JUST IN: Powerful Iranian Proxy Enters Conflict With Missile Attack On Israel

Yemen’s Houthi faction on Saturday, March 28, launched a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting what they described as sensitive Israeli military sites in southern Israel. For the rebel group — which constitutes one of Iran’s most powerful proxies in the region — the attack marks their formal entry into the conflict exactly one month after hostilities began on February 28.

The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed the strikes and stated that all were intercepted by missile defense systems. No injuries or property damage have been reported at this time, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated that the operation marked the group’s entry into the ongoing US-Israeli conflict with Iran. The Houthis described the strike as support for Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, and indicated that further actions would continue until attacks on those parties ceased.

The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, are an Iran-aligned militant group rooted in Yemen’s Zaidi Shia Muslim community. The movement gained prominence in the mid-2000s and has been engaged in Yemen’s civil war since 2014.

They control significant swaths of territory in northwest Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and key areas along the western Red Sea coast. This gives them operational access to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the narrow chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and, ultimately, the Suez Canal.

The timing of the Houthi strike coincides with the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran amid the broader conflict. Hormuz handles roughly 20 percent of global oil trade under normal conditions, though traffic has declined upwards of 90 percent since the conflict erupted.

As a result, ships have been using alternative maritime routes, including the Red Sea corridor. The Houthis’ position along Bab al-Mandeb positions them to potentially disrupt this traffic through missile, drone, or naval attacks on commercial vessels. Such actions could compound existing pressures on global shipping lanes.

The militant group has demonstrated a capability to disrupt global shipping in the recent past.

Between late 2023 and mid-2025, during the Gaza conflict, the group conducted over 190 documented attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. These included missile and drone strikes that sank at least four vessels and forced major shipping companies to divert traffic around the Cape of Good Hope.

Red Sea transits declined by more than 50 percent year-over-year at peaks, with Suez Canal traffic dropping from roughly 2,068 ships in November 2023 to about 877 by October 2024. The disruptions affected goods valued at an estimated $1 trillion and raised global freight rates significantly, adding 10 to 14 days to Asia-Europe voyages.

In response to these earlier threats, the United States organized Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational naval coalition formed in December 2023 to safeguard shipping. The US and United Kingdom conducted extensive airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen as a result.

These campaigns, which included hundreds of strikes through 2025, aimed to degrade the group’s missile and drone capabilities. Additional Israeli strikes targeted Houthi facilities in 2024 and 2025. A temporary US-Houthi ceasefire was reached in 2025, under which the group agreed to halt attacks on US-linked vessels while continuing operations against Israeli interests.

The group’s entry into the conflict could heighten anxiety around the global oil market, though the Trump Administration has indicated that direct talks with Iran could be coming as soon as this week. President Trump has repeatedly stated that he is looking for a ceasefire and presented a series of objectives to the Iranian government, though he has also vowed to escalate should Iran refuse.

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