Who are Yemen’s Houthis?

The roots of the Houthi movement can be traced to “Believing Youth” (Muntada al-Shahabal-Mu’min), a Zaydi revivalist group founded by Hussein al-Houthi and his father, Badr al-Din al-Houthi, in the early 1990s. When Israel launched its war on Gaza and Palestinian casualties mounted (at least 19,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza), the Houthis seized the moment to enhance their regional appeal by directly targeting Israel and Israel-linked vessels. And their attack have forced some of the top tanker companies in the world, including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, to suspend operation in the Red Sea. The Houthis say they would continue targeting Israel-linked vessels as long as the Gaza war lasts

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