The Long History of Islam's Houthis

 

Houthis disrupting Red Sea shipping 

have 1,000-year history

By Mike Heuer

Images released by Yemen's Houthi group on November 20 show Houthi militants as they hijack a cargo ship reportedly owned by an Israeli businessman near Yemen in the southern Red Sea the day before. File Photo courtesy of Houthi Group Press Service | License Photo

Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Who are the Houthis who are targeting commercial shipping near the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea? The short answer is a dedicated group of religious zealots -- dubbed terrorists by the United Nations Security Council -- who want to control Yemen.

The long answer goes back more than 1,000 years and lays the groundwork for the fanatical group based in the mountainous region of northern Yemen. The Houthis have existed in one form or another since about 790 and have controlled the same mountainous area of northern Yemen for centuries.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the Houthis have attacked civilian infrastructure in Israel and vessels traversing the Red Sea, which accounts for 15% of global trade. On Wednesday, a coalition of 13 nations, including the United States, pledged to hold the Houthis accountable for the attacks.

The Houthis are Zaydi Shiite Muslims who have been at war with the Yemeni government since 2004. The Houthis captured Yemen's capital city of Sanaa in 2014 and have controlled most of northern Yemen since 2016.

Iran is considered the primary supporter of the Houthis, which other Sunni states and Yemeni officials say is trained, armed and financially supported by Iran and Hezbollah.

According to the Wilson Center, the United States and Saudi Arabia have provided evidence showing Iran transfers arms to the Houthis. The evidence includes missiles and other arms used by Houthi militants in Yemen and Afghanistan.

Historic legacy

Shiite Muslims are a minority within the Muslim religion when compared to the Sunni Muslims, and the Zayadi Shiite Muslims are a minority within the Shiite version of the Muslim religion. The Zayadi Shiites also go by Zadiyyah, which is from Zayd bin Ali, who was the great-grandson of Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin. Zayd bin Ali in 740 led a revolt against the Umayyed Empire, which was the first Muslim dynastic empire and ruled from Damascus.

Zayd died leading the revolt, and legend suggests his head is buried in a shrine to him in Kerak, Jordan. Zayd is remembered for opposing what the Shiites consider to have been a corrupt Umayyed regime, according to the Brookings Institution. Today's Houthis likewise consider themselves to be at war with corrupt nations and governments, starting with Yemen.

The Houthis have had a significant presence in the mountainous region of northern Yemen since the ninth century and fought against the Ottoman and Wahhabis in the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of World War I, the Zaydis established a monarchy in the mountains of northern Yemen called the Mutawakkilite Kingdom. The kingdom's capital was in Taiz, and the kingdom was led by an imam who served as a spiritual and secular leader.

The Mutawakkilite Kingdom fought Saudi Arabia during the 1930s and lost some of its territory to the Saudis. Despite the setback, the kingdom endured until 1962, when a military cabal supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union overthrew the Mutawakkilite king and established a nationalist Arab government based in Sanaa.

The Mutawakkilite royalists fled to the mountains of northern Yemen near the Saudi border and continued to fight the newly established government in Yemen. According to Brookings, Saudi Arabia and Israel supported the royalists in their fight against the Egyptian-influenced republican forces, but the Saudis lost interest in the region and made peace with Egypt after losing the 1967 war with Israel.

A series of coups soon followed and continued until 1978, when republican Gen. Ali Abdullah Saleh gained power and ruled over Yemen for the next 33 years. Saleh united northern and southern Yemen in 1990 and generally supported Iraq during the 1991 war in Kuwait. Saleh maintained control despite a 1994 civil war in southern Yemen and became loosely aligned with Saudi Arabia and the United States against al-Qaida.

Houthi radicalization

The Houthis arose in the 1990s to oppose Saleh and his corrupt government, according to Brookings. The Houthis were led by Hussein al Houthi, which is where the Zaydi resistance obtained its name. The Houthis accused Saleh of stealing the wealth of the poorest nation in the Arab world and using it to enrich his family. The Houthis also criticized the United States and Saudi Arabia for supporting Saleh's dictatorship.

The Houthis became especially radicalized against the United States upon its invasion of Iraq in 2003. Brookings said the Houthis then created the slogan: "God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory for Islam."

