[ALMASDARNEWS] The United States is increasingly concerned about supposed training by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) for the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews...
rebels in Yemen, where they continue to make territorial gains in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
despite
U.S. officials concluded without providing evidence that the IRGC are providing training and equipment to the Houthis.
The U.S. officials in question spoke in anonymity.
Saudi Arabia also expressed its view that not only Iran, but also Hezbollah, are providing training and arms to the Houthis.
"We see ... Iran playing a large role in supporting the Houthis," Saudi ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir told news hounds on Thursday.
"There are Iranian advisers advising them and Hezbollah operatives advising them," Jubeir said.
Asked about Jubeir’s accusations on Friday, White House front man Josh Earnest told news hounds: "We’ve expressed our previous concerns about the destabilizing impact that Iran is having on this particular situation. We continue to have those concerns."
A Houthi official told Rooters on Thursday that the group was prepared to confront the Saudi-led
"The Yemeni people are prepared to face this aggression without any foreign interference," said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi politburo official.
The Saudis "cannot accept the idea of an Iranian-backed regime in control of Yemen, which is why they felt compelled to intervene the way they have," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Friday during a visit to Washington.
"It’s no secret," he said, that the Iranians "are providing assistance and support to the Houthis, both political as well as militarily, as well as economic."
"The first thing the Houthis did when they entered and occupied Sanaa was to free Iranian Revolutionary Guards operatives and Hezbollah operatives from the jails," he said.