FRESH AIR

IN THE MEDIA

Becoming Ansar Allah: How the Islamic Revolution Conquered Yemen

Mar 30, 2021 | Oved Lobel

(image: Aviva Childress/@artbyaviva)
(image: Aviva Childress/@artbyaviva)

This report was originally published by European Eye on Radicalization  – 24 March 2021 

The relationship between the Houthis in Yemen and Iran has long been painted as a relatively recent Iranian sideshow that began in 2009 in response to Saudi Arabia’s overt intervention against the Houthis in their wars with Yemen’s government. Such conventional analysis will often stress that the ‘Fiver’ Shiism of Yemen’s Zaydis, to which the Houthis ostensibly subscribe, and the ‘Twelver’ Shiism of Iran are too incompatible to allow an ideological alliance, putting the Houthis in the same tactical category as Sunni Iranian proxies and allies—such as Hamas, the Taliban, or Al-Qaeda—as opposed to groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon or Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq.

Furthermore, it is almost universally asserted that the initial 2004 rebellion by Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi and his faction of the Believing Youth organization was purely a response to domestic grievances, including the Saudi and government-sponsored spread of Salafism in Zaydi areas and the alleged threat to Zaydi religious practice.

This report will re-examine these long-standing assumptions, demonstrating that in fact there is a deep ideological connection between Iran and the Houthis that stems back to 1979; that Iran carefully cultivated the al-Houthi family and its associates, using them to orchestrate an ideological schism in the Zaydi revival movement; and that far from being a reaction to domestic grievances, the 2004 insurrection by the Believing Youth was long-planned and a part of Iran’s broader regional attack on the US and its allies in the ‘war on terrorism.’ Moreover, Iran’s support for the Houthis is not merely a recent, convenient side hustle to needle Saudi Arabia, but is in fact the key battlefield in Iran’s export of Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution, the driver of all Iranian policy since the founding of the Islamic Republic.

The Houthis, far from being a local movement, are a core, organic component of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and always have been. Indeed, for the first time since 1979, Iran has managed to replicate itself fully without being bound by any democratic strictures or existing dictatorships as in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, marking the Houthis as Iran’s most successful revolutionary experiment to date.

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

READ IN ARABIC

RELATED ARTICLES


GbVvR9GWgAAfPGb (1)

“Backbone”? UNRWA delivers just 13% of the aid in Gaza

Nov 8, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
The sentiment is clear on the streets of Kuala Lumpur (Image: Shutterstock)

Malaysia’s recalcitrant antisemitism

Nov 8, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Screenshot 2024 02 08 At 9.45.23 pm

Gaza polio clinic blast coverage a classic case of ABC bias

Nov 7, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Image: Shutterstock

The secret history of  UNIFIL’s relationship with Hezbollah

Nov 6, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Israeli Settlements Near Bethlehem

Report: Approvals for West Bank settlement expansion ‘stuck’

Nov 4, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Syrians celebrate the demise of Hassan Nasrallah (Image: X/ Hamdi Rifai)

The Syrian town that Hezbollah almost starved to death

Oct 16, 2024 | Fresh AIR
UNRWA headquarters in Gaza (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

Global community incensed by Israel’s banning of UNRWA should consider its ugly history

Nov 8, 2024 | In the media
Screenshot

Letter: Wong got it wrong

Nov 7, 2024 | In the media
Image: Shutterstock

Understanding the “Ring of Fire”

Nov 6, 2024 | Featured, In the media
Image: Anas-Mohammed/ Shutterstock

The Australian Government refuses to see UNRWA’s terrorism

Oct 31, 2024 | Featured, In the media
Image: Konstantin Shishkin/ Shutterstock

A world of two realities

Oct 30, 2024 | Featured, In the media
A handout photo from the Iranian Army office shows missiles launching during a military drill in Nasr Abad area, Isfahan province, central Iran (Image: EPA/ Iranian Army Office)

Ring of Fire must be doused

Oct 28, 2024 | Featured, In the media

RECENT POSTS

GbVvR9GWgAAfPGb (1)

“Backbone”? UNRWA delivers just 13% of the aid in Gaza

UNRWA headquarters in Gaza (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

Global community incensed by Israel’s banning of UNRWA should consider its ugly history

The sentiment is clear on the streets of Kuala Lumpur (Image: Shutterstock)

Malaysia’s recalcitrant antisemitism

Screenshot 2024 02 08 At 9.45.23 pm

Gaza polio clinic blast coverage a classic case of ABC bias

Screenshot

Letter: Wong got it wrong

GbVvR9GWgAAfPGb (1)

“Backbone”? UNRWA delivers just 13% of the aid in Gaza

UNRWA headquarters in Gaza (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

Global community incensed by Israel’s banning of UNRWA should consider its ugly history

The sentiment is clear on the streets of Kuala Lumpur (Image: Shutterstock)

Malaysia’s recalcitrant antisemitism

Screenshot 2024 02 08 At 9.45.23 pm

Gaza polio clinic blast coverage a classic case of ABC bias

Screenshot

Letter: Wong got it wrong

SORT BY TOPICS