied. Iran is using the Houthis in an attempt to avoid a direct US response to their aggression.
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F/A-18 fighter jets launched from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to hit Houthis preparing to fire anti-ship missile launchers, according to The Associated Press.
The U.S. launched strikes nearly every day this week, targeting Houthi operations and capabilities in a mission to protect the Red Sea from the armed militant group backed by Iran.
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“Strong strikes without ground operations are useless,” said Mr al-Zubaidi, adding that to “achieve a victory on the ground”, the Yemeni military requires support.
In an interview with AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he added: “An international and regional alliance is necessary to secure international navigation in the Red Sea.”
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To be effective a combined arms operation is needed. So far, Biden has not been willing to do that.
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4TR Red Sea fighting might be flash point to larger war involving United States
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An Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital killed at least 5 Iranian advisers, officials say
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