From the River to the Sea: Ibaitik Itsasora (91) eta Scott Ritter

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Mission Impossible: Why Yemen’s Houthis Can’t Be Beaten

(https://www.energyintel.com/00000197-5e4b-dd1d-ab9f-fedb69a80000)

Copyright © 2025 Energy Intelligence Group

Published:

Wed, Jun 11, 2025

Author

Scott Ritter, Washington

anasalhajj/Shutterstock

Since emerging as a political force inside Yemen in the early 2000s, the Houthi rebels, also known as the Ansarullah (“followers of Allah”) movement, have today grown into a major regional actor whose actions carry global consequences. Whether overthrowing the old order in Yemen, resisting a Saudi-led Arab coalition or fighting the US to a standstill, the Houthis have shown a resilience which, given the disparity of power that exists on paper between them and their opponents, is as shocking as it is impressive. Wrongly labeled as a proxy of Iran, the Houthis have demonstrated independence in their domestic and external actions that have made finding a solution to their continued resistance in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds a mission impossible.

The Houthi movement of Yemen derives its name from the Houthi tribe that dominates its organizational and governmental ranks, including the most senior positions. The Houthis are rooted in a Zaydi-Shiite religious identity that extends beyond the spiritual and into the very essence of their cause — the duty to resist injustice.

This lies at the very heart of the Zaydi faith, founded on the 8th century revolt led by Zayd ibn Ali against the Umayyad Caliphate and which holds that any learned descendant of Ali can become an imam by asserting and fighting for his claim. This is in opposition to the classic Shiite belief that imams must be divinely appointed. This theological divergence is one of the main reasons why the Houthis will never be subsumed by Iran: The very precept of Velayat-e Faqih, the concept underpinning Iran’s supreme clerical rule, is anathema to the Houthis.

The Houthis have branded their movement Ansarullah. This is no mere title, but rather a reference to the people of Medina who welcomed, supported and protected the Prophet Muhammad and his followers during the early years of Islam. The term Ansarullah carries with it a strong commitment to faith and a willingness to stand up for what is right. While in the West religious fervor is often derided and/or downplayed, the sincerity of the Houthis’ faith, and the degree to which it defines their very existence, lies at the foundation of both the stubbornness of their convictions and resilience of their struggle.

A History of Struggle

The modern-day manifestation of the Houthis’ resistance-driven revival began in the 1990s as a Zaydi cultural and religious awakening called “The Young Believers” evolved into an armed uprising by 2004 after the Young Believers’ leader was killed by security forces while being arrested. The essence of the Houthis resistance rests both in religion and the more secular notion of independence from outside interference (in particular the influence of both the US and Saudi Arabia on the affairs of Yemen.)

The Houthi movement of today is founded on three basic principles — sectarian (Zaydi) identity, local autonomy and a rejection of foreign intervention. The Houthis rose up against former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2014. After seizing control of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, the group transformed itself from a classic insurgency into a legitimate political entity that has proven its ability to assume the tasks of defining and building the structures of state beyond simply the military.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia, together with a coalition of Arab states and with the full backing of the US, initiated “Operation Decisive Storm,” a massive aerial assault against the Houthis designed to crush them as a military and political movement and install a pro-Saudi government in their place. The failure of the operation to achieve the desired results led the Saudis to escalate by carrying out a ground incursion into Houthi-controlled Yemen.

Almost immediately, the Saudis were confronted by the reality that the Houthis were not so easily intimidated. Houthi resistance expanded from thwarting the Saudi-led incursions to taking the fight to Saudi Arabia, striking critical energy infrastructure with missiles and drones, while launching their own ground attacks into Saudi territory. By 2023, the Saudis were looking to end their war with the Houthis. Indeed, conflict termination with the Houthis was a driving factor behind the Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the spring of 2023.

The US Bows Out

The Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, served as the justification for the Houthis to initiate military operations against Israeli shipping with the goal of instituting a de facto naval blockade of the southern Israeli port of Eilat. The Houthis linked their actions to a demand that Israel accept a ceasefire against Hamas and permit humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis attacked over 100 merchant ships transiting the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brokered by the US in January 2025 brought a temporary respite to the Houthis’ attacks on shipping, but these resumed in March 2025 when Israel broke the ceasefire. In addition to attacking shipping, the Houthis fired drones and ballistic missiles into Israel, threatening to impose an aerial blockade by preventing commercial flights in and out of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.

The US, backed by the UK and joined by Israel, began a massive air campaign designed to punish and deter the Houthis from carrying out these attacks. The damage done by these strikes on the civilian infrastructure of Houthi-controlled Yemen was substantial, resulting in hundreds of reported civilian casualties. But the military impact of the US-led bombing raids was less impressive, with the Houthis threatening US Navy ships operating in the Red Sea while continuing to strike Israel with ballistic missiles.

