The Khomeinist media machine that defends its regional proxies insists on embedding two ideas among its followers.
The first is that all the activities undertaken by its supporters, from recruiting and mobilizing both young and old people to booby-trapping boats, planting mines, and launching drones, are merely part of political action. As such, they are portrayed as justified in pursuit of certain objectives.
Through this argument, it seeks to distinguish its affiliated militias, such as the Houthis and Hezbollah, from groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda. This tactic is reinforced by an ideological discourse promoted through public occasions and sectarian festivals that encourage turning life into a vast graveyard and filling successive generations with memories of suicide and death. Followers are thus raised to wake up prepared to commemorate the dead rather than to make productive use of their day.
The second is the continual invocation of political concepts in order to evade labels such as terrorism and nihilism. This is precisely what the Houthi terrorist group seeks to achieve. It attempts to capitalize on the experiences of those who came before it, using political terminology to justify its criminal activities. The group is determined to preserve what remains of its tribal legitimacy through various tactics, including playing the role of a regional intermediary and adopting the language of politics and law on international platforms.
Previously, columnist Yousef Al-Dayni wrote in this newspaper an opinion piece worthy of reflection, titled "The Yemeni Issue Becomes a Matter of International Security." Al-Dayni argued that:
"Hussein al-Houthi himself engaged in intellectual disputes while constructing a new discourse that combined the activist mobilization characteristic of political Islam movements, a revolutionary interpretation of religious texts resembling some aspects of Sayyid Qutb's thinking, and the vocabulary and slogans produced by the Khomeinist revolution. Today, it can be said that the Houthi militia has gone beyond even this ideological blend. Over time, it has evolved into a closed military and dynastic structure obsessed with power and willing to pay any price to remain in control, much like the Muslim Brotherhood, even if that means engaging in dialogue with Israel. It also seeks to erode Yemen's Arab and Islamic identity and reshape society and the state according to a vision that grants it an exceptional right to rule and wield coercive power."
I would add that the convergence of Houthi terrorism with various fundamentalist groups, regardless of their sectarian or ideological backgrounds, has helped conceal aspects of its own terrorism, expand its influence, and entrench Houthi extremist doctrine within local sectarian frameworks in a way that enables the group to deepen its tribal dominance and mobilize supporters domestically.
While ordinary rank-and-file members may not fully grasp the nature of the alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Houthis, it is remarkable when commentators who claim to be "secular" remain ignorant of it, whether they write from European exile or from capitals that support the rogue Khomeinist terrorist movement.
Today, we see them defending the Houthis. Having already benefited from its association with the Muslim Brotherhood and secured its support, the Houthi movement is now attempting to cultivate a supposedly "secular" analytical current through which it can justify its terrorist activities before international audiences. This political confusion is, of course, ideological at its core. Hezbollah pursued a similar strategy in the region by forging alliances with some of the most powerful Christian "secular" parties. That alliance significantly facilitated the acceptance and passage of Hezbollah's terrorist activities across the Gulf and internationally.
Hezbollah also embraced numerous artists and political analysts who openly profess atheism. It granted them substantial platforms through its television channels and newspapers and strengthened their presence in both popular and official public spheres. This is a well-known and widely recognized fact.
The conclusion is that the Houthi experiment is not political in nature. Rather, it was deliberately crafted within a nihilistic and self-destructive framework that is hostile to its surroundings. The Houthis' attempts to refute accusations of terrorism, or to justify attacks on sacred sites, are part of a broader effort to promote a terrorist model that is even more deceptive and deadly.
If the Houthis previously relied on alliances with traditional fundamentalist movements, they are now seeking political partnerships even with "secularists" and "denialists" in exchange for supporting their permanent takeover of the Yemeni state.
It is an ideological bargain between the Houthis and their new allies, reminiscent of the intellectuals who defended Saddam Hussein's occupation of Kuwait. At the time, the late minister and writer Ghazi Al-Gosaibi addressed this phenomenon in "In Search of the Intellectual."
