Yemen accuses Iran and Hezbollah of embedding 21 military planners with Houthis

Yemen's Interior Minister Ibrahim Haidan announced on Tuesday that the internationally recognized government has formally accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon's Hezbollah of deploying a team of 21 military experts to assist the Houthi movement. The statement marks a specific escalation in the regional conflict, identifying named foreign entities as direct participants in operational planning rather than distant suppliers.

The government detailed the composition of the group, specifying that it includes 14 members from the IRGC and seven individuals from Hezbollah. Haidan stated that these specialists are currently tasked with planning and directing military operations. The announcement characterizes this deployment as a move beyond traditional support models, which previously focused on financing, weapons delivery, and training. Under the new arrangement, foreign actors are engaged in the direct supervision of operations and the development of military capabilities.

The experts are distributed across six locations in Houthi-controlled territory. Eight are stationed in Hodeidah, while four are based in Sanaa and another four in Saada. The remaining personnel are split between Hajjah and Amran, with two in each city, and one expert is located in the coastal city of Khokha. This geographic spread suggests a coordinated effort to influence operations across the western front.

The ministry provided a list of specific technical roles assigned to the team. Specialties include command and control, ballistic missiles, drone technology, and electronic warfare. The group is also credited with coordinating naval operations, selecting commercial ships as targets, and developing boats laden with explosives. Additional tasks involve creating autonomous submarines and training fighters in mine-laying and siege tactics. Haidan warned that these activities threaten shipping lanes in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea, key routes for global commerce.

The minister urged the international community to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization and to enforce the arms embargo established by United Nations Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2624. He argued that the transfer of military expertise could benefit other armed groups in the region if not contained. The diplomatic move arrives as Yemeni forces battle the Houthis across five provinces, a conflict that intensified after the group seized control of the western Red Sea coast in September.

This development ends a period of relative calm maintained by a 2022 ceasefire. The truce had followed a civil war that began in 2014 when the Houthis captured Sanaa. In 2015, Saudi Arabia joined the conflict leading an international coalition to restore the government. While Tehran has historically insisted that the Yemeni group acts independently, Saudi Arabia has recently accused Iran of encouraging the current escalation. Hezbollah has previously rejected any major role in the Yemeni war.