Yemen offensive elevates enigmatic Houthi commander's standing ↧ ↧ Yemen offensive elevates enigmatic Houthi commander's standing Abdul Malik al-Houthi, an elusive figure who commands a battle-hardened force, scored his biggest military victory in years when his Iran-aligned Houthi militant group swept through Yemen's ​Red Sea coastline and tightened their grip on a vital shipping waterway, rattling oil superpower Saudi Arabia.