From mountain fighters to 'regional power': the rise of Yemen's Houthis

AI Summary

The Houthis rose from a movement in northern Yemen to control significant territory and become a regional force. Backed by Iran, they threaten Saudi Arabia and can disrupt global shipping and affect oil prices.

The Houthis emerged from obscurity in Yemen's hardscrabble north to control swathes of the country and pose a perennial threat to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter. From their origins in the 1990s, the Iran-backed former mountain fighters now command the status of regional players capable of inflicting pain on global shipping and oil prices. Like the other armed members of Iran's "Axis of Resistance", the Houthis are hostile to the West, as befits their slogan: "Death to America, death to Israel."