The Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have vowed to respond to airstrikes launched against US and British positions overnight, have developed their military capabilities and now their arsenal includes ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, as well as drones.

Saying they are acting “in solidarity” with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been bombarded relentlessly since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, they have stepped up their attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, indicating that they are targeting vessels linked to the Israel.

Following warnings, the US and Britain struck Houthi military positions, trying to stop them from threatening international shipping.
The Iranian-backed rebels have boosted their military capabilities since 2014, when they began seizing large swaths of Yemen, and now have missiles and drones that are partly made of Iranian materials or components.

Ballistic missiles

The Houthis’ arsenal includes Typhoon missiles, a modified version of Iran’s Qadr ballistic missiles, with a range of 1,600 to 1,900 kilometers, explains Fabian Hinz, an arms expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“They are not accurate at all, at least the versions they have presented, but they can hit Iran,” he adds.
In tests carried out by Iran in 2016, these missiles hit targets at a distance of 1,400 kilometers.

Mohammed Albasa, an expert at the Washington-based Navanti Group, said the rebels had introduced the Typhonn just weeks before Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.

Cruise missiles

Rebels in Yemen, who control much of the country’s north, also have modified versions of Iran’s Qods cruise missiles, according to Hinz.

These have a range of about 1,650 kilometers.

In 2022, the Houthis announced that their Qods hit oil facilities in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, 1,126 kilometers north of Yemen. These missiles had already been used by the Houthis in strikes against facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been members of the military coalition supporting the Yemeni government against the Houthis since 2015.

Drones

Saudi Arabia and the US regularly accuse Iran of providing military equipment to the Houthis, which Tehran denies. The insurgents say they are building their own drones, which experts say they use illegally imported Iranian components.

In addition, the Houthis have Shahid-136 offensive drones with a range of 2,000 kilometers, which Russia also uses in its war against Ukraine, emphasizes Fabian Hinz.

Their arsenal includes Samad-3s, which can carry 18kg of explosives and have a range of around 1,600km. With these drones they have already targeted the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to experts.

These drones, which are guided by GPS, “fly autonomously following the route set for them” to their target, the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported in 2020.