Iran’s IRGC giving assistance to Houthis: Iranian army chief of staff

Yemen's Houthi militia is receiving assistance from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

“We are giving [the Houthis] advisory and intellectual assistance and the IRGC is in charge of this,” said Bagheri, adding that Iran “will stand by the Yemeni people until the end.”

While Bagheri admitted providing assistance to the Houthis, he said that Tehran would like to provide further support but was unable to do so. “Things are a little different in Yemen,” said Bagheri, comparing the country to Syria and Iraq where the IRGC provides more “help.”

“Today, Yemen is under a complete blockade, and all of its paths are blocked, and not even medicine can be delivered there,” claimed Bagheri, adding: “How can one send several-meter-long missiles to Yemen when it is not possible to send medicine there?”

Vice commander of the IRGC Ali Fadavi had made similar remarks back in May, saying that Iran helps the Houthis as much as it can, but not as much as it would like to, due to the “blockade of Yemen.”

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