Middle East & North Africa
Yemen’s government asks Iran to stop arming the Houthis – says 14 Revolutionary Guards and 7 Hezbollah officers work alongside them – sources
Yemen’s internationally recognised government demands Iran stop arming the Houthis and withdraw its military experts, claiming 21 foreign officers, 14 from the Revolutionary Guards and 7 from Hezbollah, direct operations.
The internationally recognised government of Yemen is asking Iran to stop arming the Houthis, withdraw its military experts from the country and stop interfering in its internal affairs. The demand is in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, based in Aden, published shortly after midnight on Sunday into Monday, November 9, and on its official account on X.
The trigger was a statement by Iran’s foreign ministry accusing Saudi Arabia of violating Yemen’s sovereignty and condemning air strikes on civilians. Tehran was referring to the November 6 attack on the Al-Hadhra popular market in the Al-Wazi’iyah district of Taiz, where, according to the Iranian side, 33 people were killed, 13 of them children, and to a strike on the village of Al-Sariyah, east of Sanaa, with another 33 dead, women and children. Over the tragedy in the Taiz market the Houthis and the government have traded blame from the first moment.
Aden answers that Iran gives the Houthis “political and media cover” and that it rejects the exploitation of the Al-Hadhra victims for accusations that contradict what Yemeni authorities announced; those authorities asked for an independent investigation of Houthi violations.
A “full general staff” beside the Houthis
The most serious point concerns foreign military personnel. Citing the interior ministry, the foreign ministry writes that 21 foreign experts work with the Houthis: 14 from the Revolutionary Guards and 7 from Hezbollah. Their duties cover command and control, ballistic missiles, drones, electronic warfare, smuggling of military components and coordination of operations at sea, even the choice of merchant ships to be hit.
The government calls the group a “full general staff,” a role that goes beyond training to supervision, planning and directing operations. According to Aden, Iranian involvement has moved from funding and equipping to direct participation in running the war, while the Houthis besiege cities, shell civilians and strike Saudi Arabia, Red Sea shipping and the Bab el-Mandeb.
The ministry recalls that the arms embargo of UN Security Council resolution 2216, which resolution 2624 extended to the Houthis as an entity, covers weapons, equipment, technical assistance, training and financing. It contrasts Iranian military support with Riyadh’s humanitarian and development aid: “In twelve years of war, the Iranian regime has offered the Yemeni people nothing but missiles, suicide drones, boats packed with explosives and experts in destruction.”
The statement comes as the war has crossed borders. The Houthis sent ballistic missiles and drones toward Riyadh, with debris damaging the Aramco tower, and the Saudi-led coalition is responding with air raids around Sanaa. The ministry closes by saying respect for Yemen’s sovereignty begins with an end to the arming of the militias and the departure of the experts.
