Sources: Iranian, Hezbollah Commanders Help Direct Houthi Attacks in Yemen

Houthi supporters attend a funeral of Houthi fighters at a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 January 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi supporters attend a funeral of Houthi fighters at a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 January 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Sources: Iranian, Hezbollah Commanders Help Direct Houthi Attacks in Yemen

Houthi supporters attend a funeral of Houthi fighters at a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 January 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi supporters attend a funeral of Houthi fighters at a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, 20 January 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah are on the ground in Yemen helping to direct and oversee Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, four regional and two Iranian sources told Reuters.

Tehran has provided advanced drones, anti-ship cruise missiles, precision-strike ballistic missiles and medium-range missiles to the Houthis, who started targeting commercial vessels in November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the sources said.

IRGC commanders and advisers are also providing know-how, data and intelligence support to determine which of the dozens of vessels travelling through the Red Sea each day are destined for Israel and constitute Houthi targets, all the sources said.

The attacks have affected global shipping between Asia and Europe through the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen. That has triggered US and British air strikes on Houthi targets in the country, opening a new theater of conflict linked to the war in Gaza.

The Gaza conflict has also sparked clashes between Israel and Hezbollah militants along the Lebanese border, as well as attacks by Iran-linked groups on US targets in Iraq and Syria.

"The Revolutionary Guards have been helping the Houthis with military training (on advanced weapons)," an Iranian insider told Reuters. "A group of Houthi fighters were in Iran last month and were trained in an IRGC base in central Iran to get familiar with the new technology and the use of missiles."

The person said Iranian commanders had travelled to Yemen as well and set up a command center in the capital Sanaa for the Red Sea attacks which is being run by the senior IRGC commander responsible for Yemen.

According to two former Yemeni army sources, there is a clear presence of IRGC and Hezbollah members in Yemen. They are responsible for supervising military operations, training and reassembling missiles smuggled into Yemen as separate pieces, the two people said.



US Targets Houthis with Fresh Sanctions Action

Houthi members ride a pick-up truck while on patrol amid tensions with Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
Houthi members ride a pick-up truck while on patrol amid tensions with Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
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US Targets Houthis with Fresh Sanctions Action

Houthi members ride a pick-up truck while on patrol amid tensions with Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
Houthi members ride a pick-up truck while on patrol amid tensions with Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on what it said was a Houthi-linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen and the United Arab Emirates in fresh action targeting the Iran-backed militant group.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said the two individuals and five entities sanctioned on Tuesday were among the most significant importers of petroleum products and money launderers that benefit the Houthis.

"The Houthis collaborate with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from the importation of petroleum products and to enable the group’s access to the international financial system," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.

"These networks of shady businesses underpin the Houthis’ terrorist machine, and Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt these schemes."

Among those targeted on Tuesday was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies between Yemen and the United Arab Emirates and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen.

Three companies in his network were also designated, with the Treasury saying they coordinated the delivery of approximately $12 million dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum products with a US-designated company to the Houthis.

Since Israel's war in Gaza against the Palestinian group Hamas began in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea in what they say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In January, Trump re-designated the Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization, aiming to impose harsher economic penalties in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against US warships defending the critical maritime area.

In May, the United States announced a surprise deal with the Houthis where it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks, though the Houthis said the deal did not include sparing Israel.

The Israeli military attacked Houthi targets in Yemen's Hodeidah port on Monday in its latest assault on the militants, who have been striking ships bound for Israel and launching missiles against it.