Iran has helped transform the Houthis from ragtag guerrillas to an organized military force with advanced weapons capable of attacking Israel and ships in the Red Sea.

Israel has single-handedly incapacitated Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s proxies in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. One more significant cog in Iran’s jihadist machine remains: the vicious Houthis in Yemen.

Not only are the Houthis attacking Israel with missiles and drones on an almost daily basis, over the last year, they have crippled global shipping in the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal. Who will stop them, and how long will it take?

Naturally, Israel has defended itself, as any country would. Predictably, Israel has been roundly condemned for doing so. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres recently called Israel’s recent airstrikes on Sanaa International Airport and other Houthi targets “especially alarming.” Too bad no one at the United Nations expressed alarm when Houthi missiles struck a school and a playground in Israel.

In addition to their threat to the Jewish state, the Houthis have been attacking and sinking commercial ships traversing the straits of Bab el-Mandeb, costing the international shipping industry billions of dollars since November 2023.

Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis seek a global Islamic caliphate, including the destruction of Israel and the United States. Their motto is: “God (Allah) is the greatest and his curse will fall on all Jews. Death to America, death to Israel, and total victory of Islam on all continents.” Iran has helped transform the Houthis from a gang of ragtag guerrillas to an organized military force with advanced weapons capable of attacking Israel and any ship entering the Red Sea.

Yet bafflingly, the United States and other Western powers have been unwilling to take game-changing action against this Iran proxy. While Israel has counterattacked Houthi strongholds and infrastructure in Yemen numerous times—and the United States and the United Kingdom have made several perfunctory strikes—the Houthis persist.

Israel, some 1,325 miles distant from Yemen, can marginally wear down the terrorists but not shut them down. Only a determined effort by Western forces with their world-class armaments and navies can effectively stop the Houthis. What is the West waiting for?

The Houthis are the last remaining remnant of Iran’s “axis of resistance.” Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis didn’t start out as a sophisticated military force. As Mohammed Albasha, a U.S.-based Middle East security analyst, explains: “In 2004, they were a besieged group hiding in the mountains. Now, they’re chasing U.S. carriers with drones and missiles and striking 2,000 kilometers away in central Israel.”

For nearly 10 years, the Houthis have withstood a campaign led by Saudi Arabia aimed at removing them from power. During that time, Iran and Hezbollah have helped turn the rebel group into a technologically sophisticated force equipped with advanced missiles and drones that even Israel’s cutting-edge defense systems have trouble intercepting.

The Houthis first attacked Israel shortly after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, they’ve launched hundreds of periodic drone and missile attacks on the Jewish state. Lately, however, Houthi attacks against Israel have been occurring almost daily. Most of the attacks result in minor injuries, though Houthi missiles could pose an existential threat to Israel in the future, should Iran develop nuclear warheads for them.

The Jewish state has responded with several retaliatory strikes, but with its military resources already thinly stretched, it cannot launch a full-scale campaign against the Houthis similar to its campaigns against neighboring Hamas and Hezbollah. It needs help from its allies.

The Houthis are wreaking havoc on international commerce. Their attacks on international shipping began on November 19, 2023, when they hijacked a British-owned vessel. The 25 crewmen are still hostages. Since then, the Houthis have launched over 100 attacks against commercial ships and warships, sinking at least two vessels and killing four crewmen, while wounding others. They claim they’re targeting ships connected to Israel in support of Gaza, but according to U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett, they’re attacking ships with no connection to the Jewish state, even ships carrying humanitarian aid for Yemen.

Because of the Houthi attacks, Red Sea shipping has declined more than 50% over the past year. The cost to ship a container from China to the West Coast of the United States has more than doubled over the past year, due in part to Houthi attacks.
According to J.P. Morgan, the Houthis’ disruption of international shipping could “add 0.7 percentage points to global core goods inflation.” In other words, consumers worldwide pay higher prices because of the Houthis’s belligerence.

The Houthi threat has been met with a lackluster response by America and its allies. Indeed, the United States waited until last year to launch significant attacks on the Iranian proxy. On January 11 and January 12, 2024, U.S. and British forces, supported by the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain and Australia, launched strikes on 60 targets in Yemen, including radars, missile and drone launch sites, and weapons-storage facilities.

Since then, however, the United States and its allies have launched only intermittent strikes against the Houthis that have proven ineffective. In fact, despite hundreds of American and allied strikes, in addition to the deployment of a U.S. Navy flotilla to the Red Sea, the Houthis have continued to attack commercial shipping and Israel.

A comprehensive, multinational strategy is needed to neutralize the Houthi threat. This strategy must involve a coalition of the United States and other Western powers since only they have the military resources needed to incapacitate the Houthis. Likewise, as Israel proved against Hamas and Hezbollah, only a full-scale military campaign against the Houthis— targeting their leaders, military capabilities and economic infrastructure—will solve the problem.

Israel cannot and should not be expected to defeat the Houthis on its own. Despite its unprecedented success in decimating the strength of Iran and its other proxies, tiny Israel alone doesn’t have the military resources to inflict sufficient damage on the Houthis to safeguard global shipping. Surely, the United States and other Western powers, if determined, can deliver a message clear and crushing enough to secure the safety of international waters and Western allies from the terrorists.

The Houthis are a global problem that requires a global solution. Only a coalition of Western nations can muster the weaponry sufficient to neutralize the Houthi threat definitively. But can they muster the commitment … and the courage?

Jason Shvili is a contributing editor at Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME), which publishes educational messages to correct lies and misperceptions about Israel and its relationship to the United States.