Hezbollah advisers are helping the Houthis coordinate operations and develop missile and drone capabilities as fighting intensifies along Yemen’s western coast, Erem News reported, citing Lebanese security sources.

Members of Hezbollah may have been captured by Yemeni government forces during recent fighting along the country’s western coast, while two Hezbollah military experts and two Iranian Quds Force specialists were reportedly killed in an airstrike on a joint Houthi command center, the sources said.

The reported captures followed counterattacks by Yemeni government forces after Houthi advances toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the sources said. Preliminary information indicated that Hezbollah members were among the fighters taken prisoner.

The number and identities of the Lebanese captives remain unknown. Neither the Yemeni authorities nor Hezbollah has officially confirmed the reported captures, and Erem News said it could not independently verify the information.

The reported deaths occurred in a separate airstrike targeting a joint Houthi command and operations center in the northern province of Al Jawf, according to the sources. The four experts were involved in directing operations and coordinating military activities at the facility, but their names and ranks have not been disclosed.

The Houthi movement, Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have not announced the reported deaths.

Hezbollah and Iranian advisers in Houthi operations

The Lebanese sources said advisers from Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had helped plan operations and manage logistics supporting recent Houthi attacks along Yemen’s western coast, particularly around Mokha, Hays and Khokha.

Their responsibilities reportedly extend beyond training to include overseeing military communications, developing drone and missile systems, and assisting with the management of joint operations rooms.

Most of the experts operate from fortified facilities behind the front lines, where they provide technical and operational guidance rather than routinely participating in direct ground combat, the sources said.

The advisers face growing risks as airstrikes increasingly target command centers, despite security measures intended to protect them and conceal their identities.

Foreign specialists use aliases and false identities while moving around Yemen, the sources added. Information available to them indicated that the bodies of the four experts killed in Al Jawf were transferred and buried secretly, without public announcement or media coverage.

Hezbollah redeploys personnel amid regional escalation

The military escalation in September and October prompted Hezbollah to redistribute experts already in Yemen and activate tactical operations rooms to respond to developments on the battlefield, the sources said.

Pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon has limited its ability to send large numbers of additional personnel to Yemen, leading the group to rely more heavily on advisers already in the country, they added.

The experts are concentrated in Sanaa and Saada, which serve as planning and command hubs, as well as in Hodeidah and along the western coast. Their reported responsibilities there include overseeing anti-ship missiles, drones and naval capabilities.

In 2021, Tareq Saleh, a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and commander of the National Resistance forces, said more than 300 Hezbollah experts had entered Yemen since the period after 2011 to train the Houthis and help develop their military capabilities.

That figure is a cumulative estimate, not a count of personnel currently in Yemen. It includes experts who arrived in successive waves, some of whom later left after completing their assignments, while others were killed during the years of conflict.

Targeting military experts could weaken Houthis, analyst says

Security and strategic affairs expert Amer al-Sabaileh told Erem News that Hezbollah’s presence in Yemen was longstanding, with video footage documenting the group’s training and military activities over the years.

The latest developments, however, reflect what he described as an effort to strengthen the Houthi front following Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

That effort has involved transferring missile capabilities and specialists from both Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to Yemen, al-Sabaileh said. Their presence in Houthi command centers makes them vulnerable to airstrikes targeting those facilities, he added.

The deaths of military experts or commanders responsible for overseeing operations could significantly weaken Houthi capabilities, particularly because some of the movement’s military expertise comes from outside Yemen, al-Sabaileh said.

The Houthis are also facing declining capacity to bring weapons into the country, he said, while the limited size of their available arsenal makes it harder to sustain attacks over extended periods.

Strikes against command centers and military specialists therefore increase the military pressure on the movement, he added.

Al-Sabaileh argued that Iran was seeking to use the Yemeni front to expand regional instability, describing Yemen as one of Tehran’s last remaining fronts for exerting military pressure in the region.