The Houthis of Yemen, a Shiite rebel movement that belongs to the so-called Axis of Resistance, sponsored by Iran against Israel – together with Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the Lebanese Hizbullah and militias in Iraq and Syria -, increase yesterday the pressure on the trade route of the Red Sea. The Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged container ship sailing from Salalah (Oman) to Jidda (Saudi Arabia) through the Bab al-Mandab strait, was ordered yesterday to go to Yemen and immediately went being the object of a missile launch that hit the water. This was reported by both the British Navy body that monitors the Middle East routes and US Defense sources quoted by the Ap agency.
This is the latest of the attacks attributed to the Houthis in the campaign for the war that is ravaging the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, two missiles failed to hit a jet fuel tanker after a botched boarding attempt that was assisted by a US destroyer that shot down a drone. On Monday, another missile hit a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker. Both cases happened near Bab al-Mandab. In November the Houthis hijacked a ship loaded with cars linked to Israel and are still holding it near the port city of Hodeida, while a container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire was attacked by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean .
The Houthis have threatened to attack any ship they believe is headed to or coming from Israel, although some of the ships attacked so far had no apparent link. The United States has stated that it is studying the deployment of an international naval force, which was disputed yesterday by Iran’s Defense Minister, Mohammad Reza Aixtiani, who said that “if they carry out such an irrational measure they will face extraordinary problems”.
The first effects of the Huthi campaign on the maritime trade route are already being felt. The Strait of Bab al-Mandab, between Yemen and Djibouti, is 29 kilometers at its narrowest point and “is a fundamentally important channel for Europe and the Mediterranean, it is Europe’s main communication route because its trading partner Asia is bigger”, explains Jordi Torrent, logistics expert and head of strategy at the Port of Barcelona. Some shipowners are beginning to avoid the Red Sea – the passage through the Bab al-Mandab and then the Suez Canal – to divert ships to the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, a change that can involve many days. “At the moment, it is a residual movement, and I imagine that the ability of the Houthis to affect traffic is reduced, but you never know…”, Torrent points out. There is talk of increases in cargo insurance – up to 50 or 100 dollars per container, for example – but in return “the Suez Canal Authority is offering discounts of 15-20% to ships that go in northern Europe to discourage the Good Hope route (not those heading to the Mediterranean, because the latter lose many days if they go via South Africa)”.
If the hypothesis that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz – the major oil route – remains present in Western politics in the region, the possibility that it will control – through the Houthis – Bab al-Mandab is similar, and this would have a direct effect on the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia, in its war against the Houthis – since 2015 – has prevented their territorial expansion, counting on the help not only of the United Arab Emirates, the USA and Great Britain, but even and all of Al-Qaida. On the other hand, the Saudis have considered the Yemeni route and the port of Al-Mukalla as alternatives, through pipelines, to the Hormuz oil route.
The current scenario has two derivatives that have little connection to Gaza and much to the interests of Iran and the Yemeni movement Ansarulah, which is the official name of the Houthis, named after the founders, the brothers Hussein (now dead) and Abdul Malik al-Huthi .
In 2018 the Emirates, partners in the international coalition against the Houthis, took the opportunity to militarily occupy Socotra, the magical island (in fact, an archipelago) of Sindbad the Sailor, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. After the signing of the Abraham Accords with Israel, the Yemeni island, with a strategic location in front of the Gulf of Aden, has become an Israeli-Emirati military and intelligence center intended to monitor the Houthis and Iran.
On the other hand, the Houthis and Saudi Arabia maintain a cease-fire and a new round of direct peace talks which, according to Oman, which is mediating, are on the right track. The campaign against ships in the Red Sea would also be bound to gain weight in the negotiation.