Iran attempts to rearm Houthis and Hezbollah

Telegraph

5 days ago

Iran appears to be rearming Yemen's Houthi rebels and Hezbollah, despite being significantly weakened by its recent war with Israel.
A major shipment of Iranian-made missiles, drone components, and other military equipment destined for the Houthis was intercepted this week by Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The seizure, described by US officials as one of the largest ever, has raised fresh concerns that Tehran is pushing ahead with efforts to reinforce its militant allies and destabilise the region despite its diminished position.
US Central Command said the Houthi-bound shipment contained 750 tonnes of weaponry, including cruise missiles, anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, warheads and drone engines, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The weapons were hidden aboard a traditional sailing vessel, or dhow, concealed beneath a cargo of air conditioners.
Mohammed al-Basha, founder of the Middle East security advisory Basha Report, said: 'The timing and scale of this shipment strongly suggest Iran is moving quickly to replenish Houthi stockpiles depleted by US airstrikes.'
The Houthis have resumed attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since last month's brief war between Israel and Iran ended, despite a previously agreed ceasefire with the United States.
In the past week, the group claimed responsibility for sinking the Eternity C, a commercial vessel hit repeatedly over three days by drone boats and both cruise and ballistic missiles.
Four crew members died in the assault, while around a dozen were taken hostage. One sailor lost a leg, according to the European Union's naval operation in the Red Sea.
Before the ceasefire, the United States had launched a large number of airstrikes against Houthi positions, significantly degrading their capabilities.
Analysts now say Iran's new arms shipments are an effort to replenish those stocks and keep the Red Sea campaign alive.
The Lebanese army meanwhile has intercepted a string of weapons shipments crossing from Syria that included Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles, which have long been used by Hezbollah.
Some of the arms were reportedly discovered hidden in trucks transporting cucumbers.
Hezbollah, like the Houthis, has suffered significant setbacks in the past year. Its cross-border conflict with Israel ended in a ceasefire last autumn, and its arms supply lines from Iran were disrupted by the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December.
The jihadist overthrow of Assad, once a key Iranian ally, forced Hezbollah to cut back the volume and scale of weapons transfers. Where once truckloads of arms crossed into Lebanon, smugglers now rely on small stashes buried among food supplies.
Syria's new administration has cracked down on Iranian arms trafficking. Security forces reportedly seized several deliveries, including Grad rockets, along Syria's eastern borders with Iraq and Lebanon.
In May, Iranian-made air-defence missiles were seized near the Lebanese border, according to Syrian state television.
Despite the pressure, Hezbollah is working to rebuild. According to a source who spoke to the WSJ, the group has had success manufacturing its own drones and missiles and has restructured its smuggling networks to avoid detection.
Iran last month launched hundreds of rockets at Israel during a 12-day aerial war that saw its own air defences destroyed and top military figures assassinated.
The regime is thought to have depleted around half of its missile stockpile in the conflict, with many of its air defences destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Israel also killed multiple top Iranian commanders, and many of their replacements.
Iran's foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons to its allies across the Middle East, describing the accusations as 'baseless'.