The assassination of Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah left the two organizations – representing Iran – bereft and, at the same time, created an opportunity for Yemen’s Houthis and their leader, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, to step forward and claim an enhanced role in the called Axis of Resistance.
According to the Atlantic Council, Tehran will likely want to prioritize Yemeni rebels with advanced weapons, training and funding that would allow them to launch more precise and much more destructive attacks – not just in the Red Sea – but even on Israeli soil.
One way to achieve this will be to broker an agreement between the Houthis and Moscow for the latter to supply missiles to the rebels. If that happens, however, or even if Israel believes it will happen, we will see the Israeli military (IDF) shift focus and concentrate on operations in Yemen.
It will likely want to target Abdul Malik Al Houthi and other senior militia figures in order to degrade their organizational and operational capabilities. A leadership crisis would offset better equipment and increased funding. In this case, the Houthi leaders should be considered “living dead”, just like Yahya Sinwar’s successors.
The escalation of attacks
Let us remember that about ten days ago the Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for two missile attacks against Israel. They fired missiles at “enemy military targets” in Tel Aviv, according to their spokesman, Yahya Shari. He also spoke of drones hitting “multiple targets” in Eilat and Jaffa.
And they continue to constantly launch attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, citing their connection to Israel. The US tried to stop its attacks by bombing its facilities in Yemen. They even sent the infamous B-2 Spirit (aka Stealth Bomber) to hit them.
It is a bomber built by Northrop Grumman that incorporates stealth technology and is designed to penetrate dense air defenses while being capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons. The bomber has a crew of two pilots and can carry up to eighty 230 kg GPS-class JDAM bombs or sixteen one-ton B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only stealth aircraft that can carry a large payload of air-to-surface weapons.