The Houthis crossed into Saudi Arabia in 2009, but the Saudis deployed their army and struck the Houthis from the air while also fighting in limited engagements on the ground. Another round of fighting between the Houthis and Saudis occurred in March 2015. This time, the United Arab Emirates allied with Saudi Arabia to launch airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Saleh and the Houthis became loosely allied in 2015, which the Wilson Center said enabled the Houthis to gain control of most of northern Yemen. Despite the loose alliance, the Houthis killed one of the top advisers to Saleh in August 2015, which caused Saleh to end his support for the Houthis on Dec. 2, 2015. Two days later, the Houthis assassinated Saleh during a roadside ambush, the Wilson Center said.

The struggle with Saudi Arabia continued, and the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching a ballistic missile at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4, 2017. The Saudis said the missile was Iranian in origin and launched by Hezbollah, but the Saudi's air defense system neutralized the missile.

The Houthis continued launching missiles against Saudi Arabia in 2018 while Yemen's population descended into what the United Nations called the "world's worst humanitarian crisis." The Houthis claimed credit for drone attacks on two Saudi oil installations in 2019, but U.S. officials said the strikes came from Iran and not Yemen.

The Wilson Center said the Houthis targeted the UAE with missiles and drones in 2022, but the UAE and the U.S. military intercepted two ballistic missiles that targeted Abu Dhabi on Jan. 24 that year. Officials in Iran have expressed their support for the Houthis, which they compare to Hezbollah, but they continue to deny providing arms, training and financial support to the Houthis.

Shortly before leaving office, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Jan. 10, 2021, declared the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization and said Iran's Revolutionary Guards provide the Houthis with drones, missiles and training to use them. U.S. President Joe Biden's administration removed the Houthis from the foreign terrorist organization designation a month after taking office in early 2021.

Military Madness > The Red Sea's Houthi Pirates are not very bright

 

After an agreement was made by several countries to protect the Red Sea from Houthi pirates, they committed virtual Hari Kari by continuing their assaults on freighters in the presence of two American warships. How stupid can they be? Where was Allah when their boats were being blown to Hell?

US forces sink 3 boats, kill gunmen after attack

by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in Red Sea

By 

Social Links forAmanda Woods

Published Dec. 31, 2023

 Updated Dec. 31, 2023, 11:58 a.m. ET

The US military fired on and sank three boats operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels – killing their crews – after the militants tried to attack a Maersk container vessel in the Red Sea early Sunday, officials said.

Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely warships opened fire on “four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats,” sinking three of them, while responding to an SOS from the Singapore-flagged vessel Maersk Hangzhou around 6:30 a.m. local time, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). Ten Houthi rebels were killed, according to Haaretz.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later insisted that the US is not looking to expand the conflict and that the boats were sunk in self-defense — while warning America will strike preemptively if needed to protect its interests.

“We’ve got significant national security interests in the region just on our own, the United States, and we’re going to put the kind of forces we need in the region to protect those interests, and we’re going to act in self-defense going forward,” Kirby told ABC News.

“We don’t seek a conflict wider in the region, and we’re not looking for a conflict with the Houthis. The best outcome here would be for the Houthis to stop these attacks, as we have made clear over and over again,” he said.

Asked whether the US might fire a pre-emptive strike, Kirby replied, “We’re not ruling anything in or out, but we have made it clear publicly to the Houthis and privately to our allies and partners in the region we take these threats seriously, and we’re going to make the right decisions going forward.”

USS Gravely

The fourth boat escaped the attack, which officials say was launched in self-defense.

The operators of the boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, opened fire at the Maersk Hangzhou and intended to board it, coming as close as 65 feet, CENTCOM said.

The incident marked the second time in less than 24 hours that the Maersk vessel came under attack, according to CENTCOM.

Late Saturday, the USS Gravely shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen while responding to a missile strike on the same ship, which was navigating the southern Red Sea, CENTCOM said.

There were no reported injuries during that encounter.

The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed responsibility for attacks on ships that they say are either linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports.

They have said their goal is to end Israel’s air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ Oct. 7 sneak attack on Israel.

