Who is Yemen’s Houthi battlefield commander?

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, enigmatic leader of Yemen’s Houthi fighters whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have drawn fire from the U.S. and British militaries, created the defiant force challenging world powers from a ragtag militia in sandals.

Multiple shipping lines have suspended operations or taken the longer route around Africa because of the campaign by the Houthis, who rule most of Yemen after beating tough odds in a war against forces backed by powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-backed militants have vowed to keep up the pressure on the global shipping trade, which could take a toll on the world economy, until Israel halts its bombardment of Gaza to wipe out Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

The Houthis said they would hit back after U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines struck across Yemen overnight in retaliation for the attacks on Red Sea shipping, a widening of regional conflict over the Gaza conflict that some analysts say could undermine the Houthis’ hard-fought domestic gains.

Al-Houthi established a reputation as a fierce battlefield commander before emerging as head of the Houthi movement, mountain fighters who have been battling a Saudi-led military coalition since 2015 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, devastated Yemen’s economy and left millions hungry.

Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the group has acquired tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. It has used these to repeatedly strike strategic Saudi infrastructure despite years of bombings on its territory.

In January 2022, the Houthis raised the stakes with a missile attack on Gulf tourism and commercial hub the United Arab Emirates, like Saudi Arabia a key U.S. ally.

“He (al-Houthi) managed to transform a rural militia mostly engaged in insurgency tactics into one of the most resilient non-state armed groups of the region,” said Ludovico Carlino, Principal Analyst, Country Risk, Middle East and North Africa at HIS Markit.

In a speech in 2022, al-Houthi said its goal was to be able to strike any target in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, both major OPEC oil producers who view Iran and its proxies as major security threats to the Middle East and beyond.

Al-Houthi is known for rarely staying long in one place, for never meeting the media and for an extreme reluctance to make scheduled public appearances.

Since the start of the Yemen war — widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran — foreign officials who dealt with al-Houthi have never met him in person, said a source familiar with the matter.

Many seeking meetings were asked to travel to the Houthi stronghold of Sanaa, where a Houthi security convoy would take them to safe houses and conduct security checks before leading them to an upstairs room where he would only appear on a screen.

The Houthi movement was formed to fight for the interests of the Zaydi Shi’ites, a minority sect that ruled a 1,000-year kingdom in Yemen until 1962 but felt progressively threatened by the 1990-2012 rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Iran’s backing of the Houthis, who forced Yemen’s Saudi-backed internationally recognised government into exile in 2021, has helped Tehran extend its regional proxy network, which includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and militias in Iraq and Syria.

Yemen experts say the Houthis are motivated primarily by a domestic agenda though they share a political affinity for Iran and Hezbollah. The Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system and regional aggression.