WASHINGTON
Iran advised Houthi rebels against seizing the Yemeni capital last year, the Huffington Post reported Monday.
“The newly disclosed information casts further doubt on claims that the rebels are a proxy group fighting on behalf of Iran, suggesting that the link between Iran and the Yemeni Shiite group may not be as strong as congressional hawks and foreign powers urging U.S. intervention in Yemen have asserted,” the online news outlet reported.
Apparently undeterred, the Shiite rebel group took Sanaa from government forces last September, and has since used the city as a base for operations elsewhere in the country.
Late last month, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an air campaign against Houthi positions across Yemen.
Riyadh says its anti-Houthi campaign is in response to appeals by Yemen's ousted president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, for help against the rebel group. While Washington has refrained from carrying out airstrikes alongside its Arab allies, it has provided the Saudi-led coalition with other support, including arms and intelligence.
U.S. officials have said the rise of the Houthis in Yemen is a sign of Iran’s destabilizing influence in the region, stopping short of saying that the Islamic republic exerts direct command and control over the militants.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the U.S. has "seen evidence that the Iranians are supplying weapons and other forms of support to the Houthis in Yemen."
But hawkish lawmakers and Gulf states have maintained that the Shiite group is a proxy force for Iran in Yemen as Tehran seeks to increase its influence in the Middle East.
"It is wrong to think of the Houthis as a proxy force for Iran,” an unnamed U.S. intelligence official told The Huffington Post.
The report comes as President Barack Obama prepares to host Gulf leaders at the White House and Camp David for a two-day summit next month.
Leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are scheduled to attend.
