On other past occasions, Yemen’s rebels have not been shy about taking action. This time, however, Iran’s allies appear to have chosen to stay out of this conflict.
There is an absence that is being noticed in this conflict in the Middle East. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, with a history of attacks against Gulf countries, have not yet entered the war, despite having already announced that they are “ready to act at any time”.
A few days after the joint US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said his group was ready to attack at any time.
“In relation to escalation and military action, we are ready to act at any time, if events justify it”, he declared, in a televised speech, cited by .
However, unlike Iran’s Shiite allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and in Iraq, the Houthis have not yet made any formal announcement of joining the war, as they did after the October 7, 2023 attacks, when they began firing at international ships in the Red Sea, claiming they were doing so in support of the Palestinians. At the time, they also launched drones and missiles against Israel, which responded with airstrikes against Houthi targets.
The Houthis ceased their attacks following a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025.
There have been other occasions when the Houthis did not shy away from taking action. The group expanded its power in Yemen and strengthened ties with Iran after the Arab Spring protests in 2011, when it captured the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
The following year, Saudi Arabia led a joint military intervention by Arab countries in an attempt to eliminate the group, but the Houthis proved to be heavily armed and equipped, attacking oil installations and vital infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
After years of fighting that triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the UN brokered a ceasefire in 2022 in Yemen, which has been respected ever since.
The Houthis and Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”
The context of the war in Iran can help to understand, in part, why the Houthis seem so restrained in this conflict.
According to some analysts cited by Reuters, the Houthis’ religious doctrine does not adhere to Iran’s supreme leader in the same way as Hezbollah and Iraqi groups.
Although the Houthis share a political affinity with Iran and Hezbollah, with Iran considering the group as part of its regional “Axis of Resistance” – the US says Iran armed, financed and trained the Houthis with Hezbollah’s help, something the group has always denied – experts explain that Yemen’s rebels are primarily motivated by a domestic agenda.
Some diplomats and analysts believe the Houthis may have even carried out isolated attacks against targets in neighboring countries; others admit that the group may be waiting for the most opportune moment to enter the conflict, in coordination with Iran, in order to exert maximum pressure.
But there are also those who understand that the Houthis may even stay out of the conflict, given the growing internal economic pressure and the possibility of being attacked by the US and the Gulf countries.
