One day after the Russian "Novosti" agency published news about the Houthi militia conducting a test of a "hypersonic" missile, the militia leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, issued a television speech in which he vowed to prevent the crossing of "ships linked to Israel" from the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope.< /p>

A widespread controversy sparked by the threat of the leader of the Houthi militia, who was speaking in a televised speech on Thursday evening, while military experts were surprised by the Russian media’s promotion of the Houthis’ possession of “hypersonic” missiles, considering this a Russian message to the West.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi had threatened to expand the scope of the attacks to “an extent that the enemy does not expect,” as he put it, claiming that the Houthi operations this week were carried out using 58 ballistic missiles and drones.

Bab al-Mandab Strait. All it did was pirate, threaten, or strike some ships that came very close to the coasts controlled by the Houthis, or that were reached by their missile fire in the Gulf of Aden.

Proxy war

Politically, Brigadier General Thabet believes that the Houthis only move under Iranian orders and their battles are disciplined, as is the case with the conflict between the West - especially America - with Iran (proxy war), and on Arab lands.

He adds: “International straits are a vital interest for all countries of the world, not just the countries overlooking them, and Iran and the Houthis realize that this is playing with fire that may burn them in their own homes.”

The Houthis' capabilities are modest

An expert in military and strategic affairs, Ali Al-Dhahab, told Al-Nahar Al-Arabi that the Houthis do not possess production technology of this type, adding: “They do not have the ability to produce ballistic missiles or winged cruise missiles.”

He continued, saying: “The Houthis are a simple group in terms of military capabilities, but the circumstances and the nature of the confrontation with major opponents allowed them to obtain weapons from their opponents’ opponents,” indicating that there are international parties who are hostile to the United States and Britain, and are fully prepared to grant the Houthis The opportunity for confrontation with Washington, and for the Houthis to be attributed this confrontation.

Al-Dhahab believes that the Houthis cannot manage these weapons alone, because they do not have the sustainability of their production nor the preservation of this technology, so these weapons will be sponsored by the countries that supplied them.

Defense vulnerability

Ali Al-Dhahab reveals that the Houthis created a defensive loophole for American and Western naval vessels in the Red Sea, which is that at the moment warships launch missiles, the self-defense means on board these vessels break down, adding: “That is why they threatened that they have missiles that exceed the speed of sound, It is a message that they can reach the target during the period of security gap inside American warships, but the truth is that even if these ships stop their self-defense the moment they launch the missiles, they are surrounded by other defensive means in their surroundings, such as other ships and defense boats that accompany them and are present in their surroundings.

Al-Dhahab adds: “Preparing hypersonic missiles requires time to prepare, equip, aim and launch, and these forces will not give the Houthis or others the opportunity to exploit the security gap they raised regarding American warships.”

They do not fight the battle alone

Al-Dhahab concludes his speech by saying: “The Houthis want to reinforce the idea that the confrontation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is linked to what is happening in Gaza, but the truth is that some opponents of America and Britain found in the Houthis an opportunity to harm their opponents, whether by supplying them with weapons or ammunition or exchanging information. The Houthis are not fighting the battle alone.”

*From Abdul Rahman Anis