Houthis promote their own agenda at the expense of the Yemen
Yemen has long suffered from the effects of European colonization as well as religious and cultural divides between its north and south. These cultural divides between the Yemeni Arab Republic in the North and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, in the south, have led to insurrections with consequences effecting Yemen and the rest of the world. The Houthis, a Sunni Muslim minority predominantly in the northern highlands along the Saudi border, are furthering this cultural divide in Yemen. Charles Tilly refers to boundary activation as an “us versus them” mentality, which perfectly outlines the Houthi behavior toward the unaffiliated Yemeni people in the south as well as Jews and the United States. Boundary activation divides can stem from differences in race, religion, class, regional/state boundaries, etc. The Houthis attacks on the Yemeni government, ongoing civil war and their recent attacks on the Red Sea are reinforcing their goals, which do not consider the greater good of the Yemeni people.
These actions are a form of what Tilly refers to as coordinated destruction. “Coordinated destruction approaches the upper right-hand corner of our coordination-salience space: high in both overall coordination of violent actors and in the salience of damaging acts within all interactions, although not quite so high as violent rituals in either regard. Coordinated destruction refers to those varieties of collective violence in which persons or organizations specialized in the deployment of coercive means, undertake programs of actions that damage persons and/or objects” (Tilly, 2003) If the Houthis continue this path of destruction and disregard for anyone outside their interests, Yemen will not survive the consequences.
Al-Maseera, the newspaper of the Houthi militia, published an article headed, “Peace with the Jews is in confronting them, not shaking their hands”, the day before Hamas’ terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The Arab Gulf government’s willingness to accept normalized relations with Israel was sharply condemned in the article which portrayed it as a surrender to Israeli and United States government regional power.
The Houthis stem from Northern Yemen and are one component of the “Axis of Resistance”. Hamas, Hezbollah, and other regional militias, supported by Iran, are united against Israel and the West. The Houthi slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
According to the Houthis, their strikes on Red Sea trade lanes, which began in November 2023, are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas are intended to pressure Israel and its allies to stop the war in Gaza. The group has repeatedly said that its operations in the Red Sea will cease once Israel stops the war and lifts its siege on the territory. However, since the Houthis started their operations in the Red Sea to help Palestine, the group has brought in and trained around 200,000 additional fighters. International shipping has been forced to take a longer path around South Africa in order to avoid being hit by the Houthi attacks which have impacted international commerce. A new wave of worldwide inflation is being feared as a result of the rising delivery costs.
The United States and Britain began launching air and sea strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the movements attacks on ships in the Red Sea in January 2024. A dramatic regional widening of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
“The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” said U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin. “We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks.”
These retaliatory attacks and the redesignation of Houthis as a terrorist organization on January 24, 2024, are isolating Yemen, who are reliant on foreign investment and imports. Although the Houthis deserve to be called terrorists, the redesignation-which was not made lightly-may not change the Houthis behavior. The terrorist designation will hurt the Yemeni currency, make it harder for banks to work with each other in Houthi-controlled areas, and have a detrimental effect on the millions of Yemenis who depend on allowances from family members living abroad. Houthis lack of thought beyond the short-term benefits of their attacks showcases their disregard for Yemeni wellbeing.
Yemen imports 90% of its necessities, so regularizing imports is essential to the country’s economic development. Reducing the cost of transportation for shippers and boosting imports are two ways to drive down prices and address Yemen’s food security crisis. Yemenis will end up being their biggest casualty, because of Houthis strikes against ships in the Red Sea, costs are increasing for the few shippers who are still ready to make the dangerous journey.
Yemen could die a long-drawn-out death. The Houthis activities are threatening to make the country an exile state with no practical means of economic recovery. This will have far more ramifications than the targeted bombings of Houthi military targets.
Although the party says that these actions are a show of support for the Palestinian people, analysts believe that the real goal is for the Houthis to gain more political clout and establish their legitimacy in Yemen.
“The Houthis are keen to burnish their credentials. It is less about genuinely fighting Israel, and more about the perceived propaganda value of being seen to be doing something against Israel“ says Tobias Borck, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute.
Yemen continues to have the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in the world after nine-years of war. Approximately 4.5 million individuals, or 14% of the total population, are now displaced. 21.6 million people, or two thirds of Yemen’s population, are in desperate need of safety and humanitarian aid – there is now a greater danger than ever before of a widespread famine in the nation. Tens of thousands of people are already experiencing famine-like circumstances, and an astounding six-million more are only a short distance away.
The World Food Program was forced to halt food aid to millions of Yemenis in 2023 after months of negotiations due to the Houthis constant interference with aid operations. The Houthis would not allow the program to prioritize aid to those who were most in need. The efforts of UN organizations to provide humanitarian aid will likewise be thwarted. The UN envoy’s job in Yemen has also been made more difficult as there are no immediate plans to pick up where the protracted civil war in Yemen left off with peace negotiations.
The emerging promise of a peace process in Yemen contrasts the Houthis increasing use of force against foreign actors. The decisions the Houthis make in 2024 will mark a turning point for both Yemen’s trajectory and their relationship with the international community.
References
Daniel Sobelman (2023) Houthis in the Footsteps of Hizbullah, Survival, 65:3, 129-144, DOI: 10.1080/00396338.2023.2218704
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2023.2218704
Dominguez, G. (2023, November 22). Houthi ship hijacking stokes fears of escalating Israel-hamas war. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/11/22/world/politics/us-terrorist-label-houthis-ship/
Riedel, B., Jones, B., Budjeryn, M., Stent, A., & Constanze Stelzenmüller, A. A. (2024, February 1). An inflection point for the houthis. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/an-inflection-point-for-the-houthis/
Schulkes, P., Alrebh, A. F., & Soliman, M. (2024, January 11). The perils of underestimating the Houthi threat. Middle East Institute. https://www.mei.edu/publications/perils-underestimating-houthi-threat
Tilly, Charles. 2003. The Politics of Collective Violence. New York: Cambridge University Press. “Coordinated Destruction.”
U.S. Department of State. (2024, January 30). Terrorist designation of the Houthis – United States Department of State. U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/terrorist-designation-of-the-houthis/
Yemen Crisis explained. USA for UNHCR. The Un Refugee Agency. (2023, March). https://www.unrefugees.org/news/yemen-crisis-explained/
Sara Sabbagh
Hi Larissa, love the connection you make to Tilley’s ‘coordinated destruction’ and the spread of divisive messaging through the media as a tool to dehumanize. I also appreciate how you brought attention to the Yemen’s actions in the Red Sea to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine, while they themselves also face a dire humanitarian crisis. It really speaks to the hypocrisy of aid from powerful nations, and highlights what kind of actors are willing to get involved in Gaza.