Houthis drive power through disinformation campaign

A team at the Washington Institute has revealed a campaign of misinformation which is emboldening the Iran-backed Houthi militia amid its Red Sea blockade that has disrupted international shipping.

Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said “the group has been projecting power through the effective use of misinformation” which began with its maritime campaign in November, with multiple unsupported claims of attacks since.

“The group knows its influence to the extent that even when some of its claims about maritime attacks are false. They don't care because they know their growing audience will believe them anyways,” she said.

While the Houthis have had direct hits that severely damaged some commercial ships and killed and wounded international seafarers, there are many attacks which have not been independently verified, with others totally denied.

“With respect to MSC Patnaree III, there's no evidence it was hit, but what we have is data from July 7 that shows Greek frigate HS PSARA engaged four UAVs while providing close protection to a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden,” the research shows.

Two UAVs were downed while the rest changed course, according to EUNAVFOR ASPIDES. While the commercial vessel was not identified, it could have been MSC Patnaree III.

One of Iran’s most powerful and well-armed groups with sophisticated weapons and training, she said the Houthis’ maritime operation, instigated by Iran’s Supreme Leader, has been “well-planned".