Yemeni pro-government faction seizes new Houthi weapons shipment
The Houthis have continued to resupply with advanced missile and drone components from Iran despite their bilateral truce with the US Navy, military officials said.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon appears to be increasingly relying on a Yemeni pro-government faction to help interdict smuggled Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis amid a fragile truce between the rebels and American forces in the region.
On Aug. 6, Yemen’s National Resistance Forces (NRF) seized a shipment containing jet propulsion systems, drones, wireless devices and “advanced control components,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Thursday.
The smuggled materiel, bound for the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida, “was rerouted to Aden and discovered during a joint inspection by counterterrorism, customs and police units,” CENTCOM said in a press release.
Why it matters: It was the second weapons shipment interdicted by the NRF in less than a month. The pattern suggests that the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is increasingly relying on the pro-government force to police the waters off Yemen’s coast.
