On 23rd December, two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea from Houthis-controlled areas. Two ships, MV Chem Pluto and MV Sai Baba were hit by drones, however, no major damage was reported. The US claimed that MV Sai Baba had an Indian flag. However, the Indian Navy refuted the claims and said the container ship had a Gabonese flag. Furthermore, the Navy said the 25 Indian crew members on board the vessel were safe. The other ship, MV Chem Pluto, is a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel, and both are oil tankers.
The Shiite rebel group Houthis has emerged from the complex history of Yemen. They have increasingly threatened the world’s maritime security. The group has attacked several vessels coming from and going to Israel in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, in retaliation to Israeli action in Gaza.
Houthis have been targeting ships operating from Israeli port Eliat, attacking the ships with missiles and drones in the Red Sea. However, now the Iran-backed group have started to attack ships further away in the Arabian Sea. As per reports, traffic at the Eilat Port has come down by 85% due to the attacks. Houthis have disrupted the trade route through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and then the Arabian Sea. Eliat Port is located on the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, which is connected to the Red Sea through the Straits of Tiran. Trafic through Suez Canal has also been affected, as this is also connected to the Red Sea through the Gulf of Suez.
Bab al-Mandab Strait is located between Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa and Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, where the Houthis are based. A large portion of Yemen is under the control of Houthis, and the group controls the Red Sea coastline, enabling them to easily target ships in the narrow sea.
Background and History of Houthis
The Houthis are Zaydi Shiites, which is a minority within the Shiite Muslim community. They are significantly different in beliefs from the Twelvers, who were dominant in Iran and Iraq. The name “Zaydi” came from Zayd bin Ali, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Empire in the eighth century. They have a long history in Yemen, where they have established themselves in the hard-to-access mountains of North Yemen since the ninth century. For several years, Zaydis ruled the region.
Houthis claim that their fight is against the corrupt regime. In the 1990s, they emerged as a resistance movement against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, claiming he was running a corrupt government. The group’s name comes from its founder Hussein al Houthi. When America launched an attack on Iraq in 2003, the group got highly radicalised and adopted a strong anti-US and anti-Israel stance.
Their primary support comes from the Lebanese terrorist organisation Hezbollah. Furthermore, Iran also provides support to the group. Saleh and Saudi Arabia attempted multiple times to suppress the Houthis via military campaigns but failed.
In 2011, the Arab Spring became the turning point for Houthis as they became a significant part of the national uprising against Saleh. As a result, Saleh was removed from power. Houthis contested the new leadership and gained control of essential territories, including Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, in 2015. While Iran reportedly continued its support for Houthis, the tension with Saudi Arabia escalated during that period.
The Houthi rebels have been fighting a civil war since 2014 against Yemen’s government. The govt is getting help from a coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but the Houthis enjoy domestic support and the assistance of Iran and Hezbollah. The Houthis declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel, the US and the wider West. It considers itself to be an ally of Hamas and Hezbollah.
While Hezbollah provided military training to the group, Iran is supplying weapons to them. As per the US, Iran is also providing them intelligence to attack ships in the sea. US and Saudi Arabia allege that Iran supplied the ballistic missiles to the group, which were fired at Saudi capital Riyadh in 2017, but were shot down.
Houthis control most of Yemen including capital Sanaa, they collect taxes and print money. Although officially Yemen is ruled by the Presidential Leadership Council, this govt is based in Saudi capital Riyadh.
Impact on Maritime Security
Following the brutal terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists on 7th October, Israel launched a military campaign against Hamas to completely wipe out the terror outfit from the face of the earth. As Israel commenced air strikes against Hamas locations in Gaza, Houthis extended support for Hamas.
In view of the Israel-Hamas war, they launched fresh attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, especially those that were linked to Israel. They have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. While earlier they attacked vessels directly linked to Israel, now they have started to attack any ship using that route. This also means they are now attacking ships not visiting the Israeli port, because the Suez Canal is also connected to the Red Sea, and ships using the Egyptian Canal must navigate through Bab al-Mandab Strait
These attacks have severely impacted maritime trade. As a result of the attacks, several shipping companies decided to avoid the strategic Bab al-Mandab chokepoint and the Suez Canal and rerouted their vessels. The attacks are expected to impact the oil price in the international market.
The methodology of the attacks varied. For instance, they hit a Norwegian ship with a missile that highlighted the intent to target vessels en route to Israel. In November they seized what they said was an Israeli cargo ship. The international community has responded to the attack, including assistance from the US warships.
Such attacks pose a significant threat to global trade as the Houthis are capable of targeting the commercial vessels that are in a critical world shipping route, which has exacerbated tensions in the region. The Houthis attacks on the ships have increased concerns about the safety and freedom of maritime trade routes.
