Exclusive: Houthis Move Missile Shipment to Al-Jawf as Al-Rayyan Tribal Mobilization Expands

Exclusive intelligence points to a camouflaged missile shipment, more than ten missile and drone sites, and new reconnaissance drone platforms as the Houthis seek to contain a widening tribal crisis in Al-Rayyan.

     Sheba Intelligence has obtained private intelligence indicating that Yemen’s Houthi movement transferred a missile shipment to a camp west of Al-Khanjar in Al-Jawf governorate, using trucks camouflaged with the United Nations logo.

According to the information, the Houthis have prepared more than ten sites for storing and launching missiles and drones in Khab wa Al-Shaaf district, the administrative area that includes the Al-Rayyan desert.

The information also indicates that the group has reinforced the 101st Infantry Brigade camp, north of Al-Hazm city, with new forces and launch platforms, including platforms used to launch reconnaissance drones over areas of Al-Jawf.

Sheba Intelligence has not been able to independently verify this information. It also remains unclear whether these moves are linked to earlier reports about an IRGC-linked technical cell reviewing the relocation or redistribution of Houthi missile and drone centers from the western coast and Hodeidah toward Al-Jawf, or whether they are part of Houthi security arrangements connected to the tribal developments in the Al-Rayyan desert.

The reported movements come as tribal mobilization continues to expand in Al-Rayyan, where tribes have gathered around the case of Sheikh Hamad bin Rashid bin Fadgham Al-Hazmi, a prominent figure from the Dahm tribes of Al-Jawf. The crisis followed his detention by the Houthis in Sana’a and the related case of the woman known in Yemeni media as “Mira Saddam Hussein.”

After leaving Houthi-controlled areas, Bin Fadgham moved to Al-Rayyan, where he was received by the Al-Maraziq tribes of Bani Nawf. The area has since become a tribal gathering point in response to Houthi pressure and the wider tribal dispute surrounding the case.

Although tribal mediation efforts have reached Al-Rayyan, the information points to fears that the Houthis may be preparing to respond to any tribal movements coming from areas controlled by Yemen’s internationally recognized government, especially if the mobilization expands or reconciliation efforts fail.

More sensitive information points to the possibility that the Houthis may be preparing to use drones against tribes gathering in Al-Rayyan if mediation efforts collapse. Sheba Intelligence has not been able to independently confirm this claim.

Meanwhile, Houthi-aligned tribal figures are moving to contain the crisis or reshape its narrative. The information points to movements by Sahar tribes in Saada, the tribal background of Houthi-linked arms trader and tribal figure Fares Manaa, following reports that roads had been cut and trucks belonging to members of the tribe had been held.

Houthi figure Fares Al-Habbari is also pushing for a tribal meeting of Arhab tribes in Sana’a. The meeting may be aimed at presenting a different narrative about the identity of the woman known as “Mira Saddam Hussein,” including claims that she is Sumaya Al-Zubairi and belongs to Arhab.

Tribal sources say the Houthis’ use of tribal fronts from Sahar and Arhab, along with tribal figures from Al-Jawf, may be intended to confuse the crisis, reduce the symbolic weight of Bin Fadgham’s mobilization in Al-Rayyan, and contain the dispute through a tribal cover.

Al-Rayyan is significant because it lies within a desert zone connected to movement routes between Al-Jawf, Marib, Hadramawt and Al-Mahrah. The area is also close to smuggling routes and tribal and military movement corridors.

Sheba Intelligence previously reported that Al-Rayyan was no longer merely a remote desert area or a route linked to smuggling networks, but had begun to turn into a tribal pressure point against the Houthis after Sheikh Hamad bin Fadgham left Houthi-controlled areas. In a separate report, Sheba Intelligence also revealed that an IRGC-linked technical cell had reviewed the possible relocation or redistribution of some Houthi missile and drone centers toward Al-Jawf.

The latest information suggests that the military and tribal tracks in Al-Jawf are increasingly overlapping: a reported missile shipment west of Al-Khanjar, more than ten missile and drone sites in Khab wa Al-Shaaf, new drone platforms north of Al-Hazm, and a growing tribal mobilization in Al-Rayyan.