Assessing the Houthi Threat to Israel and the West - Lenny Ben-David

 

by Lenny Ben-David

The root of this evil is the ayatollahs of Iran, who fuel, finance, and arm its belligerent proxies.

 

The Houthi army, the Basij militia, and various drone models were on parade in Yemen in September 2023, one month before the Hamas invasion of southern Israel. (AlAhed News)

Institute for Contemporary Affairs

Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 24, No. 23

• The Houthis of Yemen are well-armed with Iranian drones, missiles, rockets, and anti-aircraft systems. They are trained by Iranians and Hizbullah.

• Iran now directly engages U.S. Navy vessels and still yearns to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier.

• Authoritative U.S. Government agencies have published extensive photographs and proof of Iranian weapons in Houthi hands, but military responses to the Iranian aggression have been sparse and paltry.

• U.S. defense officials focus on the Houthi threat to international shipping and Israel but pay little or no attention to Iran’s immense support role in training, and providing weaponry, intelligence, and funding to the Houthis. And with the world’s attention diverted to the proxies’ wars, Iran’s nuclear enterprise continues.

• Will the relatively passive Western and Israeli responses to Iran (and the Houthis) change when the new U.S. Administration takes office?

The Houthis in Yemen are not a rag-tag, flip-flop-shod, bunch of goat herders chewing Qat, as once imagined and portrayed.

Today, the Houthis are a well-armed and dangerous army of more than 800,000 fighters threatening Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Emirates, the U.S. Navy, and international shipping, with drones, ballistic missiles, and rockets. International shipping is under the constant threat of Houthi piracy.

Houthi fighters – once. Now get this image out of your heads. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

A high-ranking Pentagon official recently gave this assessment in October 2024: Houthi rebels are brandishing increasingly sophisticated weapons, including missiles that “can do things that are just amazing,” said Bill LaPlante, the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. The Houthis “are getting scary.” La Plante continued, “I’m an engineer and a physicist, and I’ve been around missiles my whole career. What I’ve seen of what the Houthis have done in the last six months is something that — I’m just shocked.”¹

La Plante did not explain the source of the Houthis’ “amazing” missilry.

The Houthi military has earned the analysts’ epithet, the “Southern Hizbullah.” After the Israeli military campaigns against Hamas and Hizbullah, the Houthis remain Iran’s most viable and dangerous “resistance” proxy. Like the “Northern Hizbullah,” the Houthis view their mission as relieving Israeli pressure on Hamas. Houthis are likely to show up on Israel’s borders as Iranian expeditionary forces.²

Iran’s Expeditionary Proxy Force

Incredibly, U.S. defense officials focus on the Houthi threat to international shipping and Israel but pay little or no attention to Iran’s immense support role in training, and providing weaponry, intelligence, and funding to the Houthis.

Just weeks after Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III gave this statement on October 16, 2024, on U.S. airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.³ Note the negligible mention of Iran:

Today (October 16, 2024), U.S. military forces, including U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers, conducted precision strikes against five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. U.S. forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region. This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified. The employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrates U.S. global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere. 

For over a year, the Iran-backed Houthis, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, have recklessly and unlawfully attacked U.S. and international vessels…

Between 2015 and 2021, a “commercial” Iranian ship, the Saviz, was anchored in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen to provide intelligence and relay electronic signals. It served as a forward command post for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Saviz was knocked out of commission in April 2021 by Israeli commandos and was replaced by the Behshad. The “civilian” ships were to relay Iranian transmissions to and from unmanned drones, conduct surveillance, and guide attack missions. It is suspected that the vessels also served as weapons cargo ships that broke down the cargo into smaller loads for fishing boats to smuggle ashore. After Houthi attacks on U.S. Navy ships in 2024, the Behshad left its anchorage in the Red Sea in January 2024 and sailed to a Chinese military harbor in Djibouti. The vessel, believed to have been “lining up” targets in the Red Sea for the Houthis, was reportedly hit by a U.S. cyberattack,⁴ and today, it is back in an Iranian port.⁵

