Houthis vow to keep up attacks in key strait after US rolls out plan to shield ships
Major carriers not rushing to return vessels to more cost-efficient route via Suez Canal and Red Sea despite announcement of coalition to protect marine traffic in Bab el-Mandeb
Houthi rebels in Yemen on Tuesday vowed to keep up attacks on ships passing through a vital Red Sea strait, declaring they would not be deterred by the announcement of an international naval coalition to protect the waters.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator and spokesman, issued the challenge a day after the US announced the naval protection coalition following a series of attacks that led several of the world’s leading carriers to announce they would bypass the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and instead sail the long way around Africa. At least one shipping company said it would continue to avoid the area Tuesday, and others indicated they may as well.
“The American-formed coalition is to protect Israel and militarize the sea without any justification, and will not stop Yemen from continuing its legitimate operations in support of Gaza,” Abdel-Salam wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7 when the Palestinian terror group carried out a devastating attack that killed over 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians.
He said the attacks by the Iran-backed rebel group “are not a show of force nor a challenge to anyone.”
“Whoever seeks to expand the conflict must bear the consequences of his actions,” Abdel-Salam said.
He added that neutral Oman had launched mediation efforts to safeguard shipping using the waterway.
The rebel group had announced that it would target any ship heading to Israel or linked to it, though a number of vessels with no apparent connection to Israel have been targeted as well.
Houthis have also launched missiles and drones at southern Israel, which were intercepted by air defense systems.
Leading global shipping companies did not immediately announce a change in their new policies of avoiding the Red Sea even after the US announced the multi-national naval operation to protect vessels from attacks by Houthis.
The seriousness of the attacks, several of which have damaged vessels, has led multiple shipping companies to order their ships to hold in place and not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea until the security situation can be addressed.
Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, France’s CMA CGM, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, Belgium’s Euronav, oil giant BP, and Denmark’s A.P Moller-Maersk — the latter accounting for 15 percent of global container freight — have all stopped using the Red Sea until further notice. Taiwan shipping firm Evergreen also said it was suspending its Israeli cargo shipments with immediate effect and Frontline, one of the world’s largest tanker companies, said it was rerouting ships and would “only allow new business” that could be routed via South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
On Tuesday, Maersk announced that for now, it had decided to reroute its ships that have been paused for days outside the strait and Red Sea and send them around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope instead — a much longer and less efficient passage. Maersk said it welcomed the international security effort but, at the present time, the much longer route would provide “more predictable outcomes” for its customers.
Hapag-Llyod gave an update on its website that two ships, the MV Zenith Lumos and MV Zeus Lumos will omit Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on their routes “and transit via Cape of Good Hope.” It did not give a reason.
The US military’s Central Command reported two attacks on commercial vessels Monday, including one following the announcement of the coalition. A strike by an attack drone and a ballistic missile hit a tanker off Yemen, at roughly the same time a cargo ship reported an explosive detonating in the water nearby, the military said.
“This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement released just after midnight in Bahrain. “Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative.”
In the last four weeks, Houthi militants have attacked or seized commercial ships 12 times and still hold 25 members of the MV Galaxy Leader hostage in Yemen, Austin said in remarks Tuesday in a ministerial meeting on the new maritime mission. The US is still actively seeking member countries to join the mission, and increase the number of navies present and participating.
The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain have joined the new maritime security mission, Austin said. Some of those countries will conduct joint patrols while others provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Several other countries have also agreed to be involved in the operation but prefer not to be publicly named, a defense official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss additional details of the new mission that have not been publicly announced.
There are about 400 commercial vessels transiting the southern Red Sea, an area roughly the size of Washington DC to Boston, at any given time, a senior military official told reporters who are traveling with Austin in the region.
Under the new mission, the military ships will not necessarily escort a specific vessel, but will be positioned to provide umbrella protection to as many as possible at a given time, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
Separately, the United States has also called on the United Nations Security Council to take action against the attacks.
In a letter to council members obtained Monday by The Associated Press, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Houthi attacks targeting commercial vessels legally transiting the international waterways continue to threaten “navigational rights and freedoms, international maritime security, and international commerce.”
The 15 council members discussed the Houthi threat behind closed doors Monday but took no immediate action.
To date, the US has not struck back at the Iranian-back Houthis operating in Yemen or targeted any of their weapons or other sites. On Monday Austin did not answer a question as to why the Pentagon had not conducted a counterstrike.