A month into a sustained American air campaign targeting the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist militia in Yemen, there is mounting evidence of operational damage to the terror group’s military infrastructure. However, Israeli observers have warned that airpower alone will not be sufficient to neutralize the threat in the long term.
On Sunday, after several days of no missile attacks, the Houthis launched another ballistic missile at Israel, triggering sirens across the center of the country. The Israel Defense Forces said the missile was likely intercepted.
A day earlier, on April 12, international media reports said the United States conducted a series of airstrikes in central Yemen. Meanwhile, the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed and anti-Houthi Yemeni government is reportedly preparing a large-scale military operation, mobilizing some 80,000 troops to retake the port city of Hodeidah, on the Yemenite Red Sea coast, and surrounding areas, according to the UAE-based news site, The National.
The United States also conducted airstrikes in recent days in the Sanaa Province, including the near Houthi-held presidential palace, and large numbers of strikes across other areas like Hudaydah and Ma’arib in central Yemen.
The IDF announced on April 11 that it intercepted a Houthi drone approaching from the east.
Professor Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University and the university’s chair of contemporary Middle East history, told JNS, “The American attacks are continuous and ongoing and apparently are causing significant damage to the Houthis. As evidence, they have almost stopped firing missiles towards Israel—and this is apparently connected to a certain blow to their capabilities.”
He added, “But it is clear that aerial attacks are not enough to collapse or defeat them. It is more about sending a message to the Houthis and to the Iranians, and also about a certain blow to capabilities, but not a total elimination.”
Zisser said that “if this continues over time it will be problematic for the Houthis, because it is easier to detect launchers that are set up to fire, and this is exactly what the Americans are doing.” Still, he cautioned, “It is not possible to achieve airtight results and therefore everything is on limited terms.”
Zisser said a more decisive outcome would require a regional coalition effort on the scale of the campaign against ISIS. “Saudi Arabia and other countries need to take part in a task force that will try to topple the Houthi regime, similar to what was done against ISIS—a coalition of local forces, first and foremost Yemenis who oppose the Houthis, but clearly with massive Saudi assistance that will lead to the fall of the Houthis, because otherwise the problem will remain for the future.”
He added, “Israel is apparently assisting, but it should be remembered that due to the distance, our capabilities are relatively limited.”
Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani, a senior official from the anti-Houthi camp, stated on April 9 that the U.S. airstrikes had degraded about 30% of Houthi missile and drone capabilities.
Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy in Jerusalem, said that the Houthi’s military capability has been damaged but not yet eliminated.
“More time and effort—complementary to the military effort—will be required to bring about their disintegration from most of their capabilities in a more significant way,” said Michael.
Michael, a former deputy director-general and head of the Palestinian desk at Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs, said that the American effort must be assisted by social-political efforts within Yemen itself.
These efforts should be aimed at weakening and fragmenting the Houthis and their regime in northern Yemen, he said, “to assist the government of southern Yemen in cooperation with tribes rival to the Houthi tribes in northern Yemen to regain effective control of the area, alongside the military effort.”
The United States recently applied sanctions on a network of Houthi financial and procurement operatives, which it said bought tens of millions of dollars of weapons and other goods from Russia, according to UPI.
Asked about Israel’s current role in the campaign against the Houthis, Michael assessed that it is marginal.
“It does not exist in the kinetic context,” he said. “It does exist in the intelligence context and perhaps in assisting thought and consultations in the political context. The U.S. coordinates and updates, but acts quite independently and very much prefers that there be no Israeli involvement, which can only complicate matters.”