From rebel faction to regional power: How the Houthis emerged victorious from the Israel-Hamas war
By zoeysky // 2025-10-15
 
  • Starting as a local rebel group in Yemen, the Houthis have significantly increased their influence and prestige by attacking international shipping in the Red Sea to show solidarity with Gaza.
  • By disrupting a critical global shipping route, they demonstrated an ability to harm the world economy.
  • They also won a major propaganda victory. By framing their actions as a moral defense of Gaza, they gained popularity across the Arab world.
  • The Gaza ceasefire is unstable and full of unsolved problems. Key issues were postponed, making the peace fragile. Major points of conflict include whether Israel will fully withdraw its troops and whether Hamas will ever agree to disarm, which it has already refused to do.
  • Gaza's future is highly uncertain. Without a legitimate government and a swift reconstruction process, desperation and instability could easily cause the war to start again.
In the complex and bloody aftermath of the recent Gaza ceasefire, one group has unexpectedly emerged with its influence and prestige significantly enhanced: the Houthis of Yemen. What began as a domestic insurgency has, through two years of relentless military and rhetorical campaigns, transformed into a key player on the Middle Eastern stage, successfully challenging global superpowers and reshaping regional alliances.

A surprising story of military resilience and narrative mastery

The Houthis' ascent is a story of military resilience and narrative mastery. While other armed factions in the region have seen their power and legitimacy questioned, the Yemeni group has solidified its position. Their campaign of attacking international shipping in the Red Sea, launched in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, proved devastatingly effective. By forcing major commercial vessels to abandon the critical Suez Canal route for a much longer and costlier journey around Africa, the Houthis demonstrated an ability to strike at the heart of the global economy. Maritime traffic through the Gulf of Aden plummeted by 70 percent, a direct result of their sustained offensive. This military audacity was matched by an ability to withstand reprisals. When the United States launched a massive, billion-dollar bombing campaign against Houthi targets, the group did not back down. They managed to shoot down advanced U.S. drones and continued their maritime attacks, ultimately forcing a surprising American retreat. A ceasefire brokered by Oman halted U.S.-Houthi clashes, but critically, it did not restrict the group's operations against Israel. This outcome was seen as a major strategic win, effectively forcing the U.S. to decouple its Yemen policy from its unwavering support for Israel on this specific front. Analysts point to several factors behind this success. Unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis were a relatively new actor for Israeli and American intelligence agencies, making it harder to inflict crippling damage on their command structure. Furthermore, Yemen's geographical distance from Israel provided a buffer, allowing the Houthis to launch long-range missiles at Israeli targets, including a strike that breached air defenses in Eilat, without facing the immediate threat of a full-scale ground invasion. Beyond the battlefield, the Houthis secured a powerful narrative victory. By framing their struggle as a moral obligation to defend Gaza against Israeli aggression, they gained immense legitimacy across the Arab world. Their actions created a public relations nightmare for neighboring Arab governments, who were reluctant to join U.S.-led efforts to stop the attacks for fear of being seen as attacking a group "aid[ing] Gaza." This positioned the Houthis in the eyes of many as the only Arab force taking tangible action while other governments offered only rhetoric. They successfully shifted their image from that of an Iranian-backed rebel group to a headline player in the so-called "Axis of Resistance." Domestically, the war provided a rallying cry that boosted recruitment and cut across internal divisions. The number of Houthi fighters swelled dramatically, even as the rival, internationally-recognized government in Aden fractured and became increasingly irrelevant, mired in economic crisis and infighting. The Houthis now deal directly with major powers like Saudi Arabia, a former enemy, from a position of strength, controlling Yemen’s populous north and its capital.

Unresolved fault lines: The precarious road ahead in Gaza

While the Houthis consolidate their gains, the ceasefire in Gaza has merely paused a conflict fraught with unresolved issues that threaten to reignite violence at any moment. The Trump administration's deal, praised for securing the release of hostages, mirrors the failures of past peace efforts by leaving critical details for later, creating a fragile and uncertain future. A central point of contention is the withdrawal of Israeli troops. While Israel has pulled back from some areas, its leadership has sent mixed signals, with some statements emphasizing that its military remains deep inside Gaza and "encircling Hamas from all directions." Given Israel's history of occupying territory in Syria and Lebanon indefinitely, a full withdrawal is far from guaranteed without significant external pressure. The demand for Hamas to disarm appears equally fraught. Senior Hamas officials have already declared disarmament "out of the question," and the group's power is intrinsically linked to its military capabilities. Even if a theoretical agreement were reached, the practicalities are a minefield. Would Hamas fighters surrender their weapons to an Egyptian or international force they do not trust? History suggests that once a militant group gives up its arms, it rarely gets them back, a reality Hamas is keenly aware of. The proposed "international stabilization force" (ISF) is another major uncertainty. While envisioned as a security solution to allow for an Israeli withdrawal, its mandate, composition and authority remain vague. Diplomats suggest such a force would not actively fight Hamas, raising questions about its ability to prevent either side from restarting the conflict. Past experiences with UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, which have proven largely toothless in the face of Hezbollah's influence, offer a cautionary tale. Furthermore, the monumental task of rebuilding Gaza hangs in the balance. The scale of destruction is catastrophic, and previous reconstruction efforts after the 2014 war moved at a glacial pace, hampered by Israeli restrictions and a thriving black market for building materials. Without a swift and functional process, desperation could quickly undermine the ceasefire. Most critically, there is no clear or legitimate path for Palestinian-led governance. The current plan was devised with no meaningful input from Palestinian civil society. The deeply unpopular Palestinian Authority is being floated as a potential ruler, but it holds little sway in Gaza. There are fears of a disastrous policy akin to the "de-Baathification" of Iraq, which would exclude countless professionals who had Hamas affiliations from participating in reconstruction and governance, potentially fueling further instability and violence. According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, de-Baathification refers to the process of removing or dismantling the structures and influences of the Ba'ath Party, which was a political party that held significant power in Iraq and Syria. The Houthis may have won this round, leveraging the Gaza conflict to project power and purpose. But their continued relevance and the stability of the region now depend on resolving the very issues in Gaza that they so effectively exploited. The ceasefire has frozen the front lines, but the foundational conflicts remain, simmering and unresolved, ensuring that the peace is as fragile as it is fleeting. Watch this video to learn how a Houthi missile took down a U.S. Air Force F-35 fighter jet. This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include: MiddleEastEye.net TheGuardian.com AlJazeera.com BrightU.ai Brighteon.com