Ansarullah Defiance: Yemen’s Voice Against “Israeli” Aggression
By Mohamad Hammoud
In a time of Arab normalization with “Israel” and Western complicity, an unexpected voice has become Palestine's most vocal champion: Yemen's Ansarullah. Having endured eight years of Saudi-led war and sweeping US-backed sanctions, they have not only survived but have become the only Arab force to openly and repeatedly strike “Israel,” even as governments in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo quietly opposed them, making deals with Washington and “Israel.” The Ansarullah Yemeni revolutionary forces have continued to fire missiles at “Israeli” targets, presenting a defiant challenge in a region that has largely fallen silent.
Since October 2023, they have launched more than 200 missiles and drones toward “Israel” and “Israeli”-linked shipping. These are not symbolic pin-pricks. Their strikes have slashed Red Sea traffic by 60 percent, driven up global shipping insurance rates by 400 percent, and pushed the southern port of "Eilat" to the brink of bankruptcy. For a movement written off as a ragtag militia, the impact has been astonishing. And their latest escalation—a ballistic missile carrying cluster sub-munitions, the first of its kind from Yemen—terrified “Israeli” defense officials, proving that even under siege, the Houthis can innovate.
Forged in Siege
How do they do it? How can one of the poorest nations in the Arab world sustain such defiance? The answer lies in the crucible of war. For nearly a decade, Yemen has endured devastating airstrikes, blockades, and sanctions that pushed 17 million people toward famine. Every family has buried relatives killed by Saudi bombs or American-made missiles. Rather than breaking the Houthis, the siege hardened them.
Instead of waiting for relief, they pioneered what Yemenis now refer to as “resistance economics.” When Saudi Arabia blocked fuel imports, engineers converted 50,000 cars to run on natural gas siphoned from household stoves. When Western banks froze Sana’a’s central bank, merchants shifted to the Chinese yuan or barter dates for antibiotics, and qat for spare parts. Most critically, the Yemenis decentralized arms production. A leaked UN report found that two-thirds of the components in their newest “Palestine-2” missile were either 3-D printed inside Yemen or purchased from civilian markets in Asia. The siege did not choke their supply chain; it shortened it.
Palestine as Obligation
For ordinary Yemenis, prioritizing Palestine over domestic reconstruction might appear puzzling. Yet in Sana’a’s Friday sermons, the logic is clear. “If our children must skip a meal so that Palestinian children can live another day, it is not charity; it is an obligation,” declared Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi after “Israel’s” strike on Yemen’s electricity grid.
Western analysts often dismiss the Houthis as Iranian proxies. However, this framing overlooks the domestic legitimacy their campaign has garnered. University polling in Ansarullah-controlled areas shows support for the movement jumped from 48 percent in September 2023 to 71 percent in June 2025. In a region where Arab publics watch their leaders shake hands with “Israeli” officials, the Houthis’ defiance resonates.
Inside the Arsenal
Western media often reduce Ansarullah weapons to “Iranian hand-me-downs.” Reality is more complex. Tehran provides technical know-how, but Yemenis have localized production to an astonishing degree. The “Waeed” drone that struck “Tel Aviv’s Kirya” military base in May used a Czech engine purchased through Malaysia, a Chinese GPS unit, and a fiberglass fuselage built in a Yemeni fishing-boat workshop.
Even more troubling for “Israel,” the Yemenis are now sharing technology with allies in Iraq. “Israeli” military officials fear precision-guided rockets inspired by Ansarullah designs could soon reach southern Lebanon—turning the Galilee into the next “Sderot”.
A War That Backfired
The coalition assembled to crush the Yemeni movement has become their greatest recruiting tool. Every Saudi airstrike that levels a village in Saada, every US naval interception of a Yemeni fuel tanker, is broadcast as proof of a global conspiracy not just against Yemen, but against Palestine. Even “Israeli” commentators now admit the campaign has backfired. “We have managed to make the Houthis look like the only Arabs with a backbone,” a senior “Israeli” strategist conceded.
What Comes Next
The Ansarullah insist they will keep firing until the last “Israeli” soldier leaves Gaza. Their calculus is blunt: every day they keep the Red Sea in play, the economic cost to “Israel”—and to the global economy—rises, increasing pressure on “Tel Aviv “to compromise. Whether that strategy succeeds remains uncertain. But what is no longer in doubt is that a movement once confined to Yemen’s northern highlands has become the most potent Arab voice for Palestine in a generation.
In Sana’a’s Old City, a mural greets visitors at the Bab al-Yaman gate. It shows a Palestinian child holding a key, superimposed over a Houthi missile streaking toward a distant star. The caption reads: “We broke the siege with our own hands—so that one day, you may open your doors.”
For millions across the Arab world accustomed to their leaders’ studied silence, that message lands with the force of a missile no Iron Dome can intercept.
