GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War Day 677

Those Sneaky Houthis

How the Houthis Do It

I don’t know about you, but I always saw the Houthi rebels in Yemen as the B team of the Iran proxies who are attacking Israel and causing trouble in the Red Sea, but in an article from Israel Hayom we learn that they are hardly a rag tag operation:

Testimonies from the crew of the ship A-Sharwa, which tried to smuggle strategic weapons for the Houthis in Yemen, revealed new details in the past 24 hours about the smuggling routes used by the terror group. According to the testimonies, these routes are operated by Hezbollah members and the Iranian Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

As we will see all of the proxies are working together to create and manage Iran’s circle of fire around Israel. All of these terrorist organizations have at one time or another said they aren’t working together but this report details that is hardly the case. And it all goes back to one mission where they got caught:

During the crew’s last mission — in which they were captured — they were supposed to transport advanced weaponry to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from there transfer it under commercial cover to Yemen. They confirmed that this was the 12th shipment of its kind, disguised as factory equipment and including generators, transformers, pumps, and more. However, they were surprised when South Yemeni security forces inspecting the ship dismantled the cargo and discovered that parts for missiles, UAVs, air defense systems, radar, and other strategic weapons had been hidden inside the equipment.

And they were getting into Yemen after many ports were destroyed:

In addition, the crew revealed the names of six senior Houthi officials who manage the smuggling from Iran to Yemen, alongside three main smuggling routes. These routes were used to smuggle weapons such as missile and UAV parts, as well as chemicals used to produce ballistic missiles. These appear to be alternative routes compensating for the damage to Al-Hudaydah port caused by Israeli and American strikes.

They actually had three routes running:

According to the testimonies of the detained crew members:

   •   The first route is a direct path from Iran’s Bandar Abbas port to the port of As-Salif in northwestern Yemen.

   •   The second route goes via the coasts of Somalia, where IRGC operatives transfer shipments to Yemen.

   •   The third route operates under commercial cover through Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, run by local actors.

An Iranian Connection

Iran says repeatedly that the Houthis are independent of them, but that isn’t the case at all:

One of the six exposed senior Houthis is Abu Jaafar al-Talbi, the deputy defense minister of the Houthi regime for logistics — equivalent in rank to a general — who coordinates with the IRGC and oversees the smuggling of weapons shipments.

Another is Hussein al-Atas, “head of the General Authority for Red Sea Fisheries,” responsible for recruiting sailors and sending them to Iran, and supervising smuggling from Somalia and Djibouti. A third is Iyad Atini, who manages fishing centers at the ports of As-Salif and Al-Hudaydah, and serves as al-Atas’s aide.

And the Iran connection just gets more complex as these captured operatives tell us:

Other senior figures include Yahya Jinya, who manages the smuggling networks and recruits sailors for Iran; Ibrahim al-Muaid, in charge of finances and payroll distribution; and Mustafa al-Sharfi, the liaison with the IRGC and a Persian translator, responsible for receiving Yemeni sailors in Iran and coordinating container shipments.

The Houthi support operation answers questions I had about how they were getting all their military supplies that point to these terrorists being a deadly and savvy group:

The ship’s captain and crew also testified about smuggling from Yemen to Somalia and from Somalia to Iran under civilian cover. Some admitted to smuggling “sensitive chemicals” disguised as cancer medicine — chemicals used for missile fuel production. Others were involved in smuggling oil and weapons from Somalia and Djibouti to the Yemeni port of As-Salif.

An International Operation

The Houthis are getting things done from countries all over the globe:

The testimonies revealed that the Houthis’ smuggling network operates across Arab, Asian, and African countries to traffic various types of weaponry, including strategic and chemical weapons.

The captured operatives then gave up even more details showing us that they were all over the Middle East as well suggesting more countries are complicit in helping the:

For example, the testimonies exposed a complex network in which smuggling sailors travel to Iran. Yemeni citizens recruited by the Houthis would fly from Sana’a to Jordan, then to Lebanon, then cross into Syria, and from there fly again to Tehran, arriving at the Bandar Abbas port area in southern Iran. A shorter route for smugglers between Yemen and Iran ran through neighboring Oman, which often serves as a mediator between the Houthis and the West. After crossing into Oman, smugglers would fly directly to Iran.

They worked mostly at night, which helped them stay under the radar:

Furthermore, the crew revealed that the vessels used for smuggling operated mainly at night, sailing close to shore to avoid suspicion.

As if we needed more complicity from other proxies we then learn this:

A senior South Yemeni officer named Colonel Ali Talyan told Al-Jumhuriya channel that during the flights to Lebanon, Houthi smugglers would meet with Hezbollah operatives and Iranian officials in Syria. Hezbollah members were responsible for moving them into Syria and from there to Iran. One crew member said similar meetings were also held at points inside Oman.

As we should now expect, these terrorist operatives were trained by Iran which explains how they learned to be so sophisticated:

The Yemeni officer added that the smugglers gathered in Iran at a special camp built for them. At this camp, IRGC officials supervised them. Later, the Yemenis began operating along the three smuggling routes mentioned above (from Iran, from Somalia, and from Djibouti).

Thank God that the South Yemeni security forces got suspicious. And as we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we can pray that this stealth operation is taken out of operation.