Israel’s strike on Yemen is best understood as a strategic move on a grand geopolitical chessboard, aimed less at the Houthi pawn and more at the Iranian king. The punishing raid on Sanaa was a clear and forceful communication to Tehran about the costs of its proxy warfare strategy.
For years, Iran has utilized groups like the Houthis to challenge its adversaries, creating a buffer and maintaining plausible deniability. By striking the Houthis directly and severely, Israel is bypassing the proxy and imposing direct costs on an Iranian asset.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the “entire region is learning” about Israeli power was a thinly veiled message to the Iranian leadership. The destruction of Houthi infrastructure is a demonstration of what Israel is willing and able to do to any Iranian-backed group that threatens its security.
This move raises the stakes for Iran. It must now calculate whether the strategic benefit of Houthi attacks on Israel is worth the risk of seeing its valuable Yemeni proxy degraded and potentially dismantled by Israeli military power.