Yemen gov’t accuses IRGC, Hezbollah of sending 21 experts to back Houthis

What the report says

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of sending 21 specialists to support the Houthis, according to a statement reported by Al Jazeera. Interior Minister Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Haidan said the group included 14 IRGC members and seven Hezbollah members, and alleged that their role went beyond supplying arms and training to helping direct military operations.

The ministry said the personnel were stationed across several areas, including Hodeidah, Sanaa, Saada, Hajjah, Amran and the coastal city of Khokha. It described their reported expertise as covering command and control, ballistic missiles, drones, electronic warfare, smuggling military parts, naval targeting and the development of explosive boats and autonomous submarines. The government also said they were involved in training fighters in mine-laying and siege tactics.

Haidan warned that such activity could endanger shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea, and he urged the international community to tighten pressure on the Houthis, including by cutting financing and enforcing a UN arms embargo. The allegations come amid renewed fighting between government-aligned forces and the Houthis in five provinces. For context, Yemen’s war began in 2014 after the Houthis took Sanaa, and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to back the government.