In early April, ClearSky’s team discovered a persistent Yemeni/Houthi influence campaign
operating in Israel and the Gulf states. We first exposed the campaign in 2019. It continues
to operate in a similar manner to what was uncovered in 2019. Between 2019 and 2022,
the campaign mainly focused on Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
and returned to focus on Israel from late 2024. We did not found any indication that that the
campaign targeted Israel between 2019–2022.
The campaign operators have invested for years in building and maintaining an
infrastructure that includes fake websites, Facebook pages, and social media profiles. The
ongoing maintenance of such a campaign indicates its importance and the resources
allocated to sustain it. These resources include, among other things, dedicated personnel,
funding, and a certain level of proficiency in Hebrew.
The campaign first exposed in 2019 involved the dissemination of false reports by several
social media profiles. These reports focused on gossip-related topics (for example, the
death of an Israeli actress and singer). They were published on pages of Israeli media
outlets and in several marginal Israeli social media groups, mainly on Facebook. The 2019
campaign was based on methodologies used in Iranian influence campaigns that we had
uncovered starting in 2018.
This report focuses on the campaign active in recent months, with an emphasis on the
personas created to disseminate content, the websites established as part of the
infrastructure, and the campaign’s messaging.
The report also addresses differences between the 2019 campaign and the content
published in the current one.
Read the current report:
Read our report from 2019: