Houthis attack a US ship in their first response after the offensive in Yemen

In Eilat, in the only city in Israel that faces the Red Sea, the sky is blue, there are only a few scattered clouds and nothing predicts a storm. But there is. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a Shiite militia backed by Iran, said last week they will “respond” to Friday’s US and UK offensive against their bases. The answer has arrived: Washington confirmed this morning that it shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired at one of its ships in the Red Sea.

According to the central command, one of its combat aircraft acted against a projectile launched at 04:45 local time from a Yemeni area controlled by the Houthis. The target was the USS Laboon, a destroyer. It did not cause damage. It is, however, the first Houthi response that Washington recognizes since the joint offensive with the United Kingdom on Friday against the militia’s missile launch, storage and radar bases.

And it is all, here, in Eilat, on the Red Sea, something that adds even more uncertainty to a key step for global maritime trade.

Some of the largest maritime operators in the world remain in their decision to reroute their vessels bound for Europe and the Mediterranean Sea through Africa, thus avoiding the Bab el Mandeb Strait bordering Yemen. This already increases transportation costs.

Traffic through the Red Sea is also estimated to have decreased by more than 40% since the beginning of the attacks and the shock wave reaches Egypt, which day after day of crisis loses new income that until now it received through the passage of ships in the Suez Canal. The moment is delicate for its economy.

But it is also true for the global energy market, and in particular for gas and oil originating in the Middle East. At least five Qatari-operated liquefied natural gas vessels headed to the southern tip of the Red Sea have been detained since Friday, Bloomberg reports. Three oil tankers are off the coast of Oman, one in the Red Sea and another in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Suez Canal.

Allies have advised merchants to stay away from this area.

The Houthis have carried out repeated attacks against cargo ships transiting the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, according to the militia, for being linked to Israel and supporting Hamas in Gaza. At least 26 ships have been attacked by Houthi rebels since they seized the Galaxy Leader in November. And they repeat that they will continue with their strategy, which draws attention to the poorest country in the Middle East that has been at war for a decade.