Despite causing minimal damage due to Israel's advancedmissile defense systems, the near-daily Houthi strikes in recent weeks havesignificantly disrupted civilian life in Israel.
Israel's devastating campaigns against Iran's regionalallies have severely weakened its arch-enemy's ability to project its power,but Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthi rebels remain a stubborn thorn in its side,analysts say.
With the ranks of Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon'sHezbollah decimated after more than a year of war, and with the fall of BasharAssad in Syria removing a key link in Iran's anti-Israel "axis ofresistance," the Houthis have emerged as Israel's most immediate securityconcern.
The Shiite Muslim rebel group controls much of Yemen,including the capital Sanaa, and has proven willing to repeatedly launchmissile and drone attacks at Israel from afar, despite posing a limited threatto it militarily.
But their location nearly 1,240 miles away, combined withtheir broader destabilizing influence — especially along vital Red Sea shippinglanes — complicates any potential Israeli response, particularly if undertakenunilaterally, analysts said.
"Fighting the Houthis is a difficult endeavor forIsrael for a number of reasons, the main being distance, which doesn't allowfor frequent strikes, and the lack of intelligence on the group," MichaelHorowitz, head of intelligence for Le Beck, a Middle East-based geopoliticalconsultancy, told AFP.
Like Hezbollah — which began trading cross-border fire withIsrael after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack last year — the Houthis say they are actingin solidarity with the Palestinians, and have vowed to continue until there isa ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Horowitz said he expected Israel to adopt a strategy similarto its approach to Hezbollah, potentially targeting key Houthi leaders forassassination and disrupting smuggling routes as it did with repeated strikesin Lebanon and Syria.
However, he added, "There is no guarantee that thiswill restore deterrence."
Despite causing minimal damage due to Israel's advancedmissile defense systems, the near-daily Houthi strikes in recent weeks havesignificantly disrupted civilian life in Israel.
In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, air raid sirens blare frequently,forcing tens of thousands of residents to scramble into bomb shelters, often inthe middle of the night.
While most of the missiles and drones launched from Yemenare intercepted, one missile this month wounded 16 people in Tel Aviv, Israel'smilitary and emergency services said.
‘Nuisance’
In response, the Israeli air force has struck Houthi targetsin Yemen including Sanaa's international airport.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel willsever "the terrorist arm of Iran's axis of evil," and DefenseMinister Israel Katz has vowed to "hunt down all of the Houthis'leaders."
Israel's key ally the United States has also carried outstrikes against the Houthis to prevent the group's repeated attacks on shippingin the Red Sea.
Analyst Yoel Guzansky was skeptical as to whether Israelwould succeed in cowing the rebels.
"The Houthis remain the only ones still firing atIsrael on a daily basis and it's a problem that is not easy to solve,"said Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studiesat Tel Aviv University.
There was "no magic solution," he added, becausethe Arab Gulf states that have also suffered from attacks by the Houthis are"afraid of an escalation," compelling Israel to weigh its response carefully.
The Houthis "are a nuisance and a menace," saidMenahem Merhavy, a researcher at the Truman Institute at Hebrew University ofJerusalem.
While they posed only a "limited" threat toIsrael, they have caused disruptions to maritime commerce on a global scale, hesaid.
That could make a joint response more likely, especiallyonce U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Merhavy added.
Down but not out
During his previous term, Trump brokered groundbreakingnormalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrainand Morocco, known collectively as the Abraham Accords.
And the persistent Houthi threat meant further Arab-Israelirecognition was "definitely a possibility," Merhavy said.
"Iran has been so severely weakened and so severelyexposed as vulnerable that I think it makes an agreement between Israel andSaudi Arabia more likely, especially if there's going to be some kind ofceasefire in Gaza," he said.
But Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Washington-based think tank theFoundation for Defense of Democracies, warned Iran and its proxies were downbut not out.
Tehran, he said, "is skilled at regenerating its proxynetworks," and could step up its nuclear program "as adeterrent" against Israel and the United States.
By Ruth Eglash, AgenceFrance-Presse
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