The U.S. Defense Department has noted that the Houthis recently downed two of its super-tech MQ-9 unmanned combat aerial vehicles. The advanced $30 million+ killer-hunter drones were shot down in November 2023 and February 2024 by Houthi air defense systems. Supposedly, the systems were Houthi-made Saqr and Barq missiles, but the U.S. military knows the systems by their Iranian designation, “358. SAM.”⁶

An Iranian anti-aircraft missile by any other name is just the same – Saqr or 358. (U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency)

In late 2023- early 2024, the U.S. Navy intercepted dhow boats heading for Yemen loaded with 14 electro-optical trackers for surface-to-air missile systems, three ballistic missile warheads, five liquid-fuel type medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) engines, and one C-802/Ghadar-class Iranian anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM), called Mandab-2 by the Houthis.

International Institute for Strategic Studies chart. Note the origins of Houthi missiles. (by Fabian Hinz)

The Defense Intelligence Agency

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported “The Houthis assemble, repaint, and modify smuggled Iranian weapons and display them with Houthi names.”

A publication of the Defense Intelligence Agency, February 2024, shows with certainty the Iran-Houthi weapons cloning and sharing. The publication “provides a visual comparison of Iranian missiles and weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and those displayed and employed by Houthi forces in Yemen to attack civilian infrastructure across the region. Photos of weapons displayed and fired by Iran and the Houthis… strongly suggest their Iranian origin.”⁷

Already in 2017, U.S. UN Ambassador Nikky Haley provided a “show and tell” briefing to the press at a U.S. army base which “incontrovertibly” showed Iranian components in Houthi rockets.⁸

(DoD photo by EJ Hersom)

An embossment representing Iranian company Shahid Bagheri Industries was found on ballistic missile remnants on display at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2017. The missile remnants were from two Qiam missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in 2017. (EJ Hersom/DoD photo)

Iran Is Hunting for U.S. Navy Ships, Including Aircraft Carriers

The Pentagon confirmed on September 17, 2024, that several U.S. Navy ships fought off “a complex attack” by the Houthis against warships in the Red Sea.⁹

“I can confirm that no U.S. ships were damaged or hit,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters. “There were no injuries to U.S. personnel. We did see a complex attack launch from the Houthis that ranged from cruise missiles and UAVs.”

Subsequently, U.S. destroyers were involved on October 1, 2024, during the massive Iranian attack on Israel. And in November, Houthis attacked two U.S. destroyers sailing from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden through the Bab el Mandeb Strait.¹⁰

Iran’s elite military unit, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reports directly to Ayatollah Khamenei. In 2015, it held military drills in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The target? A replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier.¹¹

Why would the Islamic Republic seek to engage a U.S. nuclear vessel?

For the prestige of sinking a $5 billion carrier, to kill the 6,000 American sailors and airmen onboard, and to destroy the 90 aircraft and weaponry on deck. As explained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy chief, “American aircraft carriers are very big ammunition depots housing a lot of missiles, rockets, torpedoes and everything else.” The Revolutionary Guards’ Adm. Ali Fadavi added that a direct hit by a missile could set off a large secondary explosion.¹²

Iranian Missiles Just Missed the USS Eisenhower

The Iranian Navy just missed its chance to hit a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Eisenhower, in the summer of 2024. West Point’s authoritative Combating Terrorism Center at West Point revealed that an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) arrived at a very shallow trajectory, with minimal warning, without a chance for interception, and splashed down around 200 meters from the USS Eisenhower.¹³ In January, the USS Gravely missile destroyer narrowly avoided a missile strike by intercepting it with the close-in-weapons-system, Phalanx multi-barrel gun.¹⁴

The explosions on the Iranian mock aircraft carrier after attacks by Iranian speed boats and missiles.

