Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] A spokesman for Yemen's Zaydi movement Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis,Yahya Saria said on December 11 that their armed forces .“will continue to prevent the passage of all ships of any jurisdiction heading to Israeli ports in the Arab and Red Seas, except if they are carrying food and humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip”
The Houthi spokesman also admitted that Ansar Allah hit the Norwegian tanker Motor Transport STRINDA, which was heading to Israel,
| ...actually, she was headed to the Suez Canal and then Italy. Israel was never part of her itinerary. But please don’t let reality get in the way of useful exposition... |
with an anti-ship missile, after which a fire broke out there. Earlier this was reported by official representatives of the UK and the USA. The tanker was attacked approximately 60 nautical miles north of Bab al-Mandeb. It is a narrow strait between Yemen and the northeast coast of Africa, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
HOUTHI MILITARY CAPABILITIES
The fact that Ansar Allah plans to increase attacks on Israeli ships was stated in a speech on November 14 by the leader of the movement Abdal Malik al-Houthi. He warned:"Our eyes are open to constantly monitor and search for any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, especially in Bab al-Mandeb and near Yemeni territorial waters."
Five days later, the Houthis, landing from an Mi-17 helicopter, seized the Galaxy Leader, owned by the Israeli company Ray Shipping Limited.
But, in addition to helicopter landings for operations against warships and vessels, Ansar Allah has a large arsenal of weapons that were demonstrated at military parades, including last September.
In particular, the Yemeni rebels still have Soviet-made anti-ship missiles (ASMs) in their arsenal, which are used in coastal defense. These include two types of missiles, P-15 and P-15M (SS-N-2 Styx according to NATO classification), which the Houthis inherited from the Yemeni army, which ceased to exist in 2014.
Although these missiles have long been considered obsolete for use against warships, their 500 kg warhead still poses a serious threat to transport ships lacking air defense and electronic warfare.
Ansar Allah also showed Mandeb-1 and 2 anti-ship missiles - copies of Iranian Noor missiles, which, in turn, go back to the Chinese S-801/802 radar-guided missiles. Mandeb are more modern and maneuverable anti-ship missiles, capable of hitting a warship under favorable conditions. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Lebanese Hezbollah demonstrated this by damaging the Israeli corvette INS Hanit with a C-802 missile.
But the most interesting new addition to the Ansar Allah anti-ship arsenal are ballistic missiles designed to attack naval targets.
These are primarily the Al-Bahr Al-Ahmar (Red Sea), optimized to engage sea targets at a distance of up to 200 miles, and the Aasif, a solid-fuel missile capable of delivering a 550-kilogram warhead to a distance of 215 miles with high accuracy. Both missiles are intended for use as coastal defense weapons and appear to be modifications of the Iranian Halij Fars (Persian Gulf) missile, based on the Fatah-110 surface-to-surface missile.
Also a ballistic anti-ship missile is the Moheet, a first-generation Soviet S-75 Dvina (SA-2) Soviet air defense missile converted by the Houthis (or Iranians) for firing at sea targets.
In addition to missiles, Ansar Allah also has other means to destroy transport and commercial ships heading to Israel. Among the “new products” one can name, for example, Toufan 3, a remote-controlled kamikaze boat filled with 500 kg of high explosives to destroy ships and vessels.
Or Asef-2 - an electronic warfare and electronic reconnaissance attack fast boat, also designed to destroy sea targets. In addition, it can provide radar cover and serve as an electronic warfare capability for a “flock” of similar attack boats approaching a target.
Finally, the Houthis have a stockpile of ground mines, such as the Soviet-made MDM-1, also displayed by Ansar Allah in their parades in Yemen.
It is these strike weapons that are used in current attacks.
Thus, on November 26, the Central Park tanker sent a distress signal in the Red Sea, which required the intervention of the American destroyer USS Mason. It remains unclear whether the attack was by Somali pirates or Houthis. However, after Mason arrived in the attack area, he was attacked by a ballistic missile fired from Houthi territory, which missed its target. Notably, this is the second Houthi attack on a specific destroyer since 2016.
And on December 3, Ansar Allah forces attacked at least two ships in the southern Red Sea with missiles and drones: a bulk carrier and a container ship. One of the ships, Unity Explorer, is operated by the British company Unity Maritime, but the company's staff includes Dan David Ungar, the son of an Israeli shipping magnate. a>
WHY IS EILAT DESERTED?
The Houthi attacks are already bearing fruit. Shipping industry officials have been rerouting some Israeli-linked ships since early November and have raised concerns about an increase in attacks. But now that Ansar Allah has launched what is essentially a full-scale naval war, there are much wider economic consequences that threaten all shipping in the Red Sea.
