The Houthis and Hezbollah... Similar beginnings and similar destinies

Despite the difference in the history of Iran's contact with the "party" and the group, the story was repeated later in Yemen through Iran and through "Hezbollah," to the point where Iran provided weapons to the Houthis, while "Hezbollah" sent its experts and trainers into Houthi areas, where they participated in the fighting alongside the Houthis, and some were killed and wounded, according to some sources.

Coming to the fore and its nature

The Houthis first appeared as an armed group during their six wars against President Saleh’s regime, but their greatest emergence came when they turned against the “Yemeni state” to make themselves a “state” with a sectarian character. In doing so, they “swallowed a morsel that was too big for them to digest,” as a former British official put it. Meanwhile, Hezbollah rose to prominence through the “resistance wars” it fought with Israel, and with them its power grew, surpassing the capabilities of the Lebanese army, and its political influence expanded to become a parallel state, and perhaps greater. However, the difference is that Hezbollah maintained some “shape” of the Lebanese state to appear as if it had become part of it, even though it later became a “blocking third” of parliament and government decisions, as is well known.

If we wanted to draw a closer connection between the "group" and the "party," this could be done from the perspective of their organizational structure, with the difference that the former was complex, while the latter was more organized. However, they shared the same degree of commitment to doctrine and discipline in implementing their goals from their own unique and, of course, shared perspective.

Comparison difficulties

The two sides may appear to be one "Persian carpet," or two copies, so to speak, both written in the same "Iranian" ink and pen. In other words, they are two very similar copies, but not necessarily completely identical, as will become clear in the following lines.

Religiously, Lebanon's Shiites are a minority. Most of their leading figures lived and studied in the religious seminary of Najaf in Iraq and in Qom in Iran, as revealed by the biographies of the four former secretaries-general of Hezbollah: Subhi al-Tufayli, Abbas al-Musawi, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hashem Safi al-Din. The current Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, is not much different from them. He began his leadership of the party with a statement renewing his pledge of allegiance and loyalty to the "Imam of the End Times" and the "Guardian of the Jurist," Ali Khamenei.

The Houthis were originally a representation of a Zaidi community, but many of their Hashemite figures, particularly, were transformed by the development of relations with Iran into Twelver Shia Ja'fari Shia. They did not receive education or guidance in Iran or Beirut's southern suburbs until years after they emerged as an armed sectarian group. Their practices have made them a quasi-minority, despite their claims that the majority of the population in the areas under their control supports them.

Place and incubator

The geographical area on which Hezbollah has built its sectarian, political, social, and economic presence—in the plateaus, hills, plains, farms, and forests of southern Lebanon—may seem large to Lebanon.

But this area is much smaller than the Houthi-controlled area in Yemen, and the terrain in both countries is also very different. The Houthi-controlled areas are characterized by towering, barren mountains, sandy plains with scant rainfall, and limited arable land, especially in Saada Governorate, the Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen. The geography almost looks like natural fortifications fighting in every war alongside the Houthis and the region's tribes.

Demographic composition

Lebanon appears more diverse in its sectarian and social demographics, with Muslims comprising approximately 60 percent of the population (Sunnis 27.65 percent, Shiites 27.35 percent, and other Islamic sects), while Christians comprise 39 percent of the population, regardless of their sect.

Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon have been the "main incubator" for the Lebanese Hezbollah, with possible extensions here and there, and even within some areas of Syria. The party's experience also serves as a source of inspiration for Hezbollah in Iraq.

In Yemen, the Houthi group has found itself in the midst of the largest incubator of any other armed sectarian group, specifically in the northern and central governorates with a heavy tribal and urban population that adheres to the Zaidi sect, such as Saada, the group’s stronghold, Sanaa, the country’s capital, and Dhamar (the seat of Zaidis), which constitutes approximately half of the country’s population. This perhaps explains the Houthis’ ability to recruit tens of thousands of fighters from among the poor tribes, as well as the ability to mobilize these and other urban residents in the massive popular demonstrations that the group organizes to support its policies, especially with regard to the Palestinian issue.

The area of each of the aforementioned governorates is larger than the area of the southern suburb, southern Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip combined.

weapon

Hezbollah had only one source of weapons, ammunition, and training: Iran. The party's arsenal was limited to missiles and drones of varying ranges, along with a few artillery weapons, mortars, and heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. This was the kind of weaponry needed to confront Israel, as we have witnessed over the past decades of cycles of armed conflict between the two sides.

However, the Houthis appear to have a more diverse and diverse approach to their sources. Following their coup against the government following the collapse of former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's rule, the group plundered the Yemeni army's arsenal and various military assets, which also came from diverse sources.

Various shipments of Iranian weapons were smuggled by air, land, and sea, using devious and complex methods. With the support of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, who provide the group with numerous experts, the group appears to have made significant strides in the local military production of long-range ballistic missiles and drones.

According to reports, the Houthis may have obtained Russian and Chinese weapons unofficially, through front companies and arms smuggling gangs. The group has also purchased weapons locally, in addition to the small personal weapons most tribesmen and citizens possess.

Financing

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, who was killed by Israel, boasted in a televised speech in 2016 that the party's funding comes primarily from Iran, saying, "Our budget, our salaries, our expenses, our food, our water, our weapons, and our missiles are from the Islamic Republic of Iran."

In 2022, the US State Department estimated that Iran provides Hezbollah with up to $700 million annually. The party also relies on other funding sources "generated from illicit financial activities, including money laundering," according to multiple sources.

For their part, the Houthis have created a "war economy" based primarily on state resources, including tax and zakat collection, along with other income.

A report by the Panel of Experts on Yemen stated that the Houthis continue to control "legal and illegal" sources of revenue and have imposed a "khums" tax on many economic activities.

The committee's annual report, submitted to the UN Security Council, added that the team's investigations during 2022 found that "the Houthis intensified their reliance on seven sources of funding: customs duties and other taxes, non-tax revenues, zakat, confiscation of land and other property, collection of funds from black market fuel operations, illegal fees from fuel imports, local trade, and other commercial activities, confiscation of bank deposits, and financing from foreign sources."

Will the Houthis meet the same fate as Hezbollah?

The party entered into a confrontation with Israel alone, and indirectly with the United States behind it. Its fate was tragic, as witnessed worldwide, with the assassination of its most important leaders and military and political cadres, and the near complete destruction of its infrastructure.

As for the Houthi group, major powers are involved in the confrontation with it, including the United States, Britain, and Israel. The current attacks targeting the Houthis are only an indication of a fate that may be even more dire than that of Hezbollah.

Final approach to the results

Hezbollah was once considered a symbol of resistance to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, but it later came under intense criticism from the majority of Lebanese, who ultimately saw it as causing great harm to their country by serving the Iranian agenda at the expense of Lebanon's public interest and national sovereignty.

In the case of the Houthis, the issue is not limited to criticism by the majority of Yemenis, but rather extends to the point of resentment and a desire for revenge against this group, which they believe that in every war it wages, Yemen falls with it into the flames of endless conflicts in service of Iran and its schemes.

I asked a senior Yemeni military commander why the attack on Sana'a was halted one day, as you were on the outskirts. His response was that "fears of revenge against the Houthis and those who negotiated with them were one of the reasons."

Tens of thousands of people have been killed on both sides during the state's wars with the Houthis. The past ten years of war have claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people, with hundreds of thousands more wounded and injured. Some six million people have fled the country, either internally or abroad, and the country's infrastructure has suffered enormous losses estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.

That's the cost of the Houthi wars so far!

Source: Al Majalla Magazine