The Biden administration announced last month that they would be undercutting long-time ally, Saudi Arabia, by cutting off support for their military effort against the Houthis. This move had a direct impact on Israel as witnessed by the Patriot Missile batteries now standing guard in Eilat.

As Israel is a tiny country, military installations are frequently in areas visible to the public. This was the case when a  Twitter account called ELINT news, which looks at open-source intelligence sources, posted a video taken from a public road that showed a PAC-2 Patriot Air Defense system.

Video via @ignis_fatum of a Israeli Patriot PAC-2 GEM+ air defence battery (3+ launchers visible) deployed near Eilat in southern Israel amid threats of suicide drone and cruise missile attacks from Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen pic.twitter.com/4mwHob6DTn

— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) March 21, 2021

The first hints of trouble came in January when the IDF set up Iron Dome and Patriot batteries in Eilat. This came around the first anniversary of the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ expeditionary Quds Force, and a month and a half after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran’s military nuclear program, was killed, allegedly by Israel. Military experts believe that it is unlikely that Iran will, at this time, risk a counter-attack from Israel with a direct strike but it is more likely such a strike will come via an Iranian proxy such as the Houthis.

The threat was underscored last week when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he was prevented from flying through Saudi airspace on his way to a meeting in the United Arab Emirates the previous week due to the threat of Houthi missiles. 

The Houthis have waged several devastating drone attacks against targets inside Saudi Arabia using Iranian military hardware to attack Saudi oil-production infrastructure. . Since the Biden administration reversed the policy of his predecessor, such attacks have become an almost weekly occurrence. 

The most recent Houthi drone attack succeeded in hitting an oil installation in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh on Friday. The attack hit at a range of 1,000 kilometers but it is believed that Iran may have supplied the Houthis with drones and/or cruise missiles that could strike at Israel from the 2,000 kilometers distance separating Yemen from the holy land. 

The Iron Dome is generally used against rockets and mortar shells, but can also intercept small drones and cruise missiles. The Patriot system is used primarily to defend against ballistic missiles and larger aircraft like fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Red Sea: The Back Door Entrance to Israel

Though the exact location of the miraculous parting of the sea after the Exodus from Egypt is unknown, some Biblical scholars place it at the south-eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula near what is known today as the Straits of Tiran, about 140 miles south of Eilat. It is believed that the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog based on a verse in Ezekiel.

Therefore prophesy, O mortal, and say to Gog: Thus said Hashem: Surely, on that day, when My people Yisrael are living secure, you will take note,and you will come from your home in the farthest north, you and many peoples with you—all of them mounted on horses, a vast horde, a mighty army Ezekiel 38:14-15

Nonetheless, Rabbi Yekutiel Fish,  an expert in Jewish mysticism who blogs in Hebrew under the title ‘Sod Chashmal,’ noted that events presenting a joint threat to Israel from Yemen and Iran were unfolding precisely according to the verse in Isaiah concerning the War of Gog and Magog.

I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth Isaiah 43:6

The word translated as ‘back’ is תֵימָן, which can also be translated as Yemen.

“The war between Iran and America, which is the sons and daughters from far away, will begin in Yemen,” Rabbi Fish said. “This will be the first stage in the multi-national War of Gog and Magog.”

The rabbi also noted that Persia appears very frequently in Jewish eschatology in a manner that includes the U.S. which is representative of Edom, the nation of “red men”, allying with Arabia. Rabbi Fish cites the Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible believed to have been composed in the 13th century, the role of Persia, now known as Iran, in the end-of-days is outlined in detail.

“Rabbi Yitzchok said: The year in which Melech Hamashiach (Messiah king) will be revealed, all the nations of the world will be provoking each other…The king of Persia  will provoke the King of Arabia. The King of Arabia, will go to Edom to take counsel and the King of Persia will threaten to destroy the entire world. The nations of the world will be outraged and panic. They will fall on their faces and will experience pains like birth pangs. Israel too, will be outraged and in a state of panic ask, “Where do we go?” (Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, 60:499)

“But the war will not begin until after the Israeli elections,” Rabbi Fish said. “The issues concerning the rule in Israel need to be completed before the war. But the war will certainly appear, and much sooner than anyone thinks.”

HOUTHIS: PROXY SERVING IRANIAN EXPANSIONISM

The civil war in Yemen, bordering Saudi Arabia on the south, began in late 2014 when the Shia Houthis, an Iranian proxy, initiated a civil war challenging the government by waging an armed takeover of the capital city of Sanaa, successfully expanding their control to the northern half of the country which is predominantly Sunni. Saudi Arabi intervened, using their air force to support the government forces. The Houthi takeover is generally viewed as a critical part of Iran’s regional expansionism and support of terrorism. Yemen controls the critical Strait of Hormuz through which all tankers carrying oil from the Gulf States must pass. The war and widespread famine have resulted in 100,000 deaths.

The Houthis will also be strengthened as the Biden administration removes economic sanctions the Trump administration enacted against Iran, hampering their support of terrorism and regional expansion. The current White House administration is working to reenter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The Houthi takeover is generally viewed as a critical part of Iran’s regional expansionism and support of terrorism. Yemen controls the critical Strait of Hormuz through which all tankers carrying oil from the Gulf States must pass. The war and widespread famine have resulted in 100,000 deaths. 

HOUTHIS: ANTI-ISRAEL, ANTI-AMERICA TERRORISTS

The Biden administration also lifted the State Department’s classification of the Houthis as a terrorist organization which it earned by attacking civilians and kidnapping US citizens. This designation was put in place by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his final days in the position.

“The designation did not impact the Houthis in any practical way, but it stopped food and other critical aid from being delivered inside Yemen and would have prevented effective political negotiation,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said in a statement.

In 2003, the Houthis’ official slogan “God is great, death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam”, became the group’s trademark. The group has been accused of oppressing and targeting other religions, in particular, the dwindling Jewish population and people of the Bahai faith. Houthis have been accused of violations of international humanitarian law such as using child soldiers, shelling civilian areas, forced evacuations, and executions

According to a secret United Nations document, North Korea has also aided the Houthis by selling weapons.