Iran's IRGC Armed Houthis for Saudi Strikes: Reports — SkimNews
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- Iran's IRGC is reported to have aided Houthis with training, intelligence, tactical guidance, and targeting help for drone and missile strikes as the group seized western Yemen and launched sophisticated attacks on Saudi Arabia.
- A Houthi strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed 13 people, while Saudi energy facilities and oil tankers were also targeted in recent weeks.
- Mahan Air flights ferried IRGC paramilitary officers, drone parts, missile guidance systems and impact detonators to Yemen, with IRGC personnel reportedly directing attacks on the front lines, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- Saudi-led coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki confirmed an unnamed external state actor backs the Houthis' arsenal, noting they're now the first nonstate armed group to deploy ballistic missiles, offensive and suicide drones, and explosive-laden boats.
- Carnegie analyst Hesham Alghannam said Riyadh never treated the 2023 China-brokered Beijing reconciliation as true reconciliation, and questioned whether any Tehran-signed deal reaches "the people holding the launchers."
- Yemen-focused analyst Ali al-Dahab warned that Houthi control of Bab al-Mandeb risks enabling Iran-aligned substate groups across the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to unite against US, British, and European forces.
Why it matters: Saudi Arabia now faces 13 dead at a Riyadh airport and dozens more strikes, with evidence pointing to direct IRGC personnel involvement that undermines the 2023 Beijing reconciliation and leaves an Iran-aligned force in control of Bab al-Mandeb—the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden near the Strait of Hormuz.
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