Unpalatable Options: Confronting the Houthis

Abstract

Attacks by the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group from northwest Yemen and now its de facto governing authority, pose a significant threat to commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and therefore to the global economy. Washington faces a range of unpalatable options to deal with this threat. The current approach of limited American and British airstrikes is flawed, but the alternatives – no airstrikes or more airstrikes – are arguably worse. Under a more ambitious strategy, the United States would through diplomacy help rebuild the internationally recognised government of Yemen, which nominally brings together anti-Houthi factions but is in fact fragmented and weak. Only this option has a realistic prospect of modifying the balance of power inside Yemen and containing the Houthis’ regional threat. Otherwise, the Houthis are likely to consolidate power, which would be a tragedy for the Yemeni people given the brutality of Houthi rule, and present a perennial danger to regional security given their ambitions.