Report: From Smugglers to Supply Chains: How Yemen’s Houthi Movement Became a Global Threat

Over the course of a decade, Yemen’s Houthi movement has transformed from local insurgent group to disruptive global force possessing a growing threat to other Yemenis, the region, and even global trade, according to a report published by The Century Foundation.

The report, part of “Beyond the Axis,” a Century International project supported by the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends (XCEPT) research program, funded by UK International Development, found that “Only a concerted, multistate initiative can squeeze the Houthi arms program. But U.S. disengagement, European caution, and regional tensions make such a coalition unlikely”.

Time and again, efforts to beat back the Houthis’ military capabilities by killing their leadership and intercepting supplies from their Iranian patrons seem to produce only temporary dips in their ability to inflict harm on neighboring states, the global economy, and their fellow Yemenis.

Western and regional efforts to constrain the group focus on smuggled arms from Iran. But the Houthis now build their own weapons using parts smuggled and imported from across the globe via a complex web of supply chains.

The report is based on around 150 in-depth interviews with experts and confidential sources including senior military, security, and intelligence officials; reviews of open-source and private documents, and public and private land and sea interdiction data; port statistics; analysis of alleged smuggling sites using satellite imagery and nighttime light emission; and a systematic, rigorous analysis of remotely sensed data, including satellite imagery and ship automatic identification systems (AIS). Its analysis builds on a database, created by the research team from public and private sources, of more than 370 items captured during almost 140 land and sea interdictions of shipments bound for the Houthis.