On Friday night, a second Houthi missile struck the Tel Aviv area. It landed in a playground, wounding sixteen, although none of them seriously. On Saturday, the U.S carried out more extensive strikes against Houthi bases in Yemen. But these Iran-backed jihadists, Ron Ben-Yishai writes, are committed to “proving to the world that unlike Hizballah, Hamas, and Iran, they remain unscathed and continue to fight in support of Hamas” and expect after the conflict ends “to be recognized as the force that held maritime traffic, including oil trade in the Persian Gulf, in a stranglehold at a cost to the European consumers.”

What can be done? While Israeli strikes have been tactically bold, they haven’t had a deterrent effect, and the U.S. is much better positioned to do serious damage:

[T]o deal with the Houthi threat to Israel’s home front and to world trade, there must be a resolute military operation that will not only hurt the local economy and humiliate the Houthi regime, but also eliminate its leaders and destroy its military capabilities. . . . A joint Israeli-American operation would be able to deter the Houthis if their weapons and production sites are attacked.

Ben-Dror Yemini offers a similar analysis of Houthi motives, but argues that even these steps won’t be sufficient:

Israeli retaliation does not deter them; harming Israel fuels their sense of honor. . . . While pointed attacks on a Yemeni port might grant us momentary relief, it does little to answer the actual source of our sleepless nights. Lest we forget, Israeli air-force jets aren’t the only threat the Houthis have faced. The Saudis, Americans, and British have all brandished their idea of aerial punishment, and the Jewish state itself has done so more than once. And yet, the Houthi war machine rumbles on.

These threats will only cease—or at least be reduced to hollow rhetoric—if Iran itself suffers a devastating blow.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.