In the wake of the Houthis joining the war on Saturday, a journalist based in Yemen told Israel Hayom that the group's belated entry into the regional conflict stemmed in part from financial motives. The journalist also warned of the arrival of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps experts in Yemen, apparently to tighten coordination between the Iranian regime and the Houthis.
"Right now, the Houthis are party to an agreement called the 'Road Map' with Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the Sultanate of Oman," the journalist said. "They kept quiet at first so that Saudi Arabia would pay their salaries." The Yemeni journalist said that since the Oman mediation process began, Saudi Arabia has, in practice, been paying salaries and budgets to the Houthis. The amounts reach tens of millions of dollars every few months, transferred through the Yemeni central bank.
The "Road Map" understandings were reached in 2023. Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia periodically transfers money to Yemeni state employees, including those in areas controlled by the Houthis. In exchange, the Houthis are supposed to take various steps, but in practice, they have not fulfilled them. In effect, this amounts to a form of "protection money" that Riyadh pays to secure quiet on the Houthi front.
Indeed, at the end of February, Saudi Arabia announced an aid package for Yemen totaling $346.6 million. This sum was officially designated to support Yemen's state budget, the salaries of all its employees, and operational costs – part of which was allocated to workers in Houthi-controlled areas. According to a New York Times report, Riyadh committed to transferring up to $1 billion a year to cover salaries across all regions. Against this backdrop, it appears the group waited until the funds arrived.
According to a report in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, economic and social tensions have been simmering in areas under Houthi control, and famine in those areas was already reported several weeks ago. According to reports from Yemen, the Houthis have been dividing workers into categories, with some receiving only half their salary or a small fraction of it.
The Yemeni journalist added that another central reason for the Houthis' entry into the war is their role as a tool in the hands of the Iranian regime – one capable of closing the Bab al-Mandab strait.
In the same context, the Yemeni journalist warned that additional IRGC experts had arrived in Sanaa. This appears to be an attempt to tighten coordination between the Iranian regime and the organization. It should be noted that Mu'ammar al-Iryani, the information minister in the Yemeni government, opposed to the Houthis, also warned that IRGC advisers had arrived in Sanaa as part of the coordination with the Houthis.
The Houthis joined the war on Saturday morning with a strike targeting Israel that included the launch of a ballistic missile toward the south of the country, which was successfully intercepted. The group's military spokesman, Yahya Sare'a, issued his first statement shortly after the firing toward Israel, vowing that Houthi operations would continue "until the objectives are achieved and until aggression on all resistance fronts is halted." He also said that "the Houthis' attack came after strikes against Iran, Gulf states, and Palestinian territories."
