UNITED NATIONS — The Houthi rebels in Yemen have transformed from a local armed group with limited capabilities to one powerful military organization with support from Iran, Iraqi armed groups, the Lebanese Hezbollah militants and others, UN experts say in a new report.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have exploited power Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and worked to improve their status in Gaza Iran’s self-proclaimed “Axis of Resistance” to gain popularity in the region and beyond, said the experts monitoring sanctions against the Houthis in the Report of 537 pages to the UN Security Council.
To support the Iran-backed Hamas militants, whose surprise attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war in Gaza, the Houthis attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, disrupting global shipping in an important geopolitical area.
Despite Houthi claims that they would attack ships linked to Israel, the panel said investigations showed the rebels were targeting ships indiscriminately.
The analysis of data from the International Maritime Organization, the US and the UK showed that at least 134 attacks were carried out from Houthi-controlled areas against merchant and commercial ships and US and British warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between November 15, 2023 and July 31, 2024.
“The group’s shift to actions at sea has increased their influence in the region,” the UN experts said. “Such a scale of attacks, using weapons systems on civilian ships, had never occurred since World War II.”
In their attacks, the experts said: the Houthis used a new and previously undisclosed ballistic missile, the Hatem-2.
The five-member UN panel consists of experts in weapons, finance, regional affairs, international humanitarian law and armed groups. The experts come from India, Egypt, Switzerland, Belgium and Cape Verde. Confidential sources told the panel that the Houthis are coordinating operations with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and strengthening ties with the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabab in Somalia.
The Houthis are involved in one civil war with the internationally recognized government of Yemenbacked by a Saudi-led coalition since 2014, when they took control of the capital Sanaa and most of the north. Hopes for peace talks to end the war disappeared after the attacks of October 7, 2023.
The UN experts said the conflict in Yemen, which started as an internal struggle and expanded into a regional confrontation, “has now escalated into a major international crisis.”
According to the experts, the number of Houthi fighters is now estimated at 350,000, compared to 220,000 in 2022 and 30,000 in 2015.
“The panel observes the transformation of the Houthis from a local armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization, expanding their operational capabilities far beyond the areas under their control,” the report said.
The experts said the transformation was possible thanks to the Iranian’s transfer of military equipment and training The Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds ForceHezbollah and Iraqi specialists and technicians.
Military experts, Yemeni officials and even officials close to the Houthis indicated that the rebel group could not produce complex weapons systems, such as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, surveillance and attack drones, portable air defense systems and thermal sights, which they have used. without foreign support, the UN experts said.
“The scale, nature and scope of the transfer of various military equipment and technology provided to the Houthis from external sources, including financial support and training of their fighters, is unprecedented,” the experts said.
The panel said it observed similarities between several military items used by the Houthis and those produced and operated by Iran or its allies in the Axis of Resistance, including Hezbollah and Hamas and armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
It said joint operations centers have been set up in Iraq and Lebanon with representatives of the Houthis “aimed at coordinating joint military actions of the Axis of Resistance.”
Within Yemen, the panel said the Houthis have intensified military operations against the government. “The internal military situation is fragile and any internal or external trigger could lead to the resumption of military confrontations,” the report said.
The Houthis have also recruited large numbers of Yemeni youth and children and exploited Ethiopian migrants, forcing them to join the fight against the government and engage in narcotics trafficking, the report said.
“Taking advantage of high illiteracy rates, especially in tribal areas, they have reportedly mobilized boys aged 10 to 11, often despite opposition from their parents,” they said. “Recruitment talks and weekly lessons on jihad are reportedly being taught in schools.”
Recruitment of children reportedly increased after the war in Gaza began and the American and British air strikes in Yemensaid the experts. The Yemeni government said it has received 3,298 reports of child recruitment in the first half of 2024, with youngsters reportedly being used as human shields, spies and in battle – and for planting landmines and explosives, reconnaissance and as cooks .