Who are the Houthis, Iran's allies in Yemen who have also entered the Gulf conflict, and what they might do

Exactly one month after the US-Israel conflict with Iran broke out, Yemen's Houthi forces fired missiles at Israel, the Tehran-aligned group entering the Middle East war for the first time.

Houthi forces had threatened on Friday that they were “prepared for direct military intervention” and hours later said they had fired a barrage of missiles at military targets in Israel, adding that their operations would continue until “aggression on all fronts ceases”.

Well-armed and capable of striking their Gulf neighbors, any Houthi involvement in the conflict could cause major disruptions to maritime navigation around the Arabian Peninsula, with global trade already facing the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters notes.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis are a military, political and religious movement led by the Houthi family and based in northern Yemen. They are part of the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.

The Houthis have fought guerrilla wars with the Yemeni army in the past and then strengthened and developed closer ties with Iran after the 2011 “Arab Spring” protests.

Taking advantage of the instability in the country, the group captured the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014.

The following year, Saudi Arabia (dominantly Sunni) led a coalition of Arab states in a military intervention to try to annihilate them.

But the Houthis have demonstrated significant missile and drone capabilities, attacking oil installations and critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

After years of fighting that led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, the UN negotiated a 2022 truce between Yemen's warring parties, which has been in place ever since.

The Red Sea Attacks

After the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which triggered a devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza, the Houthis began firing on ships passing through the Red Sea, claiming they were doing so in support of the Palestinians.

They also launched drones and missiles at Israel, which responded with airstrikes on Houthi targets. And the US launched attacks against Houthi positions.

The Houthis ceased their attacks following a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025.

Why did they go to war now?

On March 5, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said his group was ready to strike at any moment.

“In terms of escalation and military action, our fingers are on the trigger at all times if the situation warrants it,” he said in a televised speech.

But unlike Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iraqi armed groups, they have made no official announcement of joining the war. On Friday, the Houthi group repeated its warning and then announced that it had attacked, with Israel confirming that at least one missile had been fired.

The Houthi group's religious doctrine does not adhere to Iran's supreme leader in the same way that Hezbollah and Iraqi groups do.

While Iran supports the Houthi group as part of the regional “Axis of Resistance,” Yemen experts say the movement is primarily motivated by a domestic agenda, although it shares a political affinity with Iran and Hezbollah.

The US says Iran has armed, funded and trained the Houthi group with the help of Hezbollah. The Houthi group denies being a proxy of Iran and claims it is developing its own weapons.

An unpredictable force

Experts are divided on the course of action the Houthi group, known for its unpredictable nature, might take.

Some diplomats and analysts believe they may have already carried out individual attacks on targets in neighboring states.

Others say the Houthis have saved their powers for the opportune moment to enter the conflict, in coordination with Iran, to exert maximum pressure.

Effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf Arab oil and gas exports and shifting to a heavy reliance on the Red Sea could provide such an opportunity.

The group said on Friday it was prepared to act if other countries joined the United States and Israel in their war against Iran or if the Red Sea was used to launch attacks on the Islamic Republic.

The warning raises the risk of regional conflict escalating, particularly given the Houthis' ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping routes around the Arabian Peninsula, which would choke global trade.