Tensions in the Middle East have reached a boiling point with the reaction of the United Kingdom and the United States to attacks by Houthi rebels. The standoff escalated after the Iranian-backed organization began attacking ships crossing the Red Sea last month.
Last night, the U. K. and U. S. attacked more than a dozen sites used by the Houthi organization in a major retaliatory attack after a series of 27 attacks on ships since November.
A spokesman for the Houthi organization said U. S. and British forces were to blame for 73 moves in Yemen, in which five fighters were killed and six others wounded.
So who are the Houthi rebels and why are the UK and US bombing them?Here’s everything you want to know.
READ MORE: ‘Great eruption in the Red Sea’ as UK and US bomb Houthi rebels [LIVE]
The Shia militant group, which first emerged in the 1990s, is allied to Tehran, as are Hamas and Hezbollah. Supporters mainly come from the ranks of Zaidi Shia Muslims and the Houthi tribe. The group has claimed former Yemeni president Ali Abudllah Saleh had grown too close to Saudi Arabia and Israel, and tensions between them grew for several years.
The death of the organization’s founder, Hussein al-Houthi, at the hands of the Yemeni army sparked the Houthi insurgency beginning in 2004. The organization participated in the Yemeni revolution of 2011.
Houthi rebels rose to prominence after seizing Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, a decade ago, sparking a civil war believed to have killed an estimated 400,000 people.
They conquered more territory after aligning with M. Saleh in 2015 and now much of western Yemen to the Bab al Mandeb Strait, a 16-mile stretch of water that marks the front of the Red Sea.
The group’s seizure of the capital prompted Saudi Arabia to interfere in an attempt to repair the Sunni-majority rule recognized around the world.
A Saudi and Emirati bombing crusade opposed to Houthi targets introduced in 2015 and sparked complaints of civilian deaths, leading to calls for the UK to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Tehran has been accused of supplying weapons, education and money to the Houthis.
The war has been seen as a surrogate for a broader clash between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as both countries seek to strengthen their influence in the Middle East.
Tensions rose in 2017 after the organization claimed responsibility for firing a missile at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, killing Saleh later that year after he switched to the Saudi-led coalition.
The rebels attacked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, at most recently, Israel with missiles before clashes erupted in the Red Sea.
The slogans come with the words “death to America,” “death to Israel” and “curse the Jews. “
In a 2014 interview with Al Jazeera, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Politburo, described his cause as “a national motion that firmly subscribes to the ideas of Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism. “
More recently, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea claimed that the organization attacked ships to protest the “killing, destruction and siege” in Gaza, as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Islamist organization says it has initiated a narrow strip of sea between Yemen and East Africa, which is a key route for foreign industry, in a bid to end Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas.
A blog post on the website of the UK-based think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), explains that the Houthis are threatening shipping “with a varied and capable diversity of anti-ship missiles,” putting pressure on publicity. Shipping ships on what is an important industrial route.
The blog, written through Fabian Hinz, a researcher in defense and army analysis, explains: “Iran is the key source of Houthi anti-ship missile technology, with the exception of a few obsolete Soviet-era systems and less archaic Chinese designs.
“Anti-ship missiles, along with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and speedboats, are the group’s weapon of choice in its ongoing crusade against shipping in the Red Sea. “
Houthi forces have had anti-ship missiles for about a decade and use them to “harass the army and promote maritime traffic,” Hinz said.
He said. ” This has also been an era in which the group’s ability to threaten shipping has seen a significant improvement.
“When Houthi forces took control of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in late 2014 and early 2015, they acquired their first anti-ship missiles in the form of obsolescent Soviet-made P-21 and P-22- missiles, as well as the slightly more modern Chinese C-801, from Yemeni military stocks.
“Designated Rubezh B21/B22 and Al-Mandab 1, those missiles are still flying through the Houthis, however it is unclear whether they are still operational or how many they have.
“More critically, though, the Houthi forces have gotten their hands on new, better equipment since those early acquisitions.”
The Republic of Yemen is located at the southwestern and southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Borderd by Saudi Arabia to the north, the west is flanked by the Red Sea, the south by the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea and Oman to the east.
It’s made up of 200 islands, with the largest being Socotra, about 354km to the south of mainland Yemen.