Yemeni authorities say 21 IRGC and Hezbollah agents are aiding the Houthis

Statement by the Yemeni authorities

The Yemeni government said on Tuesday, November 3, that Houthi operations in Yemen's civil war are planned and directed by 21 foreign specialists: 14 experts from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and seven members of Lebanon's Hezbollah. The statement was made by Interior Minister Ibrahim Haidan, who said the issue is not funding or training but direct supervision of operations. “This is not a training mission but a full-fledged general staff,” The National quotes him as saying.

What exactly the authorities claim

According to the ministry, the suspects are specialists in drones and ballistic missiles, intelligence, electronic warfare and the smuggling of military equipment. They are also accused of coordinating naval operations, selecting targets among commercial vessels, developing explosive-laden boats and autonomous underwater vehicles, and training Houthi fighters in mining and urban warfare. The group, it is claimed, is led by an IRGC officer; it is said to include an operations chief, a strategic adviser, the head of a joint operations center, and specialists in drones, missiles and naval operations. However, the ministry did not name any individuals and provided no evidence for these claims.

Where they are located and the demand the minister made

According to the ministry's statement, the agents are deployed in six Yemeni governorates: eight in Hodeidah, four each in Sanaa and Saada, two each in Hajjah and Amran, and one in Al Khawkhah. Haidan called on the international community to recognize the Houthis as a terrorist organization and accused them of using Yemen as a testing ground for ballistic missiles, drones, cruise missiles and explosive-laden boats. He also warned that, in his words, the group's activities threaten the security of shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, international trade and energy supplies.

Military context

The statement came amid a Houthi offensive: according to four military sources cited by Reuters on Monday, they have advanced to within 80 km of Aden — closer than at any point since the war began in 2015, when the Houthis briefly entered the city but were driven out. The offensive, which began in September with an advance along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, threatens positions on the road linking Aden with the besieged city of Taiz. Military sources note that the Houthis may bypass government forces along the mountain ridge above the strait, which had driven them out of the area only a few weeks earlier. The fighting has shattered the 2022 ceasefire brokered by the UN and opened a new front in the broader regional conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran.