Who Are the Houthis?

Powerline blog recently ran a column by Washington Times columnist and defense expert Cliff May in which May explains who the Houthis are and why they've been attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Given that the actions of these terrorists have the potential to drag us into a war in the Middle East I thought important that we know what's going on there and so have lifted a few excerpts from May's column.

May writes that the Houthis call themselves Ansar Allah, meaning "Supporters of God." They are a Shia military and political organization whose theology is consistent with Iran’s and is succinctly expressed in their slogan: “Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam.”

He goes on to explain that,

For a decade, they have been waging a civil war against the government of Sunni-majority Yemen, a conflict in which more than 150,000 people have been killed. A ceasefire between the rebels and the government has been in effect since 2022.

Just before leaving office, President Trump designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization.

Just after taking office, President Biden removed the Houthis from that blacklist. He also froze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia which had been leading an Arab coalition supporting the Yemeni government.

If [allied naval forces fail] to silence Houthi guns, President Biden will face a choice: Capitulate or escalate.

The latter would mean at least directing the Pentagon to eliminate Houthi weapons warehouses, the vessels and helicopters used for hijackings, and perhaps command-and-control centers.

But such a response would be only tactical. A strategic approach would focus less on the puppets and more on those pulling the strings of the Houthis – along with the strings of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Shia militias.

That would mean directly punishing Iran which is the enabler of all these subordinate terror organizations. Such a measure carries the potential for a much wider conflict.

In recent days, Iran’s rulers have increased their production of enriched uranium. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, they may now have enough to produce three nuclear bombs.

A nuclear-armed regime in Tehran would be more difficult to contain and deter – and a more valuable partner for Beijing and Moscow.

President Biden, like his predecessors in the White House, has said that for Tehran’s jihadis to possess nukes would be “unacceptable.”

The problem for Mr. Biden is that the longer he waits the more nukes Iran develops and the more cataclysmic war with Iran becomes. It seems that if we do nothing war with Iran becomes inevitable since they've promised that they'll use their nuclear weapons to destroy Israel.

If we can find a way to punish them now, and simultaneously destroy their nuclear weapons capability without triggering a wider conflagration, that would be the more desirable alternative. Parenthetically, it's ironic that sanctions imposed by President Trump had severely crippled Iran, but President Biden removed the sanctions and Iran is now flexing its muscle.

In any case, acting now certainly entails grave risks, but not acting entails even graver, much more horrific, certainties. This may well turn out to be the biggest test of Mr. Biden's presidency.