Emily Milliken
While the international community may be taking a collective sigh of relief that the Houthis have paused their thirteen-month campaign against maritime traffic in the Red Sea, the group’s domestic operations are heating up.
Shortly after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, the Houthis signaled an end to their attacks on trading vessels—first in an email to international shipping companies and later in a public statement by the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. The group did, however, clarify that they reserved the right to target Israel-affiliated ships and warned that they could resume their assaults if necessary. The announcement is significant as Houthi maritime operations in the region were a major blow to international shipping, forcing shipping companies to choose between three expensive options: travel around the Horn of Africa to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait altogether, pay tariffs to the Houthis, or transfer their goods onto smaller boats to mitigate attack risks.
Although it remains uncertain whether the Yemeni rebels will resume lobbing drones and missiles at ships, their focus has visibly shifted to domestic operations against the Yemeni government and its affiliates. In the days following their announced ceasefire—and with the new Donald Trump administration re-designating the group as a foreign terrorist organization—the Houthis have made several alarming steps to consolidate control over Yemeni territory.
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