Houthis produce advanced missiles with Chinese components report says

The Daily Mail reported that the Houthis have started manufacturing their own advanced ballistic missiles using parts sourced from a Chinese supplier. The finding comes from Conflict Armament Research, a group that investigates weapons supply chains. The Wall Street Journal, NDTV, and The Jerusalem Post also reported that the Iran-backed group is building missiles with Chinese components. [1][4][5][6]

According to the Daily Mail, the weapons tracking group said Houthi fighters are importing components to build a custom version of the Iranian Kheibar Shekan missile. The new design gives the Houthi variant an estimated range of 1,200 miles, which is 300 miles farther than the Iranian original. The Daily Mail and NDTV noted that this range brings all of Israel and Saudi Arabia within distance of strikes launched from Yemen. [1][5]

The South China Morning Post reported that a Yemeni minister confirmed the Yemeni government spoke directly with Beijing regarding the Houthis using Chinese technology to build weapons. The South China Morning Post added that these conversations took place as the civil war in Yemen continues to escalate. [2][3]

The Houthis emerged in Yemen during the 1990s as a Shia Islamist paramilitary organization and are backed by Iran. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Anthropic revealed that Houthi fighters previously used its Claude artificial intelligence model to help develop self-correcting ballistic missiles. The group currently controls key population centers in western Yemen. [9][11][12]