Strangling the arms… 2025 breaks the Houthis’ weapons smuggling network
The year 2025 marked a turning point against the Houthi militias, which found themselves under a barrage of painful blows that shattered their smuggling networks and strangled their extensions.
From January until early December 2025, Yemen and the United Nations thwarted the smuggling of 23 weapons shipments, 22 of which were seized by Yemeni forces by sea and land at five entry points and in the Red Sea.
As 2025 draws to a close, the report sheds light on the seized shipments, based on data from Yemeni forces and documented UN reports.
Customs and the National Resistance in the lead
Yemeni customs topped the operations of seizing Houthi shipments with eight shipments, including four at the Sarfit crossing in Al-Mahra governorate, three at the port of Aden, and one at the Shahn crossing on Yemen’s eastern border.
In second place came the naval forces of the National Resistance, led by the Vice Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, Tareq Saleh, which intercepted six shipments in the Red Sea, including cargoes containing sensitive weapons.
Third came the security campaign forces affiliated with the Giants Brigades, led by Hamdi Shukri, which seized four shipments on the coasts of Ras Al-Arah in Lahj governorate, near the international Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The Security Belt forces affiliated with the Transitional Council ranked fourth, after successfully seizing two shipments in the governorates of Lahj and Abyan, which included medium weapons, ammunition, and drone parts headed to the Houthis.
Finally, the Yemeni Coast Guard seized one shipment west of the port of Aden, in addition to the massive shipment (2,500 tons) seized by the counterterrorism apparatus in the port of Aden, while the UN inspection mechanism in Djibouti found military materials in containers destined for the Hodeida port controlled by the Houthis.
Geographically, these shipments were seized in the waters and ports of the Red Sea (7 shipments), the port of Aden (5), Lahj governorate (5), the Sarfit and Shahn crossings in Al-Mahra (5), and one shipment in Abyan.
Types of weapons
The seized shipments included about 23 types of light, medium and heavy weapons, in addition to materials used in the manufacture of drones, missiles and explosives relied upon by the Houthis.
These shipments contained drones and materials used in their manufacture (6 shipments), communication devices (4 shipments), detonating cords, electronic components for drones and explosives, chemical substances used in manufacturing missiles and drones, pistols, drone assembly workshops, ammunition (3 shipments), shells and sniper rifles.
They also included naval and aerial missile systems, an air defense system, modern radar systems, drone launch platforms, devices for intercepting telephone communications, anti-armor missiles, B-10 artillery, tracking optics, remote-control devices (two shipments), high-frequency antennas, detonators, explosive fuses, and jamming systems.
A missile seized by the National Resistance on the western coast
Chronological sequence
January 2025 saw the seizure of four weapons shipments destined for the Houthis, three of which were seized by Yemeni customs at the port of Aden. They comprised 180 drone engines, 1,760 electronic boards and sensors, 62 wireless devices, five drone engines of the DLE type, five CUAV Drone Pixhawk V5+ flight controllers, and ten wireless communication devices.
The National Resistance also seized a shipment consisting of missile bodies, radar, jamming and communication systems, jet engines and drones in the Red Sea during the same month.
In March, Yemeni customs seized three shipments, including 800 drone propellers and six wireless communication devices at the Sarfit crossing, and five drone control units of the PPM type at the Shahn crossing.
In April and May, four shipments were seized, two of which by the Giants Brigades’ security campaign in Ras Al-Arah containing ammunition and shoulder-fired missiles, in addition to a shipment seized by the National Resistance consisting of three million detonators and 3,600 fuses. The UN mechanism also seized four containers aboard a ship bound for Hodeida.
In June, the National Resistance seized the largest weapons shipment, weighing 750 tons, containing naval and aerial missile systems, air defense systems, modern radars, reconnaissance and attack drones with launch platforms, devices for intercepting communications, anti-armor missiles, B-10 artillery, tracking optics, sniper rifles and various types of ammunition (Kalashnikov and Shiki), as well as additional military equipment, in the Red Sea.
The National Resistance intercepted a medium-sized shipment containing shells and sniper weapons in July. August witnessed the seizure of two shipments: one by the Security Belt forces in Abyan, and the other the massive 2,500-ton shipment found by the counterterrorism service at the port of Aden after it had been diverted from the port of Hodeida.
In September, the National Resistance seized a shipment of smuggled pistols in the Red Sea. In October, five shipments were seized: two by the Giants Brigades in Ras Al-Arah, two by customs, and a shipment of chemical materials used in the manufacture of missiles, drones and stealth materials, seized by the naval forces of the National Resistance.
In November, the Security Belt forces seized FURUNO-type marine radar systems and spare parts for drones at the Al-Husseini checkpoint in Lahj, while the Yemeni Coast Guard announced the seizure of modern communication equipment hidden aboard two ships arriving from the Horn of Africa.
