The Attacks Beyond Gaza

Yemen’s Houthi movement surprised Middle East watchers when it fired drones and cruise missiles at Israel on October 19. Few had expected the group’s saber rattling to be much more than words, considering how inaccurate most of the Houthis’ long-range weapons are, not to mention their history of empty threats against Israel. Some assumed, incorrectly, that the USS Carney’s interception of those munitions would deter subsequent efforts.

Yet the continued Houthi attacks—at least ten separate ones to date—demonstrate the Houthis’ full integration into Iran’s informal regional alliance, the Axis of Resistance, and the extent to which Iran’s arming of its proxies has transformed regional security dynamics. For Israel and the United States, the Axis of Resistance’s expansion and activation in the Israel-Hamas conflict has been a complicating factor as they seek to contain the fight to Gaza.

Read more in American Purpose here