A recent report from the British Broadcasting Center (BBC) brings renewed attention to a relatively unreported issue in the country of Yemen. The northern territories and the capital Sana’a are under the control of a terrorist group known as the Houthis. The group receives military support from Iran as well as the terrorist group Hezbollah and are seen as a destabilizing force in the Middle East (UNODC 1). The country is currently used as a hub for illegal weapons trafficking, and dealers are openly using the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to conduct trades (BBC). Weapons are often traded on the Dark Web hidden from the eyes of authorities that may want to put a stop to it, but the case of Yemen is notable because there is no attempt to hide the trades (BBC).
There is an active market for these weapons for private citizens within the country, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ranking Yemen second in the world in its possession of weapons due to cultural norms and fears over a weak central government (UNODC 1). Additionally, traders sell these arms across the Red Sea to Sudan and the Gulf of Aden to Somalia (UNODC 1). The UNODC notes in a report that the exports are “commercial in nature,” but that weapons have ended up in the hands of terrorist groups like Al-Shabab and the Islamic State (UNODC 1). The BBC article goes even further by quoting former British Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Fitton-Brown in claiming that traders are actively working with the Houthis. Payments for these weapons are often done using the hawala system (UNODC 1). Hawala is an informal method of exchanging funds that individuals usually use for legitimate purposes but terrorist groups can exploit for illegal activities due to a lack of regulations by service providers (UNODC 2).
While the weapons dealers under the influence of the Houthis are sending weapons out of the country, the group is also receiving weapons from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) based in Iran (DIA). The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) identifies the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the heavy influence of Iran’s regime (NCTC). An unclassified threat report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) notes that the most technically sophisticated weapons the Houthis have received include missiles and missile components. The Houthis have used these missiles in over 150 attacks on land and maritime targets in the Middle East (DIA). Iran transports these weapons using shipping vessels known as dhows through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
The ability for buyers to easily find their weapons of choice over social media platforms like X helps other terrorist groups in the Middle East and Africa to acquire the supplies they need to conduct attacks on civilian and military targets in the region. Additionally, traders could be playing a role in helping the group finance their own attacks, with former ambassador Fitton-Brown saying “It is inconceivable that they [the weapons dealers] are not operating on the Houthis’ behalf (BBC).”
References
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86l4pl6072o
UNODC 1: file:///C:/Users/pe251380/Downloads/UNODC%20Report.pdf
NCTC: https://www.dni.gov/nctc/ftos/irgc_fto.html
DIA: file:///C:/Users/pe251380/Downloads/DIA%20Threat%20Report.pdf