SHADOW AXIS: The IRGC and the Houthis of Yemen in the Red Sea War (The Nations in the Valley Series Book 3)

What begins as a local insurgency rarely stays local for long.

In Shadow Axis , Elias Maren traces the rise of the Houthi movement from the mountains of northern Yemen to the center of one of the most dangerous power struggles in the modern Middle East.

What started as a Zaydi revivalist movement rooted in grievance and political exclusion evolved into a hardened armed force with regional reach — one increasingly tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

and the wider Axis of Resistance.

Inside this book:

• The historical roots of the Houthi movement in northern Yemen

• The leadership of Hussein al-Houthi and Abdul Malik al-Houthi

• The long conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia

• Iran's strategic use of the IRGC and allied networks in Yemen

• Missile warfare, drone escalation, and the battle for the Red Sea

• Maritime pressure, global trade disruption, and regional instability

• The growing connection between Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and wider proxy warfare

Power is no longer projected only through states, armies, and official declarations. It also moves through shadow networks, proxy partnerships, and deniable support structures — armed movements able to reshape entire

regions.

Book 3 of the Nations in the Valley series.

For readers of Middle East affairs, military strategy, terrorism studies, and international security — a timely examination of one of the most volatile alliances shaping the region today.