Yemeni forces bust Iranian weapons shipment bound for Houthis, including chemical weapons
A 750-ton weapon shipment from Iran to the Houthis terror group in Yemen was intercepted, with interrogations of the crew revealing the smuggling lanes that are being used.
The Yemeni National Resistance, the main military faction fighting against the Houthis, seized 750 tons of weapons smuggled to the terror group by Iran, including chemical weapons, Sky News Arabia reported on Monday.
The operation revealed that both Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah were involved in the weapons smuggling, using shipping routes from Africa and Asia towards the Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
The report added that, along with conventional weapons, chemical weapons were also smuggled to the Houthis during the operation, citing interrogations of the crew.
The main shipment, which came through Djibouti, left with a commercial cover and camouflaged itself as “generators, electrical transformers, air pumps, and hydraulic columns.”
There were already 12 similar operations that involved sending these types of weapons to the Houthis.
Houthi protesters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa, Yemen, May 30, 2025 (credit: REUTERS/Adel Al Khader)
According to the report, four out of the seven smugglers came directly from Iran, participating in several operations that involved weapons and chemical materials, while the other three were of Somali and Indian origin.
Iranian and Houthi forces take advantage of these people’s difficult life conditions to force them into criminal activities, recruiting them from the poorer parts of their countries, Sky News Arabia said.
The Yemeni National Resistance explained to Sky News Arabia how smuggling operations involved complex air and land routes that run through Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and finally arrive in Iran, while some of the smugglers also came through Oman.
In terms of smuggling routes, the report notes that there are three main ports used to bring weapons and other materials from Tehran to Sanaa: the first one goes directly from the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas; the second one navigates through the coast of Somalia; and the third one covers itself as a comercial route from Djibouti to the al-Shalif port in Yemen.
