Yemen accuses IRGC and Hezbollah of sending 21 experts to aid Houthis

Yemen's internationally recognised government has accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon's Hezbollah of sending 21 experts to help the Houthis plan and direct military operations. The allegation was made by Interior Minister Major-General Ibrahim Haidan in a statement on Tuesday. He said the foreign personnel are helping build the group's military capabilities.

According to the ministry, 14 of the experts are from the IRGC and seven are from Hezbollah. The statement said they are deployed across Hodeidah, Sanaa, Saada, Hajjah, Amran and the coastal city of Khokha. It described their roles as including command and control, ballistic missiles, drones, electronic warfare, smuggling military components and coordinating naval operations.

The ministry also said the experts are involved in selecting commercial ships as targets, developing explosive-laden boats and autonomous submarines, and training fighters in mine-laying and siege tactics. Haidan said the alleged activities threaten shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea. He also called on the international community to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation and to enforce the arms embargo under United Nations Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2624.

The accusation comes as Yemeni armed forces and fighters loyal to the government are battling the Houthis in five provinces. The statement said the fighting follows the group's seizure of the western Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb area in September. That development matters because the strait is a key route for international shipping, and any escalation there can affect maritime security well beyond Yemen's borders.

The government has long accused the IRGC of supporting the Houthis, while Tehran says the group acts independently. The Houthis acknowledge an alliance with Iran but have denied being an Iranian proxy. The current fighting also follows a relative quiet that came after a 2022 ceasefire, which itself followed a civil war that began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015 at the head of an international coalition backing Yemen's recognised government. What remains unclear is whether the government has released evidence to support the latest allegation or whether any of the named foreign experts have been publicly identified. It is also not clear how long the alleged deployment has been under way or whether it has changed the balance of fighting on the ground.

The next developments to watch are any response from the Houthis, Iran or Hezbollah, and whether the claim prompts further international action over arms flows and Red Sea security.

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