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Iranian Narcotics… Another Facet of Houthis’ War against Yemenis

Yemeni Navy seizes an Iranian ship near Socotra Island carrying a shipment of illicit drugs (Saba News Agency)
Yemeni Navy seizes an Iranian ship near Socotra Island carrying a shipment of illicit drugs (Saba News Agency)
    Aden - Waddah Aljaleel
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Iranian Narcotics… Another Facet of Houthis’ War against Yemenis

Yemeni Navy seizes an Iranian ship near Socotra Island carrying a shipment of illicit drugs (Saba News Agency)
Yemeni Navy seizes an Iranian ship near Socotra Island carrying a shipment of illicit drugs (Saba News Agency)

Six weeks after the US Navy intercepted an Iranian drug smuggling ship off the coast of Oman, the Yemeni Navy seized another Iranian vessel loaded with narcotics off the coast of Socotra Island.

The shipment is believed to have been bound for Houthi militias in Yemen.

Similar arrests this year and in previous years suggest that Iranian-Houthi investment in drugs is only growing, especially that the ship seized by the Yemeni forces was transporting a significant quantity of illicit drugs.

In September, the US Central Command seized an Iranian ship carrying drugs worth around $20 million during a patrol in the Gulf of Oman.

According to security sources quoted by the official “Saba” news agency, security services in Yemen’s eastern Al-Mahra Governorate conducted investigations with three Yemeni sailors who were rescued by the US Navy after their boat was burnt at sea in late October.

The probes led to the discovery of the Iranian vessel loaded with narcotics, which was later seized and confiscated in Socotra Governorate.

A judicial source in the Houthi-run capital, Sanaa, revealed that the number of drug-related cases have declined in areas run by militias despite an increase in the illicit trade over the past few years.

The source, who requested anonymity, suggested that the decrease in prosecution is related to Houthis themselves facilitating drug smuggling and trade. The Iran-backed group is likely benefiting from narcotics being run in Yemen.

Many dealers and users are released before being referred to prosecution, a fact which suggests Houthis are concluding suspicious deals with drug lords, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

New types of narcotics are spread in Houthi-controlled areas and are now sold in the markets openly.

Yemenis accuse Houthis of selling and promoting drugs to benefit from their financial revenues on the one hand, and to corrupt the generations of society on the other hand.

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Arab World

Jordan Charges Church Attack Suspects with Terrorism

Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP)
Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP)
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Jordan Charges Church Attack Suspects with Terrorism

Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP)
Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP)

Jordanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged three men with terrorism-related offences over a deadly gun attack last month on a church in the kingdom's south.

On October 23, gunmen killed nine people and wounded 25 others when they stormed a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Hammoud village, in Jordan's Karak governorate.

Authorities said the suspected gunmen, two Jordanian brothers and their relative by marriage, fled after the attack but were arrested three days later.

According to a statement from Jordan's state security prosecutor, "the public prosecution has completed all investigative procedures... related to the terrorist attack carried out at Saint George Church".

The seven charges include "committing terrorist acts resulting in the death of a person, carrying out terrorist acts using weapons and ammunition, possessing weapons and ammunition for terrorist purposes, conspiring to carry out terrorist acts and promoting the ideology of a terrorist group".

Under Jordan's anti-terrorism law, a conviction on the most serious charge -- carrying out terrorist acts resulting in death -- is punishable by death.

Authorities have described the suspects as followers of a hardline extremist ideology.

The attack shocked the kingdom, where Christians make up around three percent of Jordan's Muslim-majority population.

Jordan retaliated by launching deadly strikes on "terrorist organizations" in Syria, claiming to have killed more than 20 extremists, but sparking a brief diplomatic crisis with its neighbor.

Arab World

Bab al-Mandeb Close to Liberation, Houthis Intensify Fighting in Lahj

A Yemeni solider in battle near Taiz city. (AFP)
A Yemeni solider in battle near Taiz city. (AFP)
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Bab al-Mandeb Close to Liberation, Houthis Intensify Fighting in Lahj

A Yemeni solider in battle near Taiz city. (AFP)
A Yemeni solider in battle near Taiz city. (AFP)

Yemeni government forces are close to ending the Houthi presence in most positions the group still holds in the Bab al-Mandeb region, coinciding with intensifying battles in Lahj governorate.

There, the group has escalated its attacks on government force positions in the Al-Maqatirah district in an attempt to achieve a military breakthrough that would allow it to bypass toward Bab al-Mandeb and advance toward the Tur Al-Baha district.

