The Houthi missile attack on Israel on September 15 was an important move for the Iranian regime.
It’s worth thinking of the attack in light of Iran’s overall war against Israel in the region using its proxies rather than seeing it in a purely Houthi-centric context. This is because the Houthi claims of using a “hypersonic” missile dovetail with Iran’s own claims of developing a hypersonic missile last year. This is very much part of the Iranian multi-front war plan against Israel, a war launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Iranian state media heralded the Houthi attack in an article on IRNA on September 16. “Yemen’s Minister of Information in the Government of Change and Construction, Hashem Sharaf al-Din, says the country’s armed forces targeted the heart of Israel with missiles to send a message to the Zionist regime that it is not safe,” the report noted. The Houthis put out a statement to the pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen media on Sunday evening, noting that the Houthi “armed forces are developing their capabilities following the confrontation with the Saudi coalition and that they have been able to expand their capabilities in various fields.”
This is important because the Houthis are referencing how years of war against Saudi Arabia between 2015 and 2022 helped the Houthis galvanize their abilities. The Houthis were backed by Iran in the war against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis had tried to capture Aden in Yemen in 2015 and were on the brink of taking over a swath of the country. The Saudis led a number of Arab countries to intervene in Yemen to back the government of Yemen, which was on the ropes. However, the war did not go as planned. The Houthis held on and got support from Iran. Soon, the Houthis were able to attack Riyadh with ballistic missiles.
A learning curve
Now, the Houthis have taken the know-how they learned from that war, and blending it with Iranian support, they are attacking Israel. The war with Saudi was a kind of learning curve for the Houthis and Iran. China brokered Saudi-Iran reconciliation between 2022 and 2023, and this laid the groundwork for the Houthis to attack Israel in support of Hamas.
Now, Iran is likely using the Houthis to test weapon systems, such as ballistic missiles, against Israel. The Houthis are a test bed for Iran, a kind of terrorism garage where Iran tests different weapons and tinkers with them. For instance, Iran exported its Shahed drones to the Houthis in 2020-2021 before exporting them to Russia for use against Ukraine in 2022.
The Houthis are excited about their missile attack on Israel. They bragged in the report to Al-Mayadeen, which also appeared on IRNA, that “Yemeni missiles target and hit moving sea targets…[with the attack on Israel, here] is another important weapon that will be used at the right time.”
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