Who are the Houthis? A simple guide to the Yemeni group

An intensified United States bombing campaign of Yemen began on Saturday night, potentially reigniting a crisis that had cooled with the onset of the ceasefire in Gaza.

The Houthis had stopped attacking ships in the Red Sea in January, after the ceasefire began in Gaza, but vowed in early March to restart attacks on Israeli ships if Israel did not lift a blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

The Houthis are an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen’s populous northwest. While the war they’re fighting against the Yemeni government and other groups is largely frozen, it has gained international prominence for its attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

Here’s all you need to know about the Yemeni fighters at the heart of this latest escalation.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (supporters of God), are an armed group that control most parts of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and some of the western and northern areas close to Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis emerged in the 1990s but rose to international prominence in 2014, when the group rebelled against Yemen’s government, forcing it to step down and sparking a crippling humanitarian crisis.

The group then spent years, with Iran’s backing, fighting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The two warring sides have also repeatedly tried to hold peace talks.

However, analysts say the Zaidi Shia group should not be seen as an Iranian proxy. It has its own base, its own interests – and its own ambitions.

What’s the status of Yemen’s civil war?

Yemen has been in a decade-long civil war as the Houthis maintain control of parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The group has been in ceasefire talks with Saudi Arabia while Yemen’s official government is based in Aden and led by President Rashad al-Alimi.

Al-Alimi came into office in 2022 after the country’s exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ceded power to him. Relations between Hadi and the Houthis were especially fraught.

The conflict has largely been frozen since 2022, though there have been some troop movements and skirmishes in the interim.

However, 19.5 million people – 56 percent of Yemen’s 35 million population – are still in dire need of humanitarian assistance in 2025, an increase of more than 1 million people from the previous year.

Why were the Houthis attacking Red Sea ships?

The Houthis said their attacks on commercial and military ships with potential Israeli links were primarily aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza. On November 18, 2023, the group took over a cargo ship called the Galaxy Leader, which they have since turned into a tourist attraction for Yemenis.

“We have emphasised to everyone that [the Houthi] operations are to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and that we cannot stand idly by in the face of the aggression and siege,” Houthi chief negotiator and spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Al Jazeera in December 2023.

The Houthis also conducted numerous attempted missile and drone attacks on Israel, some of which were successful.

In response to the Houthi attacks, the US, UK and Israel have all conducted their own bombing of Yemen, killing dozens of people. In January 2024, the US and the UK began attacking Houthi targets in Yemen, and Israel has also carried out its own strikes.

These attacks stopped following the beginning of the ceasefire in January, but the US restarted its bombing campaign on Saturday. “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” US President Donald Trump said in a social media post.

For their part, the Houthis have been demanding that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

On March 7, Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi set a four day deadline for that to happen, otherwise he said the group would start blocking Israeli ships from going into the Red and Arabian Seas.

The four day deadline came and went, though no public statements were released by the Houthis about attacks on ships in those bodies of water.

Do the attacks on the Houthis threaten their control of parts of Yemen?

Back in January 2024, analysts said attacks on the Houthis actually emboldened the group’s leadership and drove popular support to a level.

But analysts also say that attacks help the Houthis in other ways. Domestically in Yemen, the group has seen a sharp uptick in recruitment, riding on popular support for the people of Gaza. The attacks, and the response from major powers like the US, also force other countries and governments to negotiate with them, giving them de facto legitimacy at a time when they are not officially recognised internationally as Yemen’s government.

It remains to be seen whether the latest US bombing campaign will significantly degrade the capabilities of the Houthis, or whether they will be able to survive the attacks as they have done in the past.

Will the latest escalation affect Yemen’s fragile peace?

It’s unclear, though there has not been much fighting since 2022.

The UN announced in late December 2023 that serious progress had been made in peace negotiations, but experts warned that Houthi activity in the Red Sea might derail a final deal. They warned back then of a US military response that could in turn “unravel the fragile ceasefire conditions”.

That hasn’t happened internally yet. But Trump’s attacks are apparently more indiscriminate than those committed by the Biden administration.

And while negotiations had appeared to be closed to fruition between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government and other anti-Houthi forces had complained about being frozen out of the process – warning that a deal that did not find a lasting solution to the conflict would inevitably lead to further fighting in the future.