While many observers portray the Houthis as a compliant arm of an Iranian-directed “Axis of Resistance” whose mission is to confront Israel, the US and the Gulf Arab States, the level to which the Houthis exert independence of operation is quite high. Indeed, the decision to begin interdicting Israeli shipping following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, was done without the approval of Iran. Moreover, the ceasefire reached in early May between the US and the Houthis, in which the Trump administration agreed to halt air strikes in exchange for the Houthis agreeing to stop attacking US shipping, was brokered in large part because the Houthi-US conflict was undermining the US’ efforts to negotiate a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

But the kicker in the US-Houthi agreement is that it did not require the Houthis to terminate their missile attacks against Israel. The fact that the Trump administration carried out this deal independent of Israel underscores the reality that Houthi resistance could not be broken by US firepower and that continued military action against the Houthis would be detrimental to the national security interests of the US.

The Houthis have emerged from their conflict with the US stronger than ever, both in terms of domestic legitimacy and from an international perspective, where the Houthis have fought the world’s strongest military to a standstill while imposing their will on the global geopolitical reality. The unbreakable spirit of the Houthis has proven to be an unsolvable problem for those nations who have come into the crosshairs of the Houthis’ sense of resisting injustice.

Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer whose service over a 20-plus-year career included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control agreements, serving on the staff of US General Norman Schwarzkopf during the Gulf War and later as a chief weapons inspector with the UN in Iraq from 1991-98. The views expressed in this article are those of the author.

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Ritter’s Rant 001: Israel’s attack on Iran, and Russia

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdwPq4oDgq4)

Transkripzioa:

0:00

[Music]

