Description: The Houthi militant group has kidnapped up to 11 personnel pertaining to the UN mission in the country and conducted a naval militia attack on a Liberian – flagged ship suspected of transporting cargo to Israel. The attack and the kidnappings arrive as a response to Israel’s military action which eliminated most of the Houthi’s leadership including the organization’s Prime Minister Ahmed Al Rahawi. The attack on the ship was reported to have caused minimal damage and no casualties were inflicted, while the UN strenuously protested the kidnappings of its personnel and demanded their immediate release. Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, stated that Israel would continue to target key personnel among the Houthi ranks as the organization represented one of the key security risks in the region which endangered Israeli interests. The Houthi leadership has additionally stated that it was conducting an internal operation of discovering potential Israeli intelligence infiltrations which led to the elimination of the organization’s leadership echelon.
Impact: Although the Houthis remain a significant destabilization factor in the region, the recent retaliatory actions emphasize the organization’s depleted capacities. Military operations spearheaded by Israel and the US have managed to substantially decrease the Houthi’s operational capabilities as the militant group struggles in finding alternative revenue sources with most of their weapons supply lines compromised in the past couple of months. Possible internal fissures emerge, as the group announced that operations for identifying intelligence infiltrations are initiated which could result in intraorganizational divisions impacting the already destabilized Yemen as the internationally recognized government, controlling large parts of the country’s southern regions, could challenge the Houthi’s government in times of crises on all fronts.