- Washington is holding back, for now, out of “fears of potentially fueling a broader war against Iran and its proxies
At least four major global shipping companies have suspended operations through the Red Sea in the past 72 hours, citing the threat of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militiamen.
The Houthis began their campaign of ship hijackings, missile and drone attacks in response to Israel’s military operation in Gaza, and Western powers’ support for Tel Aviv.
The United States military is considering strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. That’s according to a report by a US news outlet citing Biden administration officials.
Officials further said that Washington is holding back, for now, out of “fears of potentially fueling a broader war against Iran and its proxies,” citing (unsubstantiated) claims that the Yemeni militia group is one such proxy.
A Pentagon spokesman stated publicly this week that the DoD “will not hesitate to take action” where “necessary and appropriate, including to protect against actions in the maritime domain that could threaten our troops,” but this has yet to include attacks on Houthi forces.
U.S. and British warships operating in the Red Sea targeted over a dozen suspected Houthi drones over the body of water on Saturday alone.
With their proximity to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait (lit. ‘Gate of Tears’) linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, the Houthis have the ability to restrict access to a key global strategic bottleneck accounting for up to 10 percent of the world’s oil trade, and up to 20 percent of global shipping.
The Strait, which along with Egypt’s Suez Canal serves as a key gateway for maritime trade between Europe and Asia, threatens to turn into a genuine Gate of Tears for companies, businessmen and consumers worldwide amid the Houthis’ missile, drone and hijacking campaign.
Oman stepped in to mediate talks between the Yemeni militia group and “international parties” over the weekend to try to put a halt to its Red Sea attacks.
Houthi Politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti warned that the militia will continue and expand its attacks – including in the Red Sea and against targets inside Israel, some 2,000+ km away, unless Tel Aviv immediately halts its offensive operations against the Houthis’ “steadfast Palestinian brethren in the Gaza Strip.”
The Houthis began a campaign of missile and drone attacks against Israel in the third week of October amid the IDF’s bombing of Gaza, with the Israeli military and the US Navy deploying military equipment to counter the attacks.
On November 8, the Houthis shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone flying off the Yemeni coast. On November 19, the militia mounted an operation to hijack an Israeli businessman-owned ro-ro transporter, the Galaxy leader.
On November 24, they attacked another Israeli-owned ship, the SMA CGM Symi. A day later, the group reported seizing another unnamed “Israeli-owned,” Malta-flagged freighter transiting the Red Sea. A day after that, they attempted to hijack the M/V Central Park oil tanker, although a US warship in the area intervened and took five militants prisoner.
On Tuesday, the Houthis launched a cruise missile strike on the Strinda, a Norwegian oil tanker suspected of carrying crude oil to Israel. On Wednesday, Houthi militants attempted to board the Ardmore Encounter commercial tanker carrying jet fuel.
On Thursday, a Houthi missile was launched at the Maersk Gibraltar container ship, but missed. Finally, on Friday, three more ships – the MSC Alanya, the MSC Palatium III and the Al-Jasrah (owned by Hapag Lloyd) were targeted in missile attacks, with the Houthis indicating that at least two of the ships were Israeli-tied.
Houthi attacks threaten to dramatically increase commercial shipping costs, with the alternative to transiting through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal requiring vessels to sail around Africa, adding between eight and ten days, thousands of nautical miles and millions of dollars in fuel costs to the route.
The missile, drone and hijack attacks have also cost shipping companies big on insurance, with Israeli media calculating that Israeli-owned commercial vessels operating through the Red Sea have seen insurance costs jump by up to 250 per cent, while others have been denied coverage altogether.
@Sputnik International, https://sputnikglobe.com/20231217/pentagon-mulls-strikes-against-houthis-amid-red-sea-chaos-1115640197.html