The Houthi attacks have disrupted world trade, as the Red Sea is the entry point for ships using the Suez Canal – the route for about 12% of world trade, which is essential for the movement of goods between Asia and Europe.

Major shipping companies have opted to take a longer and more expensive route around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to avoid the conflict.

In an effort to put an end to the disruption and safeguard ships traversing the Red Sea near Yemen, the US Pentagon launched Operation Prosperity Guardian on Dec. 19. 

The multinational operation is designed to protect ships during the war.

Since then, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region, and none have been hit by drone or missile strikes, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said in an Associated Press interview Saturday.

Maersk, one of the world’s major cargo shippers, opted on Dec. 24 to resume its sailings through the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, according to Cooper, the top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East.

“We are clear-eyed that the Houthi reckless attacks will likely continue,” Cooper said.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced Sunday that he had spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and urged him in their call that his country should help stop the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks, given their long-standing support to the Houthis,” Cameron posted on X, adding that the attacks “threaten innocent lives and the global economy.”

With Post wires

A World Gone Mad – 7 Short Stories on Islamization

BY CLARION PROJECT 

Worshippers outside the Finsbury Park Mosque are allowed to occupy public space to listen to radical preacher Abu Hamza in 2004. The mosque was closed for extremism in 2003 but reopened in 2005. After an eight-year legal battle, Hamza was extradited to the U.S. where he was convicted of terrorism in 2014. (Photo: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

Are we living in a world gone mad? Here are seven recent stories of how radical Islamists managed not only to make their agenda acceptable, but how the West kowtows and facilitates it:

1.

A photo recently emerged of UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attending  a ceremony and laying a wreath at a cemetery of Palestinian “martyrs.” The photo, taken in 2014 in Tunisia,  shows Corbyn seen standing  in front of a plaque that commemorates (and is located next to the graves of) Black September members,  Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorists responsible, among other attacks, for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour experienced a large gain in MPs in the last election and now holds 258 seats in the UK House of Commons (compared to 316 for the Conservative party). He is poised to become prime minister of the UK if the trend continues.

2.

A bus driver in the UK was disciplined for asking a Muslim woman wearing a niqab to remove the full-face garment before getting on his bus. When asked by a passenger why he cared, the driver replied, “I care because this world is dangerous. If you don’t see somebody’s face, that’s not good.”

A representative from the bus company later apologized to the woman “for the distress caused when one of our drivers expressed his personal opinions, and behaved in an offensive fashion that in no way reflects our deeply held values as an inclusive company which welcomes all people, irrespective of background, race, nationality or religion, as customers and employees.”  The company is also arranging a meeting with the driver and the woman so that the driver can apologize in person. In addition, they referred the matter to the police.

3.

Also in the UK, a gas station in Lancashire demanded a motorcycle instructor wearing an open-faced helmet while filing his tank take off his helmet. Yet a woman wearing a burqa filling her tank next to him was not requested to take off the garment covering her face.

The instructor called the incident “racism at work in Britain.”

“I had an open face helmet so people could see my identity,” he said. “The lady behind the till [cash register] has served me on hundreds of occasions.”

4.

Plans were dropped by UK social workers who petitioned the High Court to take five children away from their parents, both of whom are known Islamist extremists. The father is “a leading figure” in the banned terror organization Al-Muhajiroun, is on a terrorist watch list and has encouraged others to join ISIS. The mother is accused of being an active member of a women’s circle associated with the same terrorist organization and appeared in the television documentary ISIS: The British Women Supporters Unveiled. She also took her children with her to meetings of the circle on a number of occasions.  In a previous incident, the woman was officially cautioned by the police for an assault she committed in front of her children.

Yet the court ruled it could not be proven that the children were damaged by their parents’ ideology. The Telegraph reported this case is of one of many where plans to take children away from known extremists were dropped after courts ruled damages could not be proven.

5.

Five Somali pirates found guilty of raiding a German ship are now living on welfare in Germany. The men were released after serving prison sentences in Germany and applied for asylum –  a request that was rejected. However, none of the men face deportation for various administrative and political reasons. One now has a wife and a child who was born in Germany, whom the ex-pirate plans to raise in the country.

6.

