(Not a great time to have had an initially incommunicado, and still-hospitalized, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who authorized the strikes in Yemen from his hospital bed on Thursday.)
The Houthis, who were once a ragtag militia with the purely local aim of trying to overthrow the Yemen government, are now projecting Iranian power, not only in the Red Sea but across the region.
In other words, just as Hezbollah in Lebanon, 1,500 miles to the north of Yemen, is effectively an arm of the Iranian government, so too now are the Houthis.
Those weapons have also been used to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Saudi-allied United Arab Emirates, and, more recently, have targeted Israel as well.
Yet, Saudi Arabia is a key reason that the Houthis are now so closely allied to Iran and so well armed.
Persons:
Peter Bergen, Osama bin Laden, Joe Biden, Defense Lloyd Austin, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, “, Biden
Organizations:
New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, CNN, Defense, United Nations, United
Locations:
New America, Yemen, Israel, Red, Suez, Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi, Riyadh, Gaza, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iranian