US study reveals Houthi links to IRGC & Hezbollah

The Terrorism Combating Center at West Point military college in the US published an important study last month on Houthi links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The meticulously documented 70-page study, titled “The Houthi Jihad Council: Command and Control in ‘the Other Hezbollah,’” leaves no doubt about the organic ties between the three entities and warns of their growing cooperation.

It demonstrates how the Houthis have moved toward becoming a “very close clone of the IRGC and Lebanese Hezbollah military and security systems, with the birth of a Basij-type mobilization and internal security system.” The risk that a “southern Hezbollah” might emerge is arguably now a fact on the ground, the authors conclude.

The authors demonstrate in detail how the Houthis morphed from a heterogeneous, decentralized and non-cohesive group to a centralized and coercive organization with a “totalitarian mindset,” using violence and oppression to dominate the northern tribes and enlist them in the Houthi fight to control Yemen, bolstered by over a decade of support from the IRGC and Hezbollah.

The study draws parallels between Hezbollah’s takeover of Lebanese politics and the Houthi coup of 2014, including some documented exchanges between the two groups on military strategy.

The study also documents the growing role of the IRGC’s Quds Force and Hezbollah during the years in which the Houthi movement became an effective fighting force on the battlefield, from the fourth Sa’da war in 2007 to the present day. Houthi commanders drew heavily on the IRGC and Hezbollah’s politico-military models.

For example, the Houthi Jihad Council is set up according to the Hezbollah template. Appointing “jihad assistants,” which has become an organic part of Houthi military strategy, follows the Quds Force modus operandi, adopting the same mentoring model as Iraqi terrorist group Kata’ib Hezbollah.

The authors also study the political influence of the IRGC and Hezbollah over Houthi decision-making and conclude that the very close “alignment of ideology and goals” between the two external groups and the Houthi leaders makes it easy to influence Houthi decisions without the need for coercion or pressure.

These relationships are not driven by mere necessity or taken to unintended levels by the war in Yemen, but rather were highly intentional relationships of choice from the outset, based on a commonality of goals and ideology.

The authors also argue that even if a key Houthi supporter of close relations with Iran and Hezbollah, such as Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, were to disappear from the scene, there is now a “broad-based set of leaders whose whole ideological and political upbringing will predispose them to continue this beneficial and warm relationship.”

More countries are now mulling listing the IRGC and the Houthis as terrorist organizations, Hezbollah having been already designated as such by most nations. This study should help in making these decisions, as it documents how the three groups have worked closely to keep Yemen, the region and the world at bay by igniting wars and stoking violence throughout the Middle East.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Germany and the EU were examining “how we can list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization,” reiterating what she said the previous week about launching another sanctions package.

The IRGC is implicated in suppressing protests in Iran, where hundreds of civilians have died over the past eight weeks, and it is also active throughout the region, including in Yemen.