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Source: https://www.thefp.com/p/houthi-defeat-saudi-arabia-iran?
Why Are the Houthis So Hard to Beat?
(Free Press) Zineb Riboua - Over the past week, Saudi Arabia has come under attack on two fronts. In Yemen, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha on September 10 and advanced along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital waterway for Saudi exports. Meanwhile, drones from Iraq struck Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline, the 750-mile artery carrying oil from the eastern fields toward Red Sea export terminals. For months now, the Islamist Houthi militia based in northern Yemen has terrorized commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb. Efforts from international forces - including the U.S. - have failed to stop them. Why is this seemingly ragtag militia group so hard to beat? Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition in a major anti-Houthi military intervention - yet more than 11 years of warfare failed to dislodge them. Iranian support for the Houthis helped transform them into a force capable of operating ballistic and cruise missiles, attack drones, anti-ship weapons, and unmanned vessels. Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the U.S. killed Houthi commanders, destroyed missile sites, intercepted weapons shipments, and sanctioned financiers. But none of that produced a Houthi defeat. Cheap missiles and drones allowed the Houthis to impose great costs on Saudi Arabia's infrastructure. The Obama administration initially provided intelligence and logistical assistance to the Saudi-led intervention, then progressively reduced that support as civilian casualties mounted. President Biden ended U.S. support for offensive operations in Yemen and revoked the Houthis' Foreign Terrorist Organization designation. Sanctions failed to cut off the Houthis from the technology and financing required to replenish their arsenal. The U.S. Treasury Department has traced Houthi procurement networks to Chinese companies supplying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) components, missile-guidance electronics, and chemical precursors used in ballistic missiles and explosives. In April 2025, U.S. officials accused a Chinese company of providing satellite imagery that helped the Houthis target U.S. warships in the Red Sea. The writer is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute.