Are the Houthis a Rebel Group? Or a Multi-Role Tool of Agency?
(Translated)
https://www.al-waie.org/archives/article/19911
Al-Waie Magazine, Issue 468
Thirty-ninth Year, Muharram 1447 AH, corresponding to July 2025 CE
Mu'nis Hamid - Iraq

To answer this question, we must delve into this complex issue and delve into the network of geopolitical interests that extend beyond Yemen’s borders, amidst the long-standing struggle between British influence and American influence and its tools of agency.

Perhaps the foremost American objective is to perpetuate the reality of Yemeni fragmentation and transform Yemen into a fragile, fragmented state. It also appears that the Houthis play a role in the current maritime conflict, for reasons that may make America uninterested in resolving this issue, as long as it ensures that the Gulf rulers remain under American protection. Perhaps maintaining the Houthis’ role will push the Gulf rulers to accept the conditions imposed by America on the region regarding normalization negotiations with the Jewish entity.

Yes, the Houthis constitute Tehran’s arm in Yemen, but their presence does not pose a threat to America. On the contrary, it may allow Tehran to be drained through a proxy war to manage the conflict between America and Britain, by Iran supplying the Houthis with weapons and drones.

This strategy may also align with America's ambitions to keep Tehran under pressure, without actual confrontation. Furthermore, keeping the Houthi issue open is a permanent justification for the US military presence at sea, due to security considerations related to the Houthi threat to international shipping routes. It thus justifies the continued US military presence and the militarization of the sea in this vital waterway, through international alliances led by America. It strengthens America’s presence in the face of the Chinese commercial giant.

Likewise, one of the goals of maintaining this issue may be to integrate the Jewish entity into regional security arrangements, thus facilitating cooperation with the Gulf States, given that the Houthis constitute the Iranian Axis of Resistance.

Another goal of maintaining this issue is to ensure that the Gulf rulers remain permanently dependent on America for protection of shipping routes, so that Washington maintains the upper hand in the security equation. America is also using this issue to control the ambitions of the Jewish entity, using the Houthis as a scarecrow to control the entity’s relationship with American ambitions.

Perhaps this is the culmination of these intertwined interests, sufficient to render the Houthis a multi-role tool of agency in the hands of America, the enemy of the people. Therefore, the Houthi issue will remain open as long as it serves American projects.