IRGC, Hezbollah commanders in Yemen to direct Houthi attacks - report
Extent of Iran reported involvement ranges from supplying drones and missiles to providing know-how, data, intelligence and guidance
Regional and Iranian sources told Reuters about the extent of Iran's involvement with the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes, from supplying drones and missiles to providing know-how, data, intelligence and guidance.
According to the report, sources said commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah group were on the ground in Yemen to direct and oversee the attacks.
A senior regional source described the relationship to Reuters, "the political decision is in Tehran, the management is Hezbollah, and the location is the Houthis in Yemen."
Another source, described as an Iranian insider, said "the Revolutionary Guards have been helping the Houthis with military training (on advanced weapons)."
"A group of Houthi fighters were in Iran last month and were trained in an IRGC base in central Iran to get familiar with the new technology and the use of missiles," the second source explained, adding Iranian commanders had set up a command center in the Houthis capital Sanaa and was being run by a senior IRGC commander.
A clear presence of IRGC and Hezbollah operatives could be seen in Yemen, two former Yemeni army sources told Reuters, explaining their functions as supervising military operations, training and reassembling missiles that get smuggled in.
"They came and helped the Houthis and left, just as they did with Hezbollah and Hamas," a leader within the coalition of pro-Iranian groups told Reuters, denying that the Iranian and Lebanese commanders were currently in Yemen.
The source went on to claim that the Houthis knew the terrain and already had the systems in place for attacking ships, including high-precision equipment from Iran.
"We don't deny that we have a relationship with Iran and that we have benefited from the Iranian experience in training and military manufacturing and capabilities but the decision taken by Yemen is an independent one that has nothing to do with any other party," Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters.