Continued Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea have raised fresh questions about the group’s range and supply routes, with Yemeni and foreign political and diplomatic sources telling Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Iran-aligned movement has expanded operations to African shores, foremost Sudan, to move and smuggle weapons into Yemen after tighter interdictions in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
The sources said several governments now assess that some Houthi operations were mounted near Sudan’s coastline, while Houthi teams also monitor vessel traffic off Somalia and Djibouti. Joint naval investigations have found the group obtained chemical precursors—many allegedly routed via Sudan’s shore—though these claims could not be independently verified.
On Oct. 2, security services at Aden Container Terminal disclosed details of an August interdiction of a suspected Houthi shipment aboard a commercial vessel from Djibouti bound for Hodeidah. Authorities said they seized 58 containers—over 2,500 tonnes—containing drones, launch systems, production gear, weapons spares, radio sets, surveillance and jamming devices, and electronics used for UAV control.
Hussein al-Ansi, an officer in Yemen’s internationally recognized forces, said the coast guard, working with the Arab coalition and international partners, has thwarted multiple Houthi consignments allegedly moved with Iranian assistance through Sudan’s shores. He said several suspected smugglers were detained and confessed to using Sudanese routes. According to al-Ansi, Houthi and Iranian operatives have lately met on Sudanese territory with smugglers, arms dealers and foreign actors linked to Red Sea attacks. He described Sudan as a fallback route that has become a main corridor amid stricter monitoring off Oman and in the Arabian Sea, adding there are also links with Somalia’s “al-Shabaab al-Mu’min” and Sudan-based trafficking networks.
Think-tank assessment
A Sept. 30 report by the Middle East Forum, authored by former U.N. Panel of Experts member Fernando Carvajal, argued Houthi capabilities now reach well beyond Yemen’s shoreline. It cited early-September incidents targeting the “Scarlet Ray” and “MSC Abi” near Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu that set a new northern limit for Houthi reach—roughly 600 miles from Yemen and about 160 miles from Sudan’s coast. The report quoted a former Yemeni defense attaché saying drones used against “MSC Abi” were launched from a nearby dhow; it assessed drones or missiles could have been fired from Sudan’s shore.
The report further contended that since October 2023 Iran has transferred Mohajer-6 and Ababil drones and missile systems to General al-Burhan’s army (SAF), as the United States imposed sanctions on Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and allied Islamists, as well as the al-Bara bin Malik Battalion. It warned of risks that Houthi units might access advanced—or even chemical—capabilities via networks tied to Port Sudan, noting alleged use of local ports, warehouses and the airport as transit points. These assertions could not be independently confirmed.
Regional and Western members of the Yemen “Quad”—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the United States and the United Kingdom—are pushing to intensify multinational naval patrols and support to Yemen’s coast guard, with some 35 nations participating, aiming to tighten the squeeze on Houthi supply lines across the Red Sea and adjacent waters.