The Giants Brigades continue to pressure the remaining Houthi pockets in Bab al-Mandeb, as government forces and the Popular Resistance are engaged in escalating confrontations along the Taiz and Lahj fronts. The clashes come amid Houthi attempts to reclaim positions lost over the past few days and open new advance routes toward strategic areas overlooking the west coast.

These developments were accompanied by decrees by Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, under which he reorganized the leadership of the Tur Al-Baha axis and the military command of the Taiz front.

The development took place following setbacks at certain positions over the past weeks, and coincides with the political leadership's reaffirmation to press ahead with the Dawn of Yemen Operation until its declared goals are achieved.

According to field sources, the Houthis only hold one main in the Bab al-Mandeb region, as well as a handful of hills where a limited number of fighters are positioned.

The sources said government forces are close to establishing full control over these sites; however, the high density of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the group is hindering the advance and poses a direct threat to the troops, requiring clearing operations before military objectives can be fully completed.

Houthi pressure on Lahj

The Houthis launched a violent pre-dawn attack on Tuesday against government positions on the Al-Maqatirah front north of Lahj governorate.

Units from the National Resistance successfully repelled the assault for the second consecutive day, following a similar attack on Monday.

Government forces targeted Houthi positions in the Sawalihah mountains of the Al-Nusayrah area with medium and heavy weapons, inflicting casualties and equipment losses.

According to military information, forces managed to reclaim positions in the Al-Khazzan Al-Ahmar area on the Al-Nusayrah front and expel Houthi elements.

Arab World

Yemen: 21 Foreign ‘Experts’ from Iran’s IRGC, Hezbollah Operating with the Houthis

In this file photo, Houthi supporters hold posters of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iranian flags during a rally against Israel and the United States in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP)
In this file photo, Houthi supporters hold posters of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iranian flags during a rally against Israel and the United States in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP)
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Yemen: 21 Foreign ‘Experts’ from Iran’s IRGC, Hezbollah Operating with the Houthis

In this file photo, Houthi supporters hold posters of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iranian flags during a rally against Israel and the United States in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP)
In this file photo, Houthi supporters hold posters of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iranian flags during a rally against Israel and the United States in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP)

The Yemeni Ministry of Interior revealed Tuesday the presence of 21 foreign experts working with the terrorist Houthi militia, including 14 operatives from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and seven from the Lebanese Hezbollah, threatening the security of Yemen and international marine navigation and undermining regional and international security.

Distributed across six Yemeni governorates, these experts handle funding, arming, training, direct supervision, and operational planning to build the militias' military capabilities. This runs parallel to political, organizational, social, and media activities designed to cement long-term influence and establish networks of loyalty aimed at "placing Yemen outside its Arab surroundings."

The specializations of these foreign experts encompass operations management, command and control, ballistic missiles, drones, surveillance systems, communications, and electronic warfare, alongside overseeing supply lines and military component smuggling networks.

Their expertise also extends to coordinating maritime operations, selecting commercial vessel targets, developing booby-trapped boats, engineering autonomous submarines, and training elements in mine-laying and urban warfare tactics for city sieges.

A ministry statement said the operatives were working in Hodeidah, Sanaa, Saada, Hajjah, Amran and al-Kokha.

They are led by a military figure from the Revolutionary Guard, “who appears before cameras as an ambassador for a state that claims to respect international law.”

He serves as the general supervisor of operations, a strategic advisor, and the director of the joint operations room, alongside senior and mid-level officers specializing in drone workshops, smart missiles, and ballistic missiles, as well as naval experts and specialists in radar, communications, and electronic warfare.

“These activities threaten the security of the region, the lives of mariners, and the freedom of navigation in Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea, as well as trade routes and energy supplies,” said the statement.

It warned “of the potential transfer of military expertise and technology to other terrorist groups that share the same extremist ideology.”

It stressed the importance of the international community designating the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization, dismantling its financing and arming networks, and enforcing the arms embargo established under UN Security Council Resolutions 2216 and 2624.

“What the Houthis possess in terms of decision-making is merely the microphone, as the decisions are written in Tehran, announced in Sanaa, and paid for in Taiz, Hodeidah, and the rest of the governorates,” it added.

“The siege imposed by the terrorist Houthi militia on Taiz is one of the outcomes of this presence and support by experts from the IRGC and the terrorist Lebanese Hezbollah. It stands as evidence of the blatant presence, interference, and support for proxies in the region, which places the free world before a responsibility to stop these interventions and malicious acts,” it stressed.

Addressing the people, Interior Minister Ibrahim Haidan said: “This war into which the Houthis are driving you under the pretext of supporting Palestine is not your war; rather, the Houthis merely announce it, while Iran is the one guiding it, and you are the ones paying its price.”