Social media witnessed an advertising campaign for the Houthis after they launched rockets and drones towards Israel and seized a ship against the backdrop of the war on Gaza. Many indicators suggest coordinated activity, such as the issuance of posts from accounts with unknown locations and an increase in the retweet rate above normal levels.

A set of hashtags emerged on social media in conjunction with the activities of the Houthis in Yemen (supported by Iran), which began launching missiles and drones towards Israel and attacking Israeli ships in the Red Sea amid the ongoing war on Gaza.

On October 10th, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi threatened to launch missiles and drones if the United States intervened in the war in Gaza. Later, the group claimed responsibility for several attacks on Israel. On November 19th, the group seized the ship "Galaxy Leader," owned by Israeli businessman Rami Abraham Unger.

The activities of the Houthis gained momentum as the Israeli offensive on Gaza intensified. Supporters of the group launched promotional hashtags, including #Houth_Master_of_Arabs which garnered 312,000 tweets from December 4th 12th, viewed 35.5 million times, with a potential additional reach of 22.5 million accounts. The total interactions on the hashtag reached 1.121 million.

Most active and influential

Among the 60,000 accounts participating in the wave of tweeting under the hashtag #Houth_Master_of_Arabs, accounts with a significant number of followers played a significant role in amplifying and spreading the hashtag. Among these accounts is the Yemeni writer Anis Mansour, who has 603,000 followers. He often expresses opinions opposing the UAE and Saudi Arabia and is regularly active in online campaigns, especially those with a widespread impact in Yemen and the Gulf region. Anis Mansour's participation in the hashtag led to the generation of 370 tweets on the hashtag from other accounts.

Similarly, the Yemeni political analyst Hamid Rizk (429,000 followers - 300 tweets) and Hatem Al-Faqih (around 152,000 followers - 23,500 tweets shared by others in response to his posts) contributed to the amplification of the hashtag. Both expressed strong admiration for Abdulmalik Al-Houthi. The first wondered, "By the heavens, what kind of human are you?" while the second stated, "I see in you the Prophet, I see Ali. No one in the world possesses the courage, sagacity, and ability of Mr. Abdulmalik Al-Houthi."

Mobilization through Telegram and Twitter

Telegram channels affiliated with the Houthi group witnessed increased activity and gained more subscribers since the start of the war on Gaza. These channels are used as platforms for propaganda and mobilization, containing statements from Houthi leaders and recorded footage of the group's activities.

For example, the "Yemeni War Media" channel had 22,504 subscribers at the beginning of October, and with ongoing developments, it has now reached 54,595 subscribers as of December 1st, according to Telemetr.

Increase in the number of subscribers in “Yemeni War Media” channel on Telegram – Telemetr

The channel focuses on disseminating military propaganda and visual materials related to Houthi operations, updating its subscribers on developments and forthcoming speeches from the group's leaders. It has included footage capturing the moment of seizing the "Galaxy Leader" ship.

While the channel "Yemeni Popular Media" did not experience a similar surge in subscriber numbers (at least 23,000 subscribers), it played a prominent role in mobilization and online Houthi campaigns. This included attacking some Arab regimes. It was also noted that there was widespread consistency in content between the channel and pro-Houthi accounts on the X platform, coinciding with the hashtag reaching its peak on November 14. The hashtag trended two more times on November 19 and 20.

A post repeated on Yemeni Popular Media Channel and X platform

The repetition of identical texts and content was observed on the X platform, with a similar mobilization for posting on the hashtag by accounts that have thousands, or at most tens of thousands, of followers.

Leading these accounts was Hatem Al-Faqih, who wrote: "Hashtag 👈#Houthi_Master_of_Arabs is leading the global trend for the third consecutive day. It is the least we can do to stand by this proud symbol." The same message was reiterated by the account @mat_904, who identifies himself as a social media influencer and features the flag of Saudi Arabia in his account.

Additionally, the influencer Hasneen Al-Aloshi (@HasneA11), who has a picture of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, in his profile, wrote: "We hope for participation under this hashtag from every country. Just spread the hashtag."

Iranian, Lebanese, and Iraqi Accounts

Interactions on the hashtag reveal attempts to manipulate the policies of the X platform, as evidenced by inauthentic activity, especially with the issuance of 217,000 tweets from accounts with unknown locations. Analyzing the data indicated that 61.9% of the total tweets were retweets or reposts, accounting for 193,000 tweets out of the total 312,000 tweets using the hashtag. Authentic tweets constituted only 8.1% of the total.

The retweeting was notably marked by Iraqi accounts, a common practice among groups associated with Iran. This suggests that the activity of these accounts is centered around what could be termed a "retweet machine" aimed at amplifying hashtags.

In addition to Yemeni accounts, accounts supporting regional groups aligned with Iran also emerged. Some of these accounts display slogans and flags of Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, along with images of personalities such as Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, both of whom were killed in a U.S. strike in Baghdad at the beginning of 2020. Some of these accounts, including the Iranian Events account that communicates in Arabic from Tehran and manages a Telegram channel with the same name, are known as "social influencers."

The ranking of countries with the highest number of tweets was as follows: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United States, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, and Iran, with Palestine having the least number of tweets, according to Meltwater data.

Counter Hashtag

With the second surge of the hashtag #Houthi_Master_of_Arabs on November 20, the counter-hashtag #Houthi_Ally_of_Zionists became active, casting doubt on the Houthi military activities in the Red Sea and describing them as a "shallow play" serving Israel, according to the hashtag's content.

The counter-hashtag gathered 61,861 tweets by December 4, seen by 15,861,000 users, with a potential additional reach of 12,204,000 views.

Increase in the #Houthi_Ally_of_Zionists hashtag – Meltwater

More than 25,000 accounts participated in the wave of tweeting on the counter-hashtag. At least 30 accounts played a role in increasing the spread and promotion of the hashtag. The content of some participating accounts suggests they are supporters of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, including Abdullah Al-Humayqani, a member of the Riyadh consultations between the government and the Houthis. Additionally, officials in the currently based Yemeni government in Aden, after being expelled from Sanaa by the Houthis, were involved, such as advisors to the Yemeni Minister of Information, Ahmed Al-Masbali, and Fahd Talib Al-Sharafi.

Posts from Saudi accounts also spread, some of them using the hashtag #Followers_of_MBS which has gained popularity in the context of the controversy surrounding the Riyadh season and developments in Gaza. These accounts interacted with what the Houthi leaders wrote by commenting and using the hashtag #Houthi_Ally_of_Zionists