Over more than a decade, the Iran-backed Houthis have transformed themselves from a group reliant largely on small arms and medium weapons into a formidable military force armed with ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, anti-ship missiles, unmanned boats and air-defense systems.
That transformation was accomplished by seizing large quantities of weapons from the Yemeni military, acquiring components and technology from abroad, and drawing on military and technical expertise linked to Iran and Hezbollah.
It’s a supply chain that now reaches well beyond Iran, complicating Washington’s effort to choke it off. About 35% of the materials documented in seizures of shipments bound for the Houthis between 2021 and 2025 were of Chinese origin, compared with 21% from Iran, according to the Century International research center, and the U.S. Treasury Department says a Houthi-linked network bought weapons and sensitive materials from Russia.
The Houthis, designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, seized territory along the Bab al-Mandab Strait in September, giving them the ability to threaten one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Before the Iran War, about 5.6 million barrels of oil a day passed through the strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The armed group has also attacked Saudi Arabian oil facilities, contributing to global energy price increases.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told MBN that Washington has “worked to cut off the Iran-backed Houthis’ access to financing and weapons at every opportunity,” adding that American actions have focused on supply networks for procuring components. In 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department targeted companies and individuals in China and Iran that it said had supplied the Houthis with dual-use components, including hundreds of parts for missile guidance systems and drone manufacturing.
“The United States has sanctioned over 200 entities associated with the Houthis,” the spokesperson said.
Washington’s ultimate aim is to protect freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, halt attacks on shipping and limit the group’s ability to carry out or support terrorist activities.
From Army Stockpiles to a Houthi Arsenal
The group’s military capabilities were transformed after the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of Yemen in 2014. They controlled military bases and weapons depots containing tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers, ballistic missiles and air-defense systems.
Maj. Gen. Mohsen Khasrouf, former head of the Yemeni army’s Moral Guidance Department, told MBN that the tactical alliance between former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthis in the years before the 2014 takeover “helped the group infiltrate military units and gain access to military camps and weapons and missile depots, including Al-Sawad Camp, the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Sanhan.”
The Houthis seized the opportunity to capture tanks, armored vehicles, missile systems and air defenses, he said.
As president, Saleh fought six wars against the Houthis between 2004 and 2010 before being forced from power in 2012. The alliance collapsed in December 2017, when the Houthis killed him after he broke with them.
Since then, their capabilities have only grown. A U.N. Panel of Experts report said the Houthis displayed ballistic, cruise and anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, drones, unmanned boats, surveillance systems, and sea and land mines in 2023.
But the group lacked the capacity to develop and manufacture most of this equipment without outside assistance, the panel concluded.
Michael Horton, co-founder of the U.S.-based Red Sea Analytics International, told MBN that the transformation was not based on equipment alone. Former military officers, technicians and specialists in military and intelligence fields joined the Houthis, helping combine conventional military expertise with guerrilla warfare methods, he said.
A Missile and Drone Arsenal
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says the Houthi arsenal includes ballistic missiles based on Iranian design. These run the gamut from the Burkan-3/Dhu al-Fiqar, with an estimated range of 1,000 kilometers, to the Tufan missile, based on Iran’s Shahab-3 design, which can reach 1,950 kilometers.
Ali al-Bukhaiti, a former Houthi member who defected from the group, told MBN that the Houthis obtained missile systems from Iran. Iranian experts and others linked to Hezbollah, which Washington designates as a terrorist organization, helped improve missiles seized from the Yemeni military by extending their range and improving guidance and control systems.
Drones are also a major component of the Houthi arsenal and include reconnaissance aircraft, remotely piloted attack aircraft and one-way attack drones.
These include the Samad family of long-range drones. The Samad-3 (KAS-04), whose range the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates at more than 1,600 kilometers, uses Chinese DLE-170 engines, along with Iranian components.
The Houthis also field the Waad-1 and Waad-2 drones, which the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says are derived from Iran’s Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 drones.
Horton told MBN that the Houthis have developed the ability to “modify commercial drones and manufacture and assemble [first-person-view] drones,” with many components coming from Asia through “formal channels as well as covertly via Yemen’s coasts, often with the complicity of [Iranian Revolutionary Guard]-linked armed forces.”
The Houthis have used their missiles and drones in attacks against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
In January 2022, a Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi killed three people. The Houthis have also carried out repeated attacks against Israel since the Gaza war began following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas. In September 2026, the Houthis said they had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Marib, but Riyadh and independent sources could not confirm the claim.
From Bab al-Mandab to the Gulf of Aden
The Houthi naval arsenal includes the Mandab-1 and Mandab-2 anti-ship missiles. The U.N. Panel of Experts report says the former is based on the Chinese C-801 design, while the latter resembles the Chinese C-802 missile. Published estimates of their range vary from 120 to 300 kilometers.
The Houthis also possess anti-ship ballistic missiles, including the Asif, whose range the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates at about 450 kilometers.
According to the U.N. Panel of Experts, at least 134 attacks were launched from Houthi-controlled areas against commercial vessels and U.S. and British ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between Nov. 15, 2023, and July 31, 2024.
The attacks targeted 31 oil, liquefied natural gas or chemical tankers, while about one-third of the attacks took place in the Gulf of Aden. The U.N. report also documented the use of more than 800 missiles, drones, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, and other maritime systems in the operations examined by the panel.
Iran, China and Russia: Weapons and Supply Networks
Iran remains the most prominent source of external support documented in international reports, but the U.N. Panel of Experts report also said the Houthis received technical assistance, training, weapons and financial support from Iraqi armed groups and Hezbollah as well. Houthi fighters had received training at Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon since at least 2020, the panel reported, while Iraqi armed groups organized training courses for Houthi fighters.
Bukhaiti told MBN that the Houthis had sent trainees to Lebanon and Iran and that Iranian and Hezbollah experts had helped operate workshops in areas under Houthi control.
Beyond the region, China has a growing role in supplying the Houthis. A Wall Street Journal report said much of the technological development behind the Houthis’ capabilities relies on Chinese components and goods.
In July 2025, the U.S. Central Command said Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) had intercepted more than 750 tons of Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis. The shipment included hundreds of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, cruise missiles and warheads, as well as hundreds of drone engines, air-defense equipment, radars and communications devices.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the NRF seized a shipment in late August 2026 aboard a vessel bound for the group. The cargo included military-grade wireless data radios manufactured in Chengdu, China, which could be used to control drones.
According to a February 2026 study by the New York-based Century International research center, dual-use components and raw materials accounted for more than 80% of shipments seized while en route to the Houthis in 2024 and 2025.
Russia has also involved itself in helping the Houthis. The U.S. Treasury Department said in March 2025 that a network linked to Saeed al-Jamal, a Houthi financial official, had purchased tens of millions of dollars’ worth of goods, weapons and sensitive materials from Russia for shipment to Houthi-controlled areas. It also said the Houthis had held talks to obtain weapons and defense equipment from Russia, with Houthi leaders traveling to Moscow for that purpose.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
