Houthis declare fingers on trigger for potential conflict with US and Israel

The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has not yet engaged in conflict on the Iranian side, but has stepped up its rhetoric in support of Tehran in recent days, with its leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi declaring that he is ready to go to war against the United States and Israel if necessary.

“We have our fingers on the alert regarding military escalation and action, and we are ready to respond at any time if developments require it,” al-Houthi said in a statement on Thursday. he said.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a Yemen expert and associate researcher at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital: “The reason the Houthis have not intervened is because they are the last line of resistance for the axis. Especially after the other axis members have been weakened.”

The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) is: “Allah is great. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse to the Jews. Victory to Islam.”

Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: “I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war lasts, the more likely the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do – and they have been dying to do it for a while – is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.”

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Houthi terrorists march on British and US flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as Houthis’ latest attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are seen on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, on February 4, 2024. (Muhammad Hamoud/Getty Images)

The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an “Axis of Resistance” before Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies includes Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria.

President Biden initiated a reset with the Houthis in the first few weeks of his administration, pressuring the Saudis to end the war against the belligerent Houthi movement. “The war in Yemen must end,” Biden said in his first major foreign policy speech on the Middle East in February 2021.

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A general view of Tehran, Iran, with smoke seen in the distance after explosions in the city on March 2, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)

Biden’s reversal of American support for Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was coupled with his administration’s removal of the Houthis from the foreign terrorist organization list. President Donald Trump quickly reinstated the terrorist designation against the Houthis at the beginning of his second term and launched military strikes against terrorists in Yemen.

Al-Dawsari also said that another reason why the Houthis have not yet joined the conflict is that it is not in the interest of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to “drag the Houthis into a suicidal war.” “If the Iranian regime collapses and a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is a key ally,” he says.

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He said there were discussions between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Houthis about “why the continued presence of the Houthis is of strategic importance for the Revolutionary Guard.”

Al-Dawsari continued: “The Revolutionary Guard cannot afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is very important to them. They need to protect the Houthis for tomorrow so that the Revolutionary Guard can continue after the regime.”

This notification screenshot from a video shows Houthi fighters in Yemen seizing the Galaxy Leader Cargo on the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah in the Red Sea city of Yemen on November 20, 2023. (Photo: Houthi Movement via Getty Images)

“The Houthis have settled in the Horn of Africa. The Revolutionary Guards are behind the Houthis. The intervention of the Houthis may be symbolic.” He added that Iran’s “current tactic is to prolong the war, spread it throughout the region and put more pressure on the United States.”

In May 2025, Trump announced that the United States would halt aerial bombardment against the Houthis because he said the Houthis “don’t want to fight.”

“They don’t want that, and we will respect that. We will stop the bombings,” Trump said. The Houthis had attacked the Jewish state as well as commercial ships in the Red Sea to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.

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Al-Dawsari said that the Houthis did not attack American ships after Trump’s statement: “They know that Trump is not joking. They know that they will suffer the consequences.”

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