By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian
On Dec. 11, the Houthi regime in Yemen declared a blockade of all Israeli and Israel-related shipping through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow maritime choke point that joins the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. So there is now a potential threat to some 8.8 million barrels a day of oil shipped through one of the world’s crucial maritime waterways.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the de facto Houthi president of Yemen, tweeted: “The Yemeni Armed Forces announce that they will prevent the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity of any nationality, if they do not enter the Gaza Strip where they need food and medicine, and it will become a legitimate target for our armed forces.”
The Houthis, more formally known as Ansar Allah or Supporters of Allah, are Zaidi Muslims associated with Shi’ite Islam. The movement is named after its first influential leader Seyyed Badr al-Din al-Houthi.
They seized the country’s capital Sana’a in 2014 and deposed the government, triggering a civil war that has killed tens of thousands. Their attempt to conquer all of Yemen brought Iran in on the side of the Zaidis, their fellow Shiites. They now control most of the country.
The Houthis became part of the current conflict between Hamas and Israel soon after the war began Oct. 7, when they declared that they were planning to join the combat and attack Israel. Hames, they stated, “is an integral part of the Palestinian people and it is impossible to disconnect them from the resistance. We are part of the axis of resistance, and nothing will stop the resistance in Yemen, notwithstanding the geographical distance.”
The movement’s religious leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, warned that his fighters would retaliate if “red lines” were crossed, including if the United States intervened in Gaza.
On Nov. 19, the Houthis captured the Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea and took its 25 crew members hostage. A week later, the USS Mason, a U.S. Navy destroyer, responded to a distress call from a commercial vessel, the Central Park, as five armed men attempted to seize the ship. They were captured by U.S. personnel.
On Dec. 6, the U.S. Navy shot down a Houthi drone launched toward the Bab al-Mandeb. The Houthis also said they had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles toward Eilat, Israel, which lies on the Gulf of Aqaba at the head of the Red Sea.
The Houthis on Dec. 10 launched attacks against three commercial vessels in the Red Sea. And the American destroyer, the USS Carney, shot down a Houthi drone that was heading toward it. Gen. Mohammad Ali al-Ghaderi, a Houthi naval commander, said of the strikes: “The waters of our land will become the graveyard of the Zionist enemy’s ships.” On Dec. 14, they struck two more cargo ships, the Alanya and Palatium, which were heading to Israel. A day earlier they had targeted the Maersk Gibraltar with drones.
The United States has been consulting with allies about potential military action against the Houthis. On Dec. 9, the French Navy said the frigate Languedoc had shot down two drones in the Red Sea coming from a port city in Yemen controlled by the Houthis.
Israel’s response has been confined to intercepting incoming missiles and drones. Israel has established an integrated missile defence system to address multiple threats. It possesses the Arrow 2 for shorter range ballistic missiles, and the Arrow 3 for long-range missiles.
On Nov. 3, in the first ever use of the Arrow 3 system, Israel intercepted a missile heading for Eilat. On Nov. 22, an Israeli fighter plane intercepted a cruise missile that was fired towards Eilat.
For the moment, Israel’s Zim shipping company has announced that it is rerouting its ships via Africa’s Cape of Good Hope -- delaying goods by weeks. But unless Houthi attacks end soon, the economic cost of the Houthi threat to shipping could oblige Israel to weigh the option of retaliating.
Seeking to portray the conflict as a broad Muslim struggle, Iran hopes to expand the participants in the struggle against Israel and the United States. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently told students at a meeting that “the battle is not between Gaza and Israel, but between the force of faith and the force of arrogance.” Under Iranian tutelage, the Houthis have begun spouting anti-Israel slogans.
The Houthis enjoy the support of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, including weapons smuggling, combat training, funding, and assistance in weapons manufacturing. They are also providing the Houthis with intelligence to help identify Israeli-owned vessels in the Red Sea.
As Nasser Imani, a political analyst in Tehran who is close to the government, noted recently, “We think Houthis in Yemen will become more of a threat to Israel in the long run than Hamas or even Hezbollah. Iran considers them a major player and part of the collective strategy of the resistance axis.”
Farea Al-Muslimi, a Middle East and North Africa research fellow at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, echoed this view. “The Red Sea is the most recent but clearly the most crucial front line of the ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel and the United States in the Middle East.”
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