Fifty days since the launch of the U.S. aerial campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, the Iranian-backed terrorist group remains a persistent threat to Middle Eastern stability and international maritime security. The large-scale offensive by U.S. forces, conducted in coordination with coalition partners, has targeted hundreds of Houthi military sites, including weapons storage, communications infrastructure, and command centers. While these airstrikes have inflicted significant losses—including hundreds of Houthi militants killed and substantial infrastructure damage—the group continues to conduct attacks, particularly on international shipping in the Red Sea.
The ongoing resilience of the Houthis has fueled debate about the efficacy of conventional airpower in asymmetric conflicts and the unique challenges posed by Iran’s network of regional terror proxies. As American and coalition airstrikes persist with limited strategic impact, the situation raises urgent questions for Israeli national security, regional stability, and the broader war imposed on Israel by Iran and its affiliates.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, recently emphasized the limitations of attempting to defeat a determined, ideologically-motivated terror group in its territory, noting that airpower alone cannot eradicate resilient insurgents supported by an external state sponsor. Despite overwhelming U.S. military superiority and technological advances, the Houthis—much like other Iranian proxies operating in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Gaza—have demonstrated adaptability and resolve, quickly recovering from each offensive and maintaining operational continuity.
The Houthi Threat: Regional Impact and Israeli Concerns
Since their takeover of Sana’a in 2014, the Houthis have become a central pillar of Iran’s strategy to encircle Israel and destabilize moderate pro-Western Arab regimes in the region. In recent months, the group has intensified efforts to disrupt global commerce and maritime traffic passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, launching a series of missile and drone attacks against commercial vessels, particularly those perceived to have links to Israel or the West.
The Israeli government views the Houthi threat as part of the wider axis of Iranian-sponsored aggression. The lessons from Yemen are especially relevant to Israeli defense doctrine: even a superpower’s persistent aerial bombardment may fall short against agile, ideologically driven terror networks deeply embedded within local populations and rugged terrain. Israel’s past strikes on Houthi infrastructure have been limited and precise, designed primarily to demonstrate reach and deter attacks, but policymakers recognize that these actions alone cannot defeat the terror threat.
Operational Reality: The Limits of Airpower
The contemporary history of counterterrorism in the Middle East demonstrates the decreasing effectiveness of airpower as a standalone tool. From Lebanon’s Hezbollah to Hamas in Gaza, and now the Houthis, Iranian proxies have developed a playbook of decentralized command, redundancy, and rapid dispersal. Once struck, operatives adapt, relocate, and continue their campaigns. In Yemen, U.S. and coalition firepower has yet to impede the Houthis’ ability to launch further attacks.
These facts serve as a caution for Israel and its allies. Airstrikes—even heavy, sustained campaigns—without a coordinated ground effort, local partnerships, and a comprehensive strategy, may soften but not eliminate terrorist capabilities. For Israel, surrounded by terror organizations and with finite military and political resources, each operation is calibrated for necessity and not mere display.
Israeli Doctrine: Precision, Morality, and Survival
Israel’s military leadership, led by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir and guided by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, grounds national defense policy in clear-eyed strategic realism. In the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre—the deadliest antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust—Israel’s morale and operational standards remain uncompromising. Israeli forces act only in self-defense, abiding by rigorous ethical guidelines and the principle of minimizing civilian harm, even as terror groups systematically target population centers and infrastructure.
The distinction between Israel’s conduct and that of the Houthis or other Iranian-backed organizations is fundamental: whereas the former operates under constraints of international law and democratic oversight, the latter exploit civilian environments and openly wage war for Tehran’s regional ambitions.
Broader Context: Iran’s Proxy War and the Geopolitical Challenge
Iran’s investment in Yemen’s Houthi insurgency furthers its strategy to extend influence from the Persian Gulf through to the Mediterranean, threatening Israel, Saudi Arabia, and global interests. The Houthis benefit from Iranian-supplied missiles, advanced drones, and training by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—mirroring methods used by Hezbollah and Hamas in their respective arenas.
For regional partners and global powers, the failure to decisively curb the Houthi threat through airstrikes alone serves as a strategic warning. The United States and Israel now face an adaptive adversary, able to survive even the most sophisticated aerial assaults so long as their Iranian patron remains powerful and committed.
Conclusion: Strategic Discipline and the Stakes Ahead
The post-airstrike reality in Yemen compels Israel and its partners to develop nuanced strategies combining military deterrence, intelligence, diplomacy, and economic pressure against Iranian-backed terror proxies. Demonstrations of military capability are meaningful only when they serve a well-defined, achievable political and security outcome: the uninterrupted defense of Israel’s population, the safe return of hostages abducted in acts of terror, and the enduring protection of the global order against those who openly seek to undermine it.
In today’s Middle East, military might must serve strategic purpose, and resolve must be anchored in moral clarity. The ongoing campaign in Yemen is a stark reminder that the threat from Iran and its proxies cannot be wished away—and that for Israel, as for the world’s democracies, vigilance and principled action are the only path forward.