The carrier model was built on several barges. Below is a photo of the barges’ unintended flipping.¹⁵

The Iranian replica’s hull flipped, fell apart, and sunk while being towed back to port in July 2020. (H I Sutton – Covert Shores)

A satellite image of Iran’s fake “U.S. aircraft carrier” with its phony aircraft before it embarked on its “mission.

Comparison of Iran’s fake carrier superimposed on a Nimitz-Class U.S. Naval carrier diagram.

It may be a coincidence, but in recent months major U.S. aerial engagements in the region have been carried out by land-based U.S. Air Force F-15s. In November 2024, a U.S. Marine Corps F 35C conducted the plane’s first combat strike from the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier against targets in Yemen.

Conclusion – “Limited Liability” Must End

Ultimately, all violence against the West, Israel, and freedom of shipping in the Middle East is traced back to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The “3-H Club” of Hamas, Hizbullah, and Houthis have killed thousands, brought perpetual war to the region. and virtually shut Suez Canal shipping. The assassination squads of the evil terror syndicate have hunted their enemies across the United States and Europe.

The root of this evil is the ayatollahs of Iran, who fuel, finance, and arm its belligerent proxies.

No revenge was carried out after Iran almost destroyed the Saudi oil industry with an attack on the Abqaiq facilities; the United States restrained Israel’s retaliation after direct and massive Iranian bombardments of drones, missiles, and rockets; American reaction to attacks on Red Sea shipping and U.S. Navy ships is mostly limited to defensive action; and the U.S. Administration responded to Israel’s initial and limited response to Hamas and Iranian attacks with a shameful admonition, [just] “take the win.”

Will the relatively passive Western and Israeli responses to Iran (and the Houthis) change when the new U.S. Administration takes office?

* * *

Notes

1. https://www.axios.com/2024/11/14/laplante-houthi-antiship-missiles-iran↩︎

2. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240918-houthis-thousands-of-fighters-ready-to-go-to-lebanon-if-war-breaks-out/↩︎

3. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3937640/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-us-airstrikes-in-houthi/↩︎

4. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/us-conducted-cyberattack-suspected-iranian-spy-ship-rcna138638↩︎

5. https://www.ft.com/content/5fb8849c-b5b2-4f6f-908f-2c125159e3ce↩︎

6. https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Power_Publications/Iran_Houthi_Final2.pdf↩︎

7. https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Power_Publications/Iran_Houthi_Final2.pdf↩︎

8. https://www.dvidshub.net/news/258890/dod-shows-iranian-weapons-proof-tehrans-duplicitous-ambitions↩︎

9. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3919899/deputy-pentagon-press-secretary-sabrina-singh-holds-a-press-briefing/↩︎

10. https://news.usni.org/2024/11/12/houthis-attack-two-u-s-destroyers-leaving-the-red-sea-pentagon-says↩︎

11. Iran Just Blew Up a Fake American Aircraft Carrier https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hayesbrown/iran-just-blew-up-a-fake-american-aircraft-carrier↩︎

12. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/world/middleeast/in-mock-attack-iranian-navy-blasts-away-at-replica-us-aircraft-carrier.html↩︎

13. A Draw Is a Win: The Houthis After One Year of War, by Michael Knights, https://ctc.westpoint.edu/a-draw-is-a-win-the-houthis-after-one-year-of-war/↩︎

14. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/houthi-missile-comes-shockingly-close-aircraft-carrier-uss-dwight-d-eisenhower-213258↩︎

15. http://www.hisutton.com/OSINT-Iranian-IRGC-Fake-Carrier-Breaking-Apart.htm↩︎

 

Lenny Ben-David worked for AIPAC for 25 years in Washington and Jerusalem. In 1997, he left to open an independent consulting firm, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tapped him to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in Israel’s Washington Embassy. He is the author of the book American Interests in the Holy Land Revealed in Early Photographs, and he is completing his next book, Secrets of World War I in the Holy Land Revealed in Early Photographs. He is the Director of the Institute for U.S.-Israel Relations at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Source: https://jcpa.org/article/assessing-the-houthi-threat-to-israel-and-the-west/

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