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The Houthis’ resistance against a coalition of regional and even distant powers has only fueled their reputation, transforming them from a marginalized local group into an influential regional player, writes Hafed Al-Ghwell.
In recent years, the Houthi movement has emerged as a leading new non-state actor in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in Yemen.
Their actions have far-reaching implications, not only for the regional balance of power, but also for global trade and security. But for many, the question remains: who are they and what is their end goal?
The group, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a political-religious movement led by Zaidi Shiites that emerged in northern Yemen in the 1990s.
Initially, it was a theological movement protesting what it perceived as efforts to marginalize the Zaidi sect and the proliferation of foreign influence in Yemen.
However, over the past two decades, they have become a significant military force and a major player in the Yemeni civil war, which has pitted various national and regional forces against each other since 2004.
What do the Houthis want?
The Houthis’ main political goal has remained the same over time: gaining international recognition for a Houthi-dominated government in Yemen.
However, more recently their goals have been to influence affairs beyond Yemen’s borders. The Houthis have made the Red Sea the scene of their group’s assertion.
The strategic importance of a key shipping lane that carries two of the world’s 14 choke points cannot be overstated.
More than 10% of global maritime trade, including approximately 5 million barrels of oil, passes through this corridor every day.
By attacking this artery of global trade, Houthi attacks are not only disrupting vital supply chains. They also test the resolve of the international community.
Each attack gives them global notoriety, while increasing the relative cost of the West’s collective reluctance to pressure Israel to abandon its war against Hamas.
What is the impact of the rise of the Houthis on the global conflict landscape?
The rise of the Houthis is indicative of a broader trend of non-state actors gaining prominence in global hotspots by challenging traditional state-centered models of global politics.
Their “successes” serve as a model, not only for other non-state groups, but also for how state actors can manage proxy elements in extraterritorial contexts.
Non-state actors can take many, often overlapping, forms to pursue ideological, political, mercenary or territorial objectives and, when left unchecked, to partially or fully take over the state, as saw him in Libya.
In recent years, the proliferation of these non-state armed groups has accelerated the deterioration of the legitimacy of states and their institutional capacities in a global conflict landscape in full turmoil. It is difficult to contain or thwart these groups, particularly in contexts where they “sink in.”
To date, nearly 200 million people around the world live in areas controlled to varying degrees by armed non-state actors, most of whom are in Africa and parts of the Middle East.
The domino effect of non-state actors
As non-state actors, the Houthis exert an influence that is difficult to ignore, as they have become a significant destabilizing force near a major global trade artery and an unstable Horn of Africa .
As part of Iran’s axis of resistance, the group is now capable of carrying out more sophisticated and unusually aggressive tactics, raising fears of worsening regional instability.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Houthis’ resistance against a coalition of regional and even distant powers has only fueled their reputation, transforming them from a marginalized local group to an influential regional player.
For similar groups, it demonstrates that it is possible to resist and survive the onslaught of a coalition of more powerful states.
The effective use of asymmetric warfare tactics also provides a roadmap for other non-state actors to realize their ambitions in some of the world’s ungoverned spaces.
This dynamic is important not only because it changes power structures and conflict dynamics in the region, but also because it has significant implications for global security.
What is the way forward?
Houthi escalations in the Red Sea are the new reality of 21st century conflict – a world where unassailable and unaccountable non-state actors wield deadly influence in pursuit of narrow goals at the expense of all else.
ADVERTISEMENTIn the absence of a comprehensive solution to the region’s intractable conflicts, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea will likely result in profound shocks that will disproportionately impact developing countries.
The world must be careful in how it understands and interacts with the proliferation of non-state actors in the Middle East and North Africa by adopting strategies that go beyond kinetic military action.
These strategies could include credible negotiations, resolution of conflicts in the region – particularly the Palestinian question -, generous support to impoverished countries for essential socio-economic reforms, as well as other complementary efforts aimed at the root causes of the emergence of groups such as the Houthis.
Hafed Al-Ghwell is Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the North Africa Initiative at the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute at John Hopkins University.
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