A mother from the UK and her four-year-old daughter were jailed in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ellen Holman, a dentist and the mother of  three children, was detained after admitting to customs officials she drank a complimentary glass of wine on her flight from London on the UAE’s Emirates airline.

According to Radha Stirling, head of the legal aid organization Detained in Dubai, it is “wholly illegal for any tourist to have any level of alcohol in their blood, even if consumed in flight and provided by Dubai’s own airline. It is illegal to consume alcohol at a bar, a hotel and a restaurant, and if breathalyzed, that person will be jailed.”

The story began over a visa dispute, which Holman filmed on her phone (which is also illegal in Dubai). When the scene got nasty, the customs official asked her if she had been drinking and detained her for the glass of wine she drank on the flight.

Holman, who has visited Dubai many times previously, said she and her daughter were held in a “hot and foul-smelling” prison, forced to sleep on a “filthy mattress” and clean toilets, and given food that “smelled like rotten garbage.” Her passport and electronic devices were confiscated and her husband was not allowed to visit. Holman initially faced being detained for a year awaiting a court hearing, but due to direct intervention by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed, the two were released and sent back to the UK. All charges were dropped.

7.

Kuwait Airlines refused to sell a ticket to a woman with an Israeli passport trying to get back to Bangkok from London.  The aggrieved passenger, Mandy Blumenthal, sued the airline for racial discrimination and harassment and won. The airline must now pay Blumenthal the cost of the ticket plus damages.

In 2015, Kuwait Airways stopped flying between New York and London after the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered the carrier to stop refusing to sell tickets to Israelis. However, the route was reinstated. It is unclear if Israelis are allowed to buy tickets or not.

A similar story in Germany in 2017 saw a German court rule that Kuwait Airlines was within its rights to refuse to honor a ticket purchased by an Israeli. In 2013, Saudi Arabia defended a similar policy when it was revealed the kingdom’s airlines refused to sell tickets to Israelis flying out of New York.

Islam's Significant Contribution to America

Historian David Barton did in an interview with Glenn Beck in response to President Obama's claims that Muslims have made a significant contribution to America.

Upon hearing the president’s claims, Barton set out to find any contributions Muslims made in America’s history — the first of which took place in 1856, 80 years after the founding, when Secretary of War Jefferson Davis hired a Muslim to help train camels in Arizona.

Even if the plan to combat Native Americans from camel back hadn’t fallen apart, this contribution could hardly be classified as significant.

However, Barton did discover an area in which Muslims had a considerable influence on America, though it comes in the form of an enemy instead of ally.

Franklin, Jefferson, Adams

After the United States won its independence from England in 1776,  American vessels were no longer protected overseas by Britain and France. This opened up U.S. ships to countless raids by Muslims pirates hailing from the Barbary Coast.

Attacks continued even after the United States agreed to pay for safe passage, forcing America to send founding fathers Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams as representatives to negotiate a deal. There they discovered the real reason the Muslim pirates plundered their ships.

Motivated by more than treasure, power or greed, these pirates were duty-bound by Islamic law to attack non-Mulsims.

Each of the American representatives wrote of their experience, conveying harsh realities of Islam that are still apparent today.

“The ambassador answered us that (the right to attack shipping) was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise,” Jefferson wrote to Secretary of State John Jay, calling peace an impossibility.

Franklin echoed Jefferson’s sentiments saying, “Nor can the Plundering of Infidels be in that sacred Book (the Quran) forbidden, since it is well known from it, that God has given the World, and all that it contains, to his faithful Mussulmen, who are to enjoy it of Right as fast as they conquer it.”

Lastly, Adams reported back to Jay that the Muslim Prophet Muhammad was a “military fanatic” who “denies that laws were made for him; he arrogates everything by force of arms.”

It seems little has changed in Islam in the past 240 years.

By the time Jefferson was voted into office, the Muslims pirates were charging even more money for passage and the attacks still continued. Jefferson took swift action and launched the U.S. Navy against the Barbary pirates, chasing them all the way to Tripoli and giving birth to the United States Marine Corps (H/T The Federalist Papers Project).

Obama may not be far off in saying Muslims played a role in shaping America; he’s just a little fuzzy on the details.