Experts' report reveals new details: How did the Houthis transform into a regional power with the support of Iran and its arms in the region?

The UN Security Council's Panel of Experts on Yemen confirmed that the Houthis exploited the regional situation (in the Israeli war on Gaza) to strengthen their position in the "axis of resistance" and gain popularity in the region.

The team explained in its latest report, submitted to the President of the UN Security Council, dated November 11, 2024, that the term “axis of resistance” refers to the concept of “collective action and unity of arenas” between the parties of the axis, which carries an indication of the Houthis’ participation in any future regional conflict.

The team of experts confirmed that the Houthis had, throughout the previous period, "worked to enhance cooperation with other members of the axis of resistance, and received support from armed groups in Iraq, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and Gaza."

He noted that "the sanctions imposed on the Houthis will have limited impact as long as the network that this group is establishing with regional armed groups is not addressed."

The team reviewed, in its report, the results of the investigations it conducted regarding the Houthis’ connections with those armed groups, within the framework of the Iranian axis, in both Iraq and Lebanon in more detail than before compared to its previous reports.

Houthi cooperation with Iraqi armed groups

According to the report: The team’s investigations revealed an increasing Houthi presence in Iraq in recent years. “The war in Gaza has increased political and military ties between the Houthis and Iraqi armed groups.”

In this regard, the report referred to what Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi confirmed in June 2024, that they are coordinating military activities with the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which includes several Iraqi factions (all affiliated with and supported by Iran). In contrast, the report also listed published statements by some of those Iraqi factions, confirming their coordination with the Houthis and their support for them.

The report also confirmed that the Houthis received financial support through organized campaigns to collect donations launched from Iraq, in addition to sending experts and fighters to Yemen since 2015 to supervise training, transfer military technology to them, and fight alongside them.

According to confidential sources for the Panel of Experts, Houthi fighters have traveled to Iraq on forged passports, noting that these visits have increased after the opening of Sana’a airport in April 2022. The sources reported that “the main purpose of the recent training courses was to enhance the Houthis’ capabilities to accurately target ships in the Red Sea.”

The sources confirmed, according to the report, that an operations room was established in Iraq that includes representatives of several armed groups, including the Houthis, in order to coordinate launching joint operations against Israel.

The report referred to the Houthi leader Ahmed Al-Sharafi, also known as “Abu Idris,” as the one who coordinates the Houthi activities in Iraq, supervises the purchase of military equipment for them, arranges training courses with Iraqi armed groups, and organizes their visits to Baghdad.

Houthi cooperation with Lebanese Hezbollah

The Panel of Experts considered Hezbollah to be one of the most important supporters of the Houthis. It is, as the report reviews, involved in: the Houthi decision-making structure, operational support through military training, technical support such as assembling weapons systems, financial support and mobilization of resources and their use for military purposes, and support in the field of media propaganda including preparing content for military campaigns.

The report stressed that the analyses of the team of experts indicate "the existence of an alliance between these groups at the political and military level, with a certain degree of coordination of operations under the banner of a joint command, and the alleged existence of a so-called command and control center, and/or a network mechanism that coordinates operations jointly."

Elsewhere in the experts’ report, under the subheading “The Role of the IRGC and Hezbollah in the Houthi Decision-Making Process,” the report, according to “several confidential sources,” referred to the dominant role played by Lieutenant General Abdul Reza Shahlai of the IRGC’s Quds Force and his deputy—a senior Hezbollah cadre—within the Houthi command and control structure.

He added: “The role of First Lieutenant General Shahlai, who operates under the title of “Jihad Assistant,” is to advise and assist Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in strategic, jihadi, and military activities. First Lieutenant General Shahlai is alleged to supervise the air and space forces (missiles and drones), the naval forces, and all military regions, in addition to mobilization and logistics.

See below a diagram of the Houthi organizational structure, and the position of Lieutenant General Shahlai in it.

The report explained how the Houthis transformed from a local armed group with limited capabilities into a powerful military organization, noting that they received tactical and technical training outside Yemen. The report reviewed the places to which the Houthis traveled to receive this training using forged passports outside Yemen, including Iran in early 2020, to train 200 fighters at the Imam Khamenei University of Marine Science and Technology. In late 2020, 54 fighters were trained at the Imam Ali Barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, west of Tehran.

In Lebanon, since at least 2020, Houthi fighters have been trained at Hezbollah training grounds in Qalaat Jabour, southern Lebanon. In Iraq, the Popular Mobilization Forces have also conducted training courses for the Houthis.

The report also revealed details of "purchasing equipment and obtaining assistance through representing the Houthis in the Islamic Republic of Iran" through the Houthi leader called "Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Dailami", who was appointed in 2019 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Yemen to Iran..!!

There is also the so-called "Adnan Qasim Ali Qaflah", the current Director General of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior (Houthi), who until late 2022 held a senior position in the Houthi office in Tehran, where he received intelligence training at the hands of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

According to the team’s sources, “Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al-Talbi, the director of procurement for the Houthi Ministry of Defense, and attached to their office in Tehran, is responsible for the illicit shipment of materiel to the Houthis through a network of individuals and entities. He also arranges for Houthi fighters to receive training in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”