The Houthis, like a wasp, buzz around the ruins of their nest
The Houthis are treating the situation in the region as if they hold the upper hand, but in reality, they resemble a “wasp whose nest has been destroyed.” This follows the defeat suffered by Iran in most of the areas it previously controlled, starting with Lebanon, where Hezbollah has become much weaker than it was in 2023, and Iraq, where the government has taken the initiative to monopolize illegal weapons within the state. Today, the Houthi group has been curbed by these developments, meaning that the window of terrorism that was wide open at the Bab al-Mandab Strait is beginning to narrow.
Since 2011, Iran has bet on the Houthi group, considering it the key player in Yemen’s internal dynamics. However, the Gulf’s “Operation Decisive Storm” thwarted that project, while international recognition of the legitimacy of the government in Aden undermined the attempt to turn that state into a thorn in the side of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, especially after the heroic resistance to Iranian attacks on regional states.
The landscape today is completely different from previous years. The threats issued by these outcasts in Yemen—regarding the closure of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and against Saudi Arabia and Gulf states—are nothing more than empty rhetoric that cannot divert the course of the Gulf’s political stance from its goal of normalizing relations with neighboring countries, ensuring that their destinies are not controlled by groups outside the state framework. Moreover, recent developments in the war between the United States and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other, have rendered these Yemeni statements irrelevant in the broader international arena.
Furthermore, Iran is currently experiencing weakness, evident in the fractures within the pillars of its regime, and needs to consolidate its domestic situation. As a result of this weakness, and to prevent further fragmentation, it is exporting its crisis abroad by continuing its aggression against Gulf states, even targeting Qatar and Oman, despite their efforts to mediate between Tehran and Washington.
What is happening today in the region, from Lebanon to Yemen, indicates that the principle of the existence of militias outside the state—even if they operate under the banner of “resistance”—has no place in the region as a whole. The global situation has become so sensitive that it no longer accepts half-measures, or what is commonly referred to as “holding the stick from the middle.” Instead, as U.S. President George W. Bush stated in 2001, “You are either with us, or against you.” This is precisely what the current U.S. administration is pursuing.
Indeed, the Houthis were contained in 2025 through the agreement with the United States signed in Muscat. Therefore, any intervention by this group in the current war would mean their disappearance as a disruptive force, and they are aware of this. On this basis, the statements issued from Sana’a not only violate the truce agreement signed in 2022 with Riyadh, but also provide legitimacy for the return of “Operation Decisive Storm.”
The reality today differs from that of 2011, not only regarding Iran’s proxies in the region, specifically the Houthis, but also for Tehran itself. Consequently, Iran’s continuous aggression against Arab Gulf states and Houthi threats mark the beginning of the end of the terrorist nightmare the region has endured for years.
