在经历了四年的相对平静之后，也门胡塞武装与该国国际承认的政府及其支持者沙特阿拉伯之间的战争重燃战火。支持政府军的沙特主导的多国联盟在10月4日于社交媒体上宣布对胡塞武装发动全面军事行动，并称其目标是“消灭”该组织。
After four years of relative calm, the war pitting Yemen’s Houthi militia against the country’s internationally recognized government and its backer Saudi Arabia is back on. Announcing the start of a full-scale military campaign against the Houthis, the Saudi-led coalition supporting government forces said on social media on Oct. 4 that the goal is to “eliminate” the group.
维娜·阿里-汗（Veena Ali-Khan）和保罗·华莱士（Paul Wallace）撰文指出，这是一个雄心勃勃的目标。胡塞武装曾被视为穿着凉鞋、乘坐皮卡作战的乌合之众，但他们已经展现出了持久的战斗力和影响力。胡塞武装于2014年占领了首都萨那，目前控制着也门大部分人口所在的土地。此前，他们经受住了沙特支持的、旨在将其驱逐的多年军事努力，以及美国、英国和以色列旨在惩罚该组织对红海商业航运及以色列本土袭击的轰炸。
By Veena Ali-Khan and Paul Wallace It’s an ambitious aim. Once dismissed as a ragtag band fighting in sandals from pickup trucks, the Houthis have demonstrated staying power and reach. Having taken over the capital Sanaa in 2014, the Houthis now control land containing most of Yemen’s population. They’ve previously withstood years of Saudi-backed military efforts to dislodge them as well as US, UK and Israeli bombing raids meant to punish the group’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel itself.
尽管胡塞武装长期接受伊朗的军事援助，但他们也找到了其他武装自己的途径并开发了新能力，10月份对沙特一处机场的空袭造成十几人死亡、数百人受伤。胡塞武装是谁？
While the Houthis have long received military assistance from Iran, they have found other ways to arm themselves and developed new capabilities, with airstrikes on a Saudi airport in October killing more than a dozen people and wounding hundreds. Who are the Houthis?
胡塞武装官方名称为“安萨尔真主”（Ansar Allah，意为真主的拥护者），属于源自也门西北部萨达省的一个部族。他们是伊斯兰教什叶派宰德派的信徒，该派信徒约占也门人口的三分之一。
Officially known as Ansar Allah, or Supporters of God, the Houthis are part of a clan that hails from Yemen’s northwestern Saada province. They’re followers of the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, which accounts for roughly a third of the country’s population.
胡塞武装于20世纪90年代也门南北统一后出现，对政府发动了一系列叛乱。他们在2014年夺取萨那，引发了一场至今仍令该国分裂的内战。
The Houthis emerged in the 1990s after North Yemen and South Yemen were unified, waging a series of rebellions against the government. Their seizure of Sanaa in 2014 triggered a civil war that still divides the country.
胡塞武装持反西方和反以色列立场，被美国和欧盟指定为恐怖组织。他们是伊朗建立的所谓“抵抗之弧”的一部分，该弧形阵线包括黎巴嫩真主党和加沙的哈马斯，这两者也被美国及其他各方归类为恐怖组织。这些组织接受来自伊朗的培训、技术专长和武器。胡塞武装与伊朗的关系有多密切？
The Houthis are anti-West and anti-Israel, and are designated terrorists by the US and the European Union. They’re part of the so-called axis of resistance, which was established by Iran and includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, both of which are also classified as terrorist organizations by the US and others. These groups receive training, technical expertise and weapons from Iran. How close are the Houthis and Iran?
胡塞武装与伊朗密切协调，在很大程度上与其战略目标一致，但他们自行做出决定。伊朗是胡塞武装的重要武器来源，但并非唯一来源。他们可以利用也门国内的部族走私网络，并且越来越多地从更远的地区（包括中国）采购市面上可买到的零部件和原材料。该组织已扩大了自行组装和制造武器的努力。通过减少对伊朗完整武器运送的依赖，胡塞武装使对手更难干扰其行动。也门战争为何重新爆发？
The Houthis coordinate closely with Iran and largely share its strategic objectives, but they make their own decisions. Iran is an important source of weapons for the Houthis, but not the only one. They can draw upon tribal smuggling networks inside Yemen and are increasingly sourcing commercially available components and raw materials from further afield, including China. The group has expanded efforts to assemble and manufacture its own arms. By reducing their dependence on shipments of complete Iranian weapons, the Houthis have made it harder for adversaries to disrupt their operations. Why has the Yemen war restarted?
到2022年，也门战争的交战双方都有理由从战斗中退一步。沙特阿拉伯于2015年介入这场战争，其目标是恢复国际承认的政府的权力。但胡塞武装依然根深蒂固，并使用导弹和无人机对沙特阿拉伯进行反击。对胡塞武装而言，战斗的间歇期提供了一个争取让步的机会，包括更多的燃料进口以及运营萨那机场有限商业航班的权利。一项由联合国斡旋的停火协议在很大程度上叫停了跨境袭击。尽管该协议在六个月后正式到期，但这种不安的平静维持了近四年之久。
By 2022, both sides in the Yemen war had reason to step back from the fighting. Saudi Arabia had intervened in the war in 2015 with the goal of restoring the internationally recognized government to power. But the Houthis remained entrenched and were striking back at Saudi Arabia using missiles and drones. For the Houthis, a break in the fighting offered the opportunity to secure concessions including more fuel imports and the right to operate limited commercial flights from Sanaa’s airport. A United Nations-brokered truce largely put a stop to cross-border attacks. Although it formally expired six months later, the uneasy calm held for almost four years.
