Houthis
Going forward, the kingdom’s actions will determine how much of the two countries’ “ambitious” shared agenda can be achieved.
The U.S. decision to remove the Houthis from the terror list plays into Tehran’s hands at the sensitive timing of the possibility of an American return to the nuclear agreement.
“The development of the Iranian nuclear program and the ballistic missile project endanger the entire region,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud tells an emergency meeting of the Arab League.
Satellite footage shows IRGC forces moved the Shahed-136 UAVs to Al-Jawf province in northern Yemen, an area controlled by Houthi rebels.
A new phase in Iranian activity after the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani: Iran steps up to control northern Yemen with the close supervision of its new “ambassador,” who specializes in the manufacture and launching of ballistic and anti-aircraft missiles.
The rebels will be listed on the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list, which includes Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The fact that Tehran could use Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy, to attack Israel is a given. But what about its Houthi proxies in Yemen? According to security analysts, the threat is not imminent but cannot be discounted.
The “Mehr” news agency quotes a Yemeni official threatening Israel, after IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman tells a Saudi news site that the military is monitoring Tehran’s involvement in Iraq and Yemen.
Hasan Irlu, Iran’s envoy to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, was allegedly acting for or on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, according to the U.S. State and Treasury Departments.
A Houthi spokesman calls the Quds-2-type missile used in the attack “very accurate” and warns that “operations will continue.”
The Defense Department, State Department employees, the United Nations and humanitarian groups are reportedly against such a move.
State Department envoy Ellie Cohanim also noted that the United States is urging nations to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism.
