On Sunday, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by Israeli air defenses, while another seems to have approached Israel and fallen short. The attack is a reminder that, despite intense American bombardment, the Houthis maintain their ability to strike at the Jewish state. They have also been finding ways to expand their influence, allying with al-Shabab, a Somalia-based affiliate of al-Qaeda. Ari Heistein explains:

Historically, the Houthis have fought against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni branch of the organization. As the Houthis expanded their territorial control over the past decade, AQAP launched numerous attacks against them, viewing the group as heretics with aspirations to rule all of Yemen. According to multiple sources, in 2015, then-U.S. CENTCOM commander and future secretary of defense Lloyd Austin saw the Houthis as “an ally against al-Qaeda.”

This view, that Iranian Shiite proxies could serve as a counterbalance to the Sunni al-Qaeda and Islamic State, animated the thinking of the Obama administration—with disastrous results. In fact, groups aligned with the Russia-Iran axis made common cause with Sunni jihadists when they found it convenient, as evidenced by their support for Hamas. Similarly, by 2024 it became clear to outside observers that the Houthis and AQAP were working together, and that cooperation has since expanded across the Red Sea:

Al-Shabab, al-Qaeda’s branch in the Horn of Africa, was a natural partner for the Houthis due to its proximity to Yemen (just across Bab al-Mandeb), strategic position along Somalia’s key arms-trafficking routes, and significant size and budget. . . . Al-Shabab, with annual revenues exceeding $100 million, is one of al-Qaeda’s wealthiest branches and could become a significant customer for Houthi weapons and services.

Addressing a recent meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas more sharply than he has previously (at least in public), calling them “sons of dogs.” The eighty-nine-year-old Palestinian Authority president urged the terrorist group to “stop the war of extermination in Gaza” and “hand over the American hostages.” The editors of the New York Sun comment:

Mr. Abbas has long been at odds with Hamas, which violently ousted his Fatah party from Gaza in 2007. The tone of today’s outburst, though, is new. Comparing rivals to canines, which Arabs consider dirty, is startling. Its motivation, though, was unrelated to the plight of the 59 remaining hostages, including 23 living ones. Instead, it was an attempt to use an opportune moment for reviving Abbas’s receding clout.

[W]hile Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians soared after its orgy of killing on October 7, 2023, it is now sinking. The terrorists are hoarding Gaza aid caches that Israel declines to replenish. As the war drags on, anti-Hamas protests rage across the Strip. Polls show that Hamas’s previously elevated support among West Bank Arabs is also down. Striking the iron while it’s hot, Abbas apparently longs to retake center stage. Can he?

Diminishing support for Hamas is yet to match the contempt Arabs feel toward Abbas himself. Hamas considers him irrelevant for what it calls “the resistance.”

[Meanwhile], Abbas is yet to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His recent announcement of ending alms for terror is a ruse.

Abbas, it’s worth noting, hasn’t saved all his epithets for Hamas. He also twice said of the Americans, “may their fathers be cursed.” Of course, after a long career of anti-Semitic incitement, Abbas can’t be expected to have a moral awakening. Nor is there much incentive for him to fake one. But, like the protests in Gaza, Abbas’s recent diatribe is a sign that Hamas is perceived as weak and that its stock is sinking.