Despite an intensive United States air campaign targeting Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, the group continues to launch long-range missiles at Israel, exposing the challenges faced by Western military power in countering entrenched proxy forces across the Middle East. Over the last fifty days, American forces have launched hundreds of precision airstrikes from carrier groups in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea against Houthi assets, but these efforts have yet to fully neutralize the group’s rocket and missile capabilities. The ongoing attacks underscore the limits of airpower alone and highlight the broader context of the regional war imposed by Iran and its proxies.
Persistent Threat Despite Sustained Airstrikes
The US air campaign, described by CENTCOM as among the most sustained in years, is based on real-time intelligence, advanced surveillance, and precision-guided munitions. While operational footage depicts dramatic launches and explosions, US and allied officials acknowledge these campaigns achieve only partial degradation of Houthis’ extensive rocket arsenals. The militants—trained, equipped, and advised by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—have strategically positioned mobile missile batteries and command infrastructure throughout Yemen’s mountainous terrain, often concealed deep within Iranian-engineered underground bunkers and tunnel complexes.
Repeatedly striking the same suspected launch sites, US forces face an adversary skilled in moving assets between fortified hideouts and exploiting natural cover. Military analysts compare the fight to previous multi-year campaigns against other Iranian proxies, where the absence of a substantial ground presence limits victory from the air.
Terrain and Tactics: Why the Houthis Survive
Yemen’s geography—a vast expanse of caves, rugged hills, and isolated valleys—enables Houthi terror cells to survive, regroup, and continue operations under air assault. Even after successful strikes on identified launch platforms, new missile attacks often originate from fresh positions. The Iranian-backed group’s extensive use of smuggling, camouflage, and human shields further blunts the effect of remote targeting. Every identified Houthi missile battery might be relocated, and despite surveillance, they frequently escape destruction, permitting subsequent launches.
Adding to this, American engagement rules prioritize minimizing civilian harm, restricting strikes to moments when civilian presence is ruled out. Houthi forces routinely intersperse their military assets among civilian populations and near critical infrastructure—an intentional tactic to both shield their weaponry and escalate the propaganda impact of any mistaken casualties. This use of civilian shielding is a calculated component of both Houthi and broader Iranian terror strategy.
Iran’s Hand: Technology, Training, and Regional Strategy
The Houthi missile threat is inseparable from Iranian intervention. Since the early days of Yemen’s civil war, Tehran has supplied technology, technical expertise, and logistical support, while also overseeing construction of fortified underground sites. The sophistication and quantity of Houthi missiles, from short-range projectiles to long-range drones and cruise missiles, reflect years of hands-on Iranian instruction and sustained defense industrial partnership. Israeli and US analysts routinely attribute ongoing missile launches not only to local Yemeni militancy, but to the deliberate expansion of the Iranian-backed ‘axis of resistance,’ which includes terror organizations in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria.
Ground Operations and Local Realities
Aerial operations by themselves rarely deliver absolute victory over complex adversaries entrenched among populations and in inhospitable terrain. US officials privately concede that the complete elimination of Houthi missile capacity is impossible without more aggressive operations on the ground. Tens of thousands of government-aligned Yemeni fighters stand at the ready, but the country’s ongoing instability, tribal divisions, and past failures to re-capture Houthi-held territory undermine prospects for a joint campaign that could reliably dismantle the group’s launch infrastructure. Without actionable ground intelligence, American forces must rely on intermittent signals intelligence, drone surveillance, and satellite monitoring—options that often lag behind rapidly shifting terrorist tactics.
Impact on Israel and Regional Security
For Israel, each successful launch attempt—even when intercepted by Arrow, David’s Sling, or allied air defenses—represents not only a tactical challenge, but a broader strain on military preparedness. Iranian-backed groups aim to stretch Israeli and US resources thin, promoting the illusion of strategic reach and resilience despite battlefield losses. Continued launches from Yemen, alongside attacks from Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Iranian proxies, serve Tehran’s effort to sow instability and demonstrate persistent defiance.
The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF under Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, emphasizes coordination with US partners as the country defends itself against a multi-front threat structure masterminded by Iran. The October 7 Hamas terrorist massacre exposed the catastrophic consequences of underestimating proxy capabilities, further incentivizing comprehensive defense across land, sea, and air.
The Limits and Future of Airpower
Washington and Jerusalem are escalating investments in intelligence, reconnaissance, and advanced strike munitions. Still, military leaders stress that the combination of rugged geography, sophisticated underground shelters, and effective use of human shielding ensures that total eradication of the Houthi threat is not attainable from the sky alone. Instead, regional officials stress that future solutions will require enhanced intelligence networks, deeper regional partnerships, sustained engagement with local ground elements, and continued technological adaptation to the evolving tactics of terrorist organizations.
Conclusion: Attrition, Adaptation, and Strategic Patience
The continuing threat of Houthi missile attacks, despite an intensive US air campaign, underscores the enduring challenge of countering Iranian-backed terror networks that exploit geography, local populations, and international legal constraints to outlast campaigns from afar. As Israel remains targeted by missiles launched from Yemen and beyond, the conflict reveals that advanced Western military power, while necessary, is insufficient without a comprehensive strategy joining air, ground, intelligence, and political operations. The coming period will test the resolve and adaptability of the US-Israeli partnership as they confront the realities—and the moral stakes—of this regional war imposed by Iran’s proxies.
