By Pishtaz | 2025-03-21

Just one day after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami insisted the Houthis act without direction from Tehran, IRGC Quds Force advisers were killed in US strikes targeting Yemen's al-Hodeidah province.

In a televised speech delivered March 16, Salami claimed the Houthis make their "strategic and operational decisions" independently, AFP reported.

Yet IRGC Quds Force advisers were among those killed in strikes targeting the Houthis carried out at dawn the next day, Sky News Arabia reported, citing anonymous Yemeni sources.

The March 17 strikes hit multiple targets across al-Hodeidah, among them a Houthi warehouse and military camp near the Bajil cement factory, where armored vehicles were stored, Yemeni military sources told Al-Ain News.

Following the strikes, the Houthis imposed a tight security cordon around the area, the sources said, describing the move as an attempt on the part of the Houthis to conceal their losses and their use of civilian facilities.

The strikes also targeted a vehicle carrying Houthi leaders along the Tahita-Zabid road, a steel factory in al-Salif and strategic Houthi infrastructure along the al-Arj coast in Bajil and near the historic city of Zabid, Al-Ain News reported.

'Tools in Tehran's hands'

In April 2024, a Russian warship evacuated the IRGC Quds Force commander in charge of the Islamic Republic's missiles and drones program in Yemen from al-Hodeidah port, a security official told the Wall Street Journal.

The US is offering a $15 million reward for information on the financial activities, networks and associates of that commander, Abdul Reza Shahlai, who had funded and directed plots for deadly attacks in the United States and elsewhere.

In January 2024, IRGC commanders established a command center in Sanaa to direct Red Sea attacks, with the IRGC "helping the Houthis with military training on advanced weapons," an Iranian insider told Reuters.

"Iran is the one moving the Houthis since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen," Yemeni military and strategic expert Khalid al-Nasi told Sky News Arabia.

"They are nothing but tools in Tehran's hands to destabilize the region's security," he said.

"Iran relies on its proxies, like the Houthis in Yemen and Hizbullah in Lebanon, to escalate tensions without entering into direct confrontation with the US," said international relations expert Muhannad al-Azzawi.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted more than 100 commercial vessels with missiles and drones in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sinking two ships, taking civilian hostages, and killing four sailors.

Since March 15, a US military campaign has struck over 30 targets across Yemen to defend US interests, deter enemies and restore freedom of navigation in these vital waterways.