How slipper-clad Houthis hit Saudi Arabia with Claude AI and China’s missile parts

Sanaa (TIP): The classic image of Yemen’s Houthis is that of slippers wearing Kalashnikov-wielding militants riding their Toyota pickups across vast expanses of desert. They also may or may not be high on the khat leaf. But this image belies the technological capabilities the Zaydi Shia movement has developed, and the military threat it now poses to its biggest regional rival, the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Since September, the Iran-backed Houthis have taken over almost all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast while shrugging off hundreds of Saudi airstrikes. Although a counteroffensive by forces loyal to the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government has clawed back some ground, including reportedly liberating the vital port city of Mokha, Houthis (who are also known as Ansar Allah) remain a force to be reckoned with.
More importantly, the Houthis have also carried out missile and drone strikes targeting Saudi Arabia, hitting, among other things, vital oil extraction and refining infrastructure and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
The battlefield gains of Iran’s proxy’s cannot be explained by surprise alone. How has a movement operating in one of the world’s least economically developed countries acquired and sustained a high-tech but at the same time economical arsenal of missiles and drones capable of threatening a regional power equipped with billions of dollars’ worth of advanced military hardware?
The answer lies in a combination of Iranian assistance, supplies of Chinese-made components, and lately, American Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms. Before we go into how the Houthis were able to build up their high-tech arsenal, let us first have a look at the high-tech weapons that are being used by the Ansar Allah.
According to a February 2024 report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Houthis, alongside their guns and vehicles, also possess a diverse arsenal of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), many of which bear similarities to Iranian designs.
The group’s drone arsenal includes the Sammad UAV and the Wa’id series, which the DIA linked to Iran’s Shahed drones. The report estimated the Sammad’s range at 1,800 km, the Wa’id 1’s at 900 km and the Wa’id 2’s at 2,500 km. These one-way attack drones combine relatively low costs with long ranges and explosive payloads, allowing the Houthis to threaten targets far beyond Yemen, the DIA said.