By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-01-07

ADEN -- Experts in Yemen say weapons used by the Iran-backed Houthis in attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea were either made in Iran or developed in Houthi-controlled areas under the supervision of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Since late October, the Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels carrying civilian crews in the Red Sea with drones and missiles.

In the last such attack, an armed unmanned surface vessel (USV) launched from Yemen got within a "couple of miles" of US Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating on Thursday (January 4), AP reported.

The attack happened just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Houthis to cease their attacks.

This was the first time the Houthis had used a USV since their attacks against commercial shipping began in October, said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Navy operations in the Middle East.

But they have used them in the past against Saudi-led coalition forces as suicide drone boats that explode upon impact, Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AP.

"Most of the Houthis' USVs are likely assembled in Yemen but often fitted with components made in Iran, such as computerized guidance systems," Hinz said.

Iran-led operation centers

Abdul Salam Mohammed, director of the Abaad Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen, said the naval missiles used by the Houthis are Iranian "because the Yemeni army did not have them in its possession before the Houthi coup."

"Before September 2014, the Yemeni army did not have naval missiles, sea mines or drone boats, and this underscores the extent of Iranian influence and interference," Mohammed said.

IRGC experts have developed ballistic missiles in short, medium and long-range models, he told Al-Fassel.

All operation centers for developing drones and missiles and planning naval attacks are led by Iranian experts "with no Yemeni commanders among them," he said.

IRGC experts have also undertaken combat training for the Houthis in Iran and Lebanon, he added.

"After Hassan Irlu, Iran's ambassador to Yemen, was killed in Sanaa, IRGC experts took over the command of all these complex operations," he said.

There are multiple operation centers where the IRGC directs the Houthis' attacks on commercial ships, according to Mohammed.

"There is a center on Kamaran Island, others in al-Luhayyah, al-Salif and al-Hodeidah ports, as well as those in the eastern Red Sea regions, such as Abs," he said.

Operation centers also exist in border areas like Saada and al-Jawf, he added.

Meanwhile, activities in the Bab al-Mandeb strait are directed from a center in the old Taiz airport, and an operation center in al-Bayda province focuses on activities in the Arabian Sea, including missile launches that reach the sea.

Similarity to Iranian technologies

"Last September, the Houthi group paraded the missiles it possesses that were manufactured in Iran or developed by the IRGC in Yemen," retired Yemeni military officer Brig. Gen. Abdullah Hammoud told Al-Fassel, using a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the information.

"Iranian missiles and drones, and those used by the Houthis are very similar," he said, including the Houthis' Aqeel missile -- which is similar to Iran's Qiam -- and the Houthis' Tankil missile, which resembles the Iranian Raad missile."

Hammoud also pointed to the similarity between the Iranian Toophan missile, which has a range of approximately 2,000km, and the Quds-4 missile with the same range, which is similar to Iranian cruise missiles.

These types of long range missiles were used in past attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he said.

The technology training that IRGC experts provide to the Houthis is a threat that could find its way to terrorist groups in the region, Hammoud warned.

Iran has succeeded in exporting technologies to the Houthis to carry out their attacks in the Red Sea and on neighboring countries.

"This is Iran's way of exporting the conflict while remaining outside of the conflict itself," Hammoud said.

Iran's arms smuggling

Deputy Minister of Justice Faisal al-Majeedi told Al-Fassel that reports submitted to the UN Security Council by the Panel of Experts on Yemen in the past "have confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that Iran smuggles various weapons, mostly drones and missiles, to the Houthis."

The Houthis' weapons match Iranian weapons, he noted.

The UN panel has found that the IRGC has turned the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas into a launching point for smuggling weapons to Yemen via several routes, al-Majeedi said.

These include three sea routes that connect to Somalia, Bab al-Mandeb and the Yemeni coast, he said, adding that the weapons are then unloaded in the port of al-Hodeidah.

Two UN resolutions -- 2140 and 2216 -- have banned the Houthis from acquiring weapons, but Iran has not stopped smuggling weapons to the militant group, he added.

Al-Majeedi called for "international intervention to protect the security and safety of international navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb."