The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have banned their leaders from carrying mobile phones and urged civilians not to share information about US airstrikes, Saudi outlet Al-Hadath reported on Monday, as the group faces increased attacks on its positions.
“Iran has a big problem to bring supplies and physical support to Gaza now because it’s closed so nobody can get anything inside, like ammunition,” said Shlomo Mofaz, the head of the Meir Amit Intelligence and Research Center in Israel
Speaking to Iran International, he said: “Maybe some things are being smuggled with the aid, or food, or from Egypt by UAVs, but mainly they have a problem. The main focus of Iran is the West Bank, where there are a few ways they are supporting Hamas and other groups, mainly from Jordan where there is a long border and no fence in many places.”
Since Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 mostly civilians and taking 251 hostages to Gaza, the Israeli military has locked down the strip’s borders amid the longest Gaza war since the Islamist group took control of Gaza in 2007.
After several weeks of ceasefire, last week, Israel resumed military operations in Gaza in a bid to put pressure on Hamas to release the dozens of remaining hostages in the strip.
In 2022, now assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh told Al Jazeera that his group had received $70 million in military help from Iran. "We have rockets that are locally manufactured but the long-range rockets came from abroad, from Iran, Syria and others through Egypt," he said.
The US State Department estimated in 2020 that Tehran’s support for Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, reached $100 million a year.
“The smuggling to the West Bank starts in Syria to Jordan but since the change in regime, it’s a bit harder there too as Israel has more control over what’s going on in southern Syria, but there are still some groups continuing,” added Mofaz, a leading intelligence expert in Israel.
However, financial aid is continuing through the likes of Bitcoin so Iran-backed armed groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank can buy arms on the black market.
He explained that much of the activity involves collaboration with Arab criminal groups inside Israel, who help smuggle ammunition into the West Bank. While some weapons are also assembled using commercially available materials, he noted this is less significant.
He added that Iran continues to smuggle dollars, but doing so has become more difficult. With no IRGC presence currently in Syria, the supporting infrastructure has been greatly reduced since the fall of the regime.
Just last month, Israel's defense minister announced that its war on Iran-backed groups in the occupied West Bank could go on as long as another year as Tehran refocuses its efforts in the wake of the Gaza war.
Speaking about the operation named 'Iron Wall, Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "We will not return to the reality that existed in the past. We will continue to clear refugee camps and other terrorist hotbeds in order to dismantle the battalions and terrorist infrastructures of extremist Islam that were built, armed, financed and trained by the Iranian axis of evil."
Mofaz said that from the Israeli side, security and military agencies have been working hard in the West Bank. “The intelligence is very good, much better than it was in Gaza before the war,” he said.
Overall, Mofaz says Iran’s allies, known as the ‘axis of resistance’, in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza have been significantly weakened, aided by the fall of the Assad government in Syria which has taken away a major military stronghold for Iran abroad.
“Iran has less air defense to defend from US and Israeli airstrikes after Israel’s last attack,” Mofaz said. "The change in the regime in Syria is another issue. The routes on the ground to Lebanon have been closed. By air, that’s also difficult from Damascus now.
The IRGC's influence has been significantly curtailed since Assad's ousting from Syria. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Syria-Lebanon border, particularly the tunnel network, and the Lebanese army now controls the country's borders following the US-France brokered November ceasefire.
As Iran explores Iraq and Turkey as alternative routes, these options are drawing increased attention, particularly after Israel exposed the Turkey route and warned against its development.
Regional experts broadly agree on the weakening of the so-called axis. However, Arman Mahmoudian, a GNSI research fellow and USF lecturer, argued in a January Stimson Institute article that a weakened Iran could increase the nuclear threat.
”There is growing concern that a weakened and increasingly vulnerable Iran, governed by a survivalist regime, may see no alternative but to weaponize its decades-long nuclear program,” he warned.
“While the Axis of Resistance is now significantly weakened, its diminished state still presents considerable dangers for the United States’ position in the Middle East and the broader stability of the region. A fragile Iranian regime, desperate to survive, may become an even greater source of instability.”
Israel launched air strikes on the battered coastal enclave on Monday killing over 400 people according to the Hamas-run health ministry, appearing to end a two-month ceasefire brokered by the United States.
The strikes on some 80 targets aimed at Hamas mid-level and senior personnel and were over in about 10 minutes, an Israeli security official said according to an official press release.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of intransigence as talks for it to release 59 hostages seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel - many of them dead - floundered.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei blamed the United States for the attack, saying it had direct responsibility for "the continuation of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories".
Hours later, the Israeli military said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, shooting it down beyond Israel's borders.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command announced it had carried out fresh air raids on the armed Houthi movement in Yemen allied to Tehran, publishing videos on X showing fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier.
The ceasefire in Gaza had tamped down 15 months of conflict pitting Iran and its proxies against Israel throughout the region which saw Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" much degraded, with Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah heavily hit.
Looming behind the uptick of violence, Iran has so far defied a demand by US President Donald Trump to come to a new deal over its disputed nuclear program or face a military intervention.
According to an official White House readout of a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, "the two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel."
"The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts," the White House added. "They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application."
The remarks suggest a fresh US bid to end the war in Ukraine may see Russia attempt to head off a conflict between its Iranian ally and the United States.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and top Iranian officials have vowed a devastating response to any attack.
US airstrikes hit dozens of Houthi targets throughout Yemen on Saturday in a bid to halt the Shi'ite armed groups attacks on commercial shipping and its own naval vessels, which have ensnared US sailors in the most intense fighting since World War II.
Yemen's Houthi foreign minister said the group will not halt its Red Sea attacks on shipping in solidarity with the Palestinians, saying Iran did not dictate its actions.
Trump on Monday warned the United States would punish Iran for any further attacks by the Houthis, which would be treated as emanating from the Islamic Republic itself.
Iran's military said its manned fighter aircraft had chased away an armed American attack drone in the skies off the Iranian coast, state media reported on Tuesday. There was no immediate reaction by the US armed forces.
The Pentagon on Monday indicated it did not seek an open-ended campaign in Yemen nor did it seek regime change, in an apparent reference to Iran.
“We will use overwhelming lethal force until we achieve our objective. And this is a very important point, this is not an endless offensive," spokesman Sean Parnell said.
"This is not about regime change in the Middle East, this is about protecting American interests.”
The group, which US President Donald Trump returned to the list of terrorist organizations this year following its blockade of shipping in the Red Sea, has been under sustained US airstrikes in recent days.
The Houthis issued a new directive to residents in areas under their control, forbidding them from disseminating any details about the strikes or casualties, according to sources speaking to Al-Hadath.
Security sources in Sanaa revealed that Houthi leaders and their escorts have been barred from carrying mobile phones or using them for any communication.
Sources in the coastal city of Hodeidah reported that Houthi commanders at all levels have disappeared, changed their phone numbers, and become unreachable to those who previously worked with them.
Hashim Ahmed Sharaf al-Din, the Houthis’ de facto information minister, called on the public to refrain from sharing names, photos, or any information about Houthi casualties, and to instead focus on the oppression of the Yemeni people and the group's resilience.
The crackdown comes amid increasing US airstrikes targeting their sites, weapons depots, military barracks, and secret military bases established in Saada, Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, and Hodeidah, used to store missiles, drones, and launch platforms.
The US operation follows persistent Houthi attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea since November 2023, which the group frames as a response to the Israeli war in Gaza.
The Houthis have also resumed missile attacks on Israel since the war in Gaza resumed, Israeli vowing tough military action to force Iran's allies, Hamas, to return the dozens of hostages remaining in the strip.
The Houthi communication crackdown comes as fears grow that its leadership may become the next targets of Israeli or US assassinations.
Last year, targeted airstrikes saw swathes of Hezbollah's leaders killed in Lebanon, including long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran's biggest ally suffered further setbacks when in September, Israel carried out "Operation Grim Beeper," targeting Hezbollah's communication devices in Lebanon and Syria.
Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded simultaneously, resulting in significant casualties and injuries, including civilians.
The attacks, which targeted pagers and walkie-talkies, were described as Hezbollah's biggest security breach since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in October 2023.
