Smuggled weapons have contributed to strengthening the armed groups in Yemen, which has prolonged the war. The report of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen, which covered the period from 1 December 2022 to 31 August 2023, documented several weapons smuggling attempts. Despite the halt of hostilities since April 2022, weapons smuggling did not stop.
The Ansar Allah (Houthi) group has relied on smuggling to accumulate weapons and obtain the needed devices for drones and missiles. The group has used maritime routes or Yemen-Oman border crossing to transfer its needed arms to areas under its control. However, the Yemeni government and international forces have foiled many weapon smuggling attempts over the last year. The quantity of smuggled weapons seized since December last year can be presented as follows:
Seizures by international forces
On 1 December 2022, U.S. forces in the Gulf of Oman interdicted the fishing trawler Marwan-1, carrying a significant amount of ammunition. A total of 1,080,000 rounds of 7.62x54 Rmm ammunition for light machine guns, 25,000 rounds of 12.7x99 mm for anti-materiel rifles,69 6,960 fuzes for 122-mm rockets (Grad)70 and 870 boxes of PG-7 strip propellants71 were recovered.
On 6 January 2023, U.S. forces interdicted a stateless dhow carrying a significant quantity of weapons in the Gulf of Oman. A total of 1,918 Type 56-1 assault rifles were recovered.
On 15 January 2023, French forces interdicted a stateless dhow carrying a significant quantity of weapons and ammunition in the Gulf of Oman. A total of 2,999 Type 56-1 and 100 AKS20U rifles, 50 light machine guns72 and 201 associated barrels with technical characteristics and markings similar to those manufactured in Bulgaria, China, Hungary, Iran and Romania.
On 25 February 2023, British forces intercepted a smuggling vessel coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran, traveling at high speed in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. Seven Dehlavieh anti-tank guided missiles, including four with a thermobaric warhead and components of an electro-optical surveillance system76 ad of a medium-range ballistic missile, were recovered.
Seizures by the Yemeni government
On 13 August 2020, the Amaliqah Brigades on the coast, close to Ra’s al-Arah, Lahij province, seized 40,000 electric detonators and 100 reels of detonating cord83 when they were being offloaded from an unidentified boat.
On 24 April 2021, the Amaliqah Brigades in Taiz province seized a truck transporting 1.5 million non-electric detonators.
on 17 and 22 February 2023, the Security Belt Forces in Aden seized nearly 5 tons of chemical products, namely aluminium powder, iron oxide powder, rice glue powder, and phenolic resin, as well machine gun spare parts, drones, optics and machinery suspected to be used in the production of weapons.
In November 2022, two diver propulsion vehicles were seized in Ataq by the Coalition forces.
In August 2023, the Security Belt Forces seized 30 pistols in Aden.
In February 2023, government authorities in Aden seized 200 drones equipped with surveillance cameras, 4 anti-tank guided missile launching posts and 15 associated missiles, and 200 oxygen cylinders for scuba divers and naval communication equipment.
Foiled smuggling attempts at Yemen-Oman border crossing
On 31 December 2022, Yemeni customs intercepted a truck entering Yemen through the Shahn border crossing from Oman. The shipment contained 100 DLE 170 uncrewed aerial vehicle engines. The Panel of Experts observes that DLE 170 engines have been mounted on the Samad-3 attack uncrewed aerial vehicle.
On 12 March 2023, the Yemeni customs authorities seized 54 uncrewed aerial vehicles at the Shahn border crossing. On 22 March 2023, at the Shahn border post, 2,990 tactical belts were seized.
On 21 May 2023, 5,175 pistol holsters, 1,232 pairs of tactical gloves, and 498 night vision binoculars were seized at the same border crossing.
On 23 June, the Yemeni customs authorities also seized a shipment of 40 pistol boxes with the Glock GmbH factory logo of an unspecified model at the Shahn border crossing.
In its report, the Panel believes that resolving the intractable Yemeni conflict is a long-drawn-out process and that a comprehensive peaceful settlement may be unattainable in the near future. The difficulty of attaining a peace deal is attributed to many factors, including the military and economic disparity between the Houthis and the Yemeni government.