随后，今年7月13日，沙特战机袭击了萨那机场，以阻止一架载有胡塞武装代表团的伊朗飞机降落。该代表团正从伊朗最高领袖阿里·哈梅内伊的葬礼返回途中，阿里·哈梅内伊在美国和以色列对伊朗的战争初期被杀害。沙特长期指责伊朗利用商业客机作为空中桥梁，将武器和军事专家运送到也门胡塞武装控制的地区。冲突是如何升级的？
Then, on July 13 of this year, Saudi jets struck Sanaa’s airport to stop an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The delegation was returning from the funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the beginning of the US and Israeli war on Iran. Saudi Arabia has long accused Iran of using commercial passenger planes as an air bridge to move weapons and military experts into Houthi areas of Yemen. How did the conflict escalate?
胡塞武装通过向沙特阿拉伯南部的阿卜杜拉国王国际机场发射导弹和无人机进行回击。7月20日，他们宣布实施他们所谓的“海上封锁”，警告航运公司，如果使用沙特王国的港口，其船只可能面临被攻击的风险。随后，胡塞武装袭击了沙特城市、军事阵地和石油基础设施，引发沙特的报复性空袭。也门境内，胡塞武装加强了对沙特支持的政府的进攻。
The Houthis responded by launching missiles and drones at Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia. On July 20, they announced what they called a “naval blockade” of Saudi Arabia, warning shipping companies that their vessels risked being attacked if they used the kingdom’s ports. The militia followed up by attackingSaudi cities, military positions and oil infrastructure,provoking retaliatory Saudi airstrikes. Inside Yemen, the Houthis stepped up their campaign against the Saudi-backed government.
9月，胡塞武装实现了多年来最大的领土进展，向南推进，巩固了对也门红海海岸和战略要地巴布·曼德布海峡的控制，该海峡是重要的石油出口走廊。收复这些得失是沙特支持的也门力量发动的行动的主要目标之一。
In September, in their biggest territorial advance in years, they pushed south, strengthening their control over Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, an important oil export corridor. Undoing those gains was high among the goals of the campaign launched by the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.
然而，胡塞武装对也门邻国的威胁仍在持续增长。10月，对沙特首都利雅得哈立德国王国际机场的一系列空袭造成至少16人死亡、数百人受伤。这是自美以对伊战争开始以来，沙特遭受的最致命袭击。这场冲突的核心利益是什么？
Yet the threat posed by the Houthis to Yemen’s neighbor continued to grow. A succession of aerial attacks on King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in October killed at least 16 people and wounded hundreds. It was the deadliest assault on the country since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran. What’s at stake in this fight?
对沙特阿拉伯而言，击败胡塞武装将消除该王国的一个长期敌人。该民兵组织的袭击有可能破坏该王国实际统治者、王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼的经济雄心，他希望吸引数十亿美元的外资投入从数据中心到电动汽车制造等各个项目。
For Saudi Arabia, defeating the Houthis would eliminate a longstanding enemy of the kingdom. The militia’s attacks risk undermining the economic ambitions of the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to attract billions of dollars of foreign investment in projects ranging from data centers to electric vehicle manufacturing.
对其他国家而言，胡塞武装的倒台将消除对多年来扰乱红海交通的航运业的威胁。2023年胡塞武装首次开始袭击该海域的船只时，他们称这是为了报复以色列在哈马斯10月7日袭击后在加沙开展的军事行动。该组织最初称其只针对与以色列有关联的船只。但没有直接联系的船只也遭到了袭击。
For other countries, the Houthis’ downfall would remove a threat to shipping that has disrupted traffic in the Red Sea for years. When the Houthisfirst began to attack vessels there in 2023, they said it was in retaliation for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The group originally said it was only focused on vessels with links to Israel. But ships without a direct connection were also hit.
经由苏伊士运河、红海和曼德海峡的航线是欧洲与亚洲之间船舶航行的最便捷通道。但为了彻底避开红海，许多航运公司现在转而派遣船只绕行非洲南端——这是一条昂贵的绕行路线，航程增加数千英里，并可能使航程延长两周。沙特领导的联军正在获得什么帮助？
The shipping route via the Suez Canal, Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb is the most convenient passage for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. But to avoid the Red Sea altogether, many shipping firms now send their vessels around the southern tip of Africa instead — an expensive diversion that’s thousands of miles longer and can add two weeks to journeys. What help is the Saudi-led coalition getting?
沙特政府已要求西方大国提供更多军事支持以对抗胡塞武装。英国正提供一架飞机以帮助沙特战斗机在空中加油，而法国表示将派遣军队和雷达系统来保护红海上的该王国石油出口枢纽延布。美国尚未表示将提供额外支持，但继续向沙特提供情报。
The Saudi government has asked Western powers for more military support to counter the Houthis. The UK is providing an aircraft to help Saudi fighter jets refuel in mid-air, while France said it would send troops and radar systems to protect Yanbu, the kingdom’s oil export hub on the Red Sea. The US has not said it will provide extra support but continues to give intelligence to the Saudis.