0:11

hello and welcome to the first edition

0:15

of

0:17

what I’m calling the Ritter Rant um this

0:21

is an opportunity for not spontaneous

0:26

but uh extempiraneous

0:28

um monologue on developing situations uh

0:35

and we have a hell of a developing

0:36

situation taking place right now in Iran

0:40

uh this morning last night Israel

0:43

carried out what can only be described

0:45

as a Pearl Harbor type event a surprise

0:47

attack against Iran that um goes beyond

0:52

anything um I think anybody had possibly

0:55

imagined this is a comprehensive

0:57

broadspectctrum attack uh which has

1:00

targeted Iran’s leadership it’s

1:03

targeting Iran Iran’s nuclear

1:05

infrastructure its ballistic missile

1:06

infrastructure its air defense and is

1:09

threatening to target uh Iran’s you know

1:13

the basic basis for his economic

1:15

survival Iran’s oil and gas production

1:17

capabilities

1:19

in short this is a full-scale attack

1:23

against Iran designed to achieve one

1:25

thing and that is the elimination of the

1:29

theocracy that currently governs the

1:31

Islamic Republic of Iran benjamin

1:34

Netanyahu the prime minister of Israel

1:36

has come out and spoken directly to the

1:38

Iranian people uh encouraging them to

1:40

take advantage of the the disarray the

1:44

chaos has been engendered by this

1:45

Israeli attack to overthrow the the

1:48

government and ultimately by initiating

1:52

this strike against Iran Israel has

1:56

begun a process of ex existential

1:59

survival only one nation will emerge

2:02

from this conflict intact either it’s

2:05

going to be Israel or it’s going to be

2:07

Iran and right now the odds favor Israel

2:10

now what does this mean in a broader

2:13

context let’s bring in Russia for the

2:16

moment on January 17th of this year

2:19

Russia signed a strategic framework

2:21

agreement with Iran a 20-year agreement

2:23

that was designed to bring the nations

2:25

together um uh in in terms of the

2:29

economic cooperation geopolitical

2:31

cooperation military and security

2:33

cooperation um and it was born of

2:39

you know a strategic partnership that

2:41

has its roots in Russia’s own

2:43

existential issues uh you know Russia

2:46

found itself in a very difficult

2:48

situation via its conflict with Ukraine

2:51

uh regarding the use of drones and Iran

2:53

stepped up to the plate and um

2:56

cooperated with Russia providing drone

2:58

expertise providing uh drone technology

3:01

that enabled Russia to get through a

3:02

very difficult time and today from this

3:06

drone cooperation Russia has achieved u

3:09

drone supremacy over uh Ukraine and the

3:12

collective west um Iran paid a price

3:16

though it it it by supporting Russia uh

3:19

Iran was targeted both by Ukraine and

3:22

its Western allies in Europe and the

3:24

United States and um you know Iran has

3:28

also been singled out by Israel as you

3:31

know being a nation that needs to be

3:34

targeted what does this mean to have an

3:36

ally of Russia targeted in this fashion

3:38

what does it mean for Russia you know if

3:42

Russia is going to say we are a

3:44

strategic partner if Iran if Russia is

3:47

going to say we are a strategic ally

3:49

then what does it say about Russia when

3:52

their partner their ally is targeted for

3:54

elimination what does Russia do what r

3:57

can Russia what can Russia do you know

4:00

this isn’t just an academic exercise

4:03

russia has invested a lot of political

4:05

capital uh into creating the north south

4:10

economic corridor a strategic uh line of

4:13

communication that connects Russia to

4:16

Iran um through Azarbaijan and other

4:19

countries the whole purpose of this is

4:21

to bypass strategic waterways that are

4:25

expensive to operate on and are

4:27

controlled by nations potentially

4:28

hostile to Russia this is about Russia’s

4:31

national security interests it’s also

4:33

about China’s national security

4:35

interests china just recently sent a

4:38

train along what is called the new Silk

4:40

Road connecting China to Iran iran is

4:43

the hub of a new um Eurasian vision of

4:48

economic and uh you know geopolitical

4:51

security and now Iran’s very existence

4:55

is at risk attacked by not just Israel

4:59

but this is where it becomes trickier

5:01

for Russia by the United States israel

5:04

could not have carried out the actions

5:06

against Iran without the explicit

5:08

permission of the United States moreover

5:10

it appears that the United States has

5:13

used the

5:15

the subtrifuge of diplomacy as a

5:18

mechanism of enabling this attack by

5:20

luring Iran into uh the belief that

5:24

there was the potential of an econ

5:26

diplomatic off-ramp uh that Iran could

5:28

engage in dialogue with the United

5:31

States to come up with a new nuclear

5:33

framework agreement that would um bring

5:36

an end to you know this nuclear crisis

5:39

and therefore bring an end to the threat

5:42

of Israel’s attacking but it appears

5:44

that the United States has been with

5:47

Israel all along and that this

5:49

diplomatic subtrafuge was simply a

5:52

mechanism designed to lull u Iran into a

5:56

false sense of complacency to set Iran

5:59

up for this Israeli Pearl Harbor event

6:03

uh what lesson should Russia draw from

6:05

this well the first lesson is the United

6:07

States especially as it’s currently

6:09

manifested cannot be trusted at all this

6:12

is a sad state of affairs because

6:14

there’s no greater uh time than now for

6:18

meaningful Russian American diplomatic

6:21

engagement u we have a strategic nuclear

6:26

treaty expiring in February of next year

6:28

there is no viable replacement without

6:30

this the potential of the United States

6:33

and Russia spinning off into a nuclear

6:35

arms race is very high uh we have the

6:39

United States you know continuing to

6:42

embrace a policy that seeks the

6:44

strategic defeat of Russia in Ukraine at

6:47

the same time that we’re seeking to

6:48

claim that we want a negotiated

6:50

settlement can Russia ever trust the

6:53

United States why would Russia ever want

6:55

to trust the United States when the

6:57

United States says it wants a negotiated

6:59

outcome what it appears United States is

7:02

saying is that we want you to drop your

7:04

guard until which time we can facilitate

7:07

the delivery of a knockout blow and when

7:10

we’re speaking of a knockout blow we’re

7:11

not speaking of hypotheticals one must

7:14

keep in mind that it was only a week ago

7:16

that Russia found its strategic nuclear

7:18

deterrence under attack by an American

7:20

proxy Ukraine um Russia has a nuclear

7:24

doctrine that’s predicated on the notion

7:27

that if a non-nuclear state like Ukraine

7:30

is used by a nuclear weapons power like

7:32

the United States to launch attacks

7:34

against Russia’s strategic nuclear

7:36

infrastructure that that is crossing a

7:39

red line that could justify Russia’s use

7:42

of nuclear weapons in response so far

7:46

Russia has behaved pragmatically

7:48

responsibly not seeking to escalate sort

7:51

of the same way Iran has behaved not

7:54

escalating not launching its own

7:55

preemptive strike even when Israel is

7:58

threatening to act against it believing

8:00

in diplomacy believing in the potential

8:03

of dialogue to resolve issues and yet

8:06

look at where Iran is today and that’s

8:09

something that Russia needs to consider

8:11

too how it interacts with the United

8:13

States what is the real uh prospect of

8:18

you know good relations based upon

8:20

diplomacy

8:22

iran is a test it’s a test for Iran it’s

8:25

a test for Russia it’s a test for the

8:27

world and if these nations fail this

8:31

test what it shows is that the United

8:34

States is justified in lying cheating

8:39

deceiving relying upon military power

8:42

not diplomacy to gain and preserve and

8:46

promote the hegemony that the world has

8:51

said they’re tired of the world speaks

8:53

of a multi-polar world but there can’t

8:55

be a multi-polar world if one power is

8:58

allowed to go out and violently suppress

9:02

the ambitions the legitimate ambitions

9:04

the uh the projection of sovereignty of

9:08

other nations that’s what’s happening

9:10

with Iran today and Russia has to ask

9:12

the question is that Russia’s future

9:14

tomorrow this has been Ritter’s Rant and

9:16

I’ll see you next time something happens

9:18

worthy of a rant

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