US vs. Houthis: Will the operation in Yemen be decisive? Israeli experts on Caliber.Az

The US has attacked military and infrastructure targets belonging to the Houthis in Yemen. President Donald Trump issued the order in response to attacks on ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s most vital trade routes. He accused the Houthis of engaging in a "relentless campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism." The group justified its actions by expressing solidarity with Hamas, which had initiated the war against Israel in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis are supported by Iran. Trump promised to hold the Islamic Republic accountable if it did not immediately stop supporting its proxies.

US Air Force strikes targeted the capital Sana’a and Taiz in southwestern Yemen. A power station in Dahyan was also hit, causing a power outage, according to Al-Masirah TV. The city hosts the headquarters of Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi. Trump personally monitored the operation.

The bombing of Yemen is considered the largest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office, according to Reuters.

President Trump stressed that the US will continue to strike until full security is restored in the region. The operation is expected to last at least several days, but could extend for weeks. He also pointed out that the actions of his predecessor, Joe Biden, had been insufficiently strong, leading to the Houthis disrupting maritime traffic for almost a year and a half. According to Trump, no ship has passed through the Suez Canal or the Red Sea without incidents, including missile and drone attacks targeting vessels in the narrow 30-kilometer Bab el-Mandeb Strait, also known as the “Gate of Tears.”

The attacks by Yemeni terrorists have caused disruptions in global trade, as shippers have had to use longer routes around Africa. A Pentagon spokesperson revealed that since 2023, the Houthis have attacked US military ships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times.

The Houthis have also launched strikes on Israeli territory and recently declared their intention to resume attacks on both commercial and military vessels of Israel in the Red and Arabian Seas.

The key question now is whether this global threat will be eradicated entirely in the foreseeable future. Can the US effectively eliminate all of the group’s resources and maintain control to prevent its resurgence in these territories?

Foreign analysts agreed to share their assessments of the situation with Caliber.Az.

As noted by reserve officer of the Israel Defense Forces and military analyst Yigal Levin, while the U.S. certainly has the capability to destroy the Houthis, it cannot be done solely with airstrikes, as is happening now.

"Military objectives cannot be achieved with airstrikes alone. A ground operation is required for that. It's like imagining that if Azerbaijan had limited itself to airstrikes—using aviation, drones, 'Harops', and 'Bayraktars', and so on—while liberating Karabakh. That would be it. But no soldier or tank would have approached Karabakh. Would this region have been liberated under such conditions? Would all Armenian armed groups have been destroyed there? No, of course not. And this applies to any war, in any region," the expert says.

In other words, he is confident that airstrikes alone cannot solve such a task.

"Can the U.S. air forces heavily bomb the enemy in Yemen? Yes. Can they destroy many targets there? Yes. Can they globally and completely solve the problem of the Houthis? No, they cannot.

A ground operation is needed for that. Whether there will be a ground operation is a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious—Americans are not planning to send their soldiers there to die. That's why I have a rather sceptical view of how this will all end," Levin stated.

As stated by Israeli political scientist, professor at Bar-Ilan University Zeev Hanin, in his opinion, eliminating the threat from the Houthis is much more complicated than the operation in Gaza and significantly more challenging than the operation in Lebanon.

"In practice, their bases are scattered over a large area, often in the mountains, often well camouflaged, deeply echeloned, including underground bunkers. Therefore, a simple strike on port facilities will not always be effective. It's not enough. This means that a large-scale operation involving different branches of the military—aviation, the navy, and ground forces—is necessary.

Naturally, such an operation is impossible without the involvement of a broad alliance—United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Arab countries. Whether this can be realized or not is still unclear. In fact, Trump did organize an operation significantly more large-scale than what Biden might or would have allowed himself to do. The strike was indeed serious, but it cannot be called fatal at this stage," believes the professor.

For now, he believes, it can be said that a war aimed at the complete destruction of the Houthis is not on the table.

"Well, we also clearly understand that the Houthis are not acting on their own. They receive resources, weapons, cover, support, money, and so on from Iran. So, this is more of an Iranian issue. As for striking Iran, at the moment, that’s not being discussed, because Trump is still interested in negotiating with them in Washington. The finer details of all this, I think, may become clearer in the coming days," concluded Hanin.