Some ships associated with Israeli owners were observed to bypass the Suez Canal and Red Sea by taking the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope. This increased not only the transit time, but also the cost of the transported goods.
Shipping insurers have long responded to the escalation of maritime operations and bellicose rhetoric by the Houthis. The Ansar Allah statements themselves have already had“an impact on shipping insurance, even if the conflict remains under control”says the Eurasia Group in a statement dated 15 November
And after the Yemeni rebels became more active and began to attack more and more ships associated with Israel, the situation worsened. In particular, the only Israeli Red Sea port on the Gulf of Aqaba, Eilat, was deserted, having lost 85 percent of its profits.
RICH OPERATION EXPERIENCE
It should be noted that the Houthis have considerable experience in naval warfare, acquired in 2015–2022. during the war with the Saudi Arabian (KSA) and UAE-led coalition.
For example, in 2018, they targeted crude oil tankers belonging to Bahri, KSA's national shipping carrier, and attacked ships passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. In response, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Energy suspended oil shipments through the narrow passage for approximately twelve days.
Warships from the anti-Houthi coalition countries and even an American destroyer were also attacked.
On October 1, 2016, an anti-ship missile launched from a Houthi-controlled coastal missile site severely damaged the HSV-2 Swift catamaran beyond repair. Swift is a former high-speed US Navy ship sold to the United Arab Emirates and operated by the anti-Houthi coalition as an amphibious logistics ship.
Then the United States sent its warships, led by the destroyer URO Mason, to guard shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which provoked the first military clash between the United States and the Houthis.
Over the next two weeks after the Swift strike, USS Mason repelled two Ansar Allah missile attacks. This prompted Washington to order Tomahawk cruise missile strikes against Houthi radars on the coast. However, this did not stop the Yemeni rebels, who at the very beginning of 2017 hit the Saudi frigate Al Madinah with a kamikaze boat.
SAUDI ARABIA IS CHANGING APPROACHES
Now, to protect Israeli shipping and counter the Houthis, the United States is moving to create a dedicated naval command with a squadron of interested countries.
Thus, the French guided missile frigate Languedoc joined the two American guided missile destroyers USS Mason and USS Carney, located in the Houthi activity zone. The latter has already distinguished himself by shooting down a Yemeni attack drone. In addition, the Japanese destroyer MSDF Akebono operates in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait area in close coordination with American and French ships.
However, the creation of such a broad anti-Houthi coalition under the auspices of the United States may now have the opposite effect against the backdrop of events in Gaza.
Previously, the “Arab street” perceived the Houthis as Iranian proxies carrying out “Tehran’s orders against the Arabs.” However, Ansar Allah is now seen as a force that has challenged not only Israel, but the entire collective West covering up the IDF's crimes in Gaza.
Therefore, the majority of Arabs in the current situation will sympathize with the Houthis, and this also affects decision-making in Arab capitals. In fact, the only people who directly stated support for the plans of the United States and the West were representatives of the Yemeni government opposing the Houthis.
It is significant that the Houthis’ attacks on Bahraini soldiers stationed on the Yemeni border in Saudi Arabia also remained unanswered. Riyadh limited itself only to condemnatory rhetoric. For many Arabs, Bahrain, with its apparent pro-Israel statements, looks like Tel Aviv's Trojan horse in the Arab world.
Also in the current situation, Saudi Arabia, yesterday’s existential enemy of the Houthis, is beginning to coordinate its steps with Iran in order to prevent a broad military campaign by the United States and its allies against Ansar Allah. In particular, Saudi Arabia asked the United States to show restraint in response to Yemen's Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea to avoid further escalation.
“They (the Saudis. - Ed.) are putting pressure on the Americans about this and about the conflict in Gaza stopped”, informed sources told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia sees the only way out of the current situation in ending the destructive Israeli attacks on Gaza, which Riyadh calls a “barbaric war” against the Palestinians. In the current climate, Saudi diplomacy reflects a broader policy aimed at promoting regional stability. This approach replaces US and Israeli support for potential military action against the Houthis after years of confrontation with Iran and its allies.
It is significant that earlier, during the war in Yemen, Riyadh itself repeatedly appealed to Washington about joining the US Armed Forces in the fighting against Ansar Allah. But those times are gone.
Focusing on economic expansion and diversification under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has already normalized relations with Iran. It is seeking to exit the war it has waged with the Houthis for almost nine years and is extremely uninterested in resuming escalation under any pretext.
Yemen has experienced relative calm for more than a year amid direct peace talks between Riyadh and Ansar Allah. And the Houthis themselves are becoming an increasingly significant and independent factor in Middle Eastern politics, while the conflict between Hamas and Israel is spreading further and further beyond the borders of Gaza, threatening to awaken other frozen conflicts in the region.
More from RIA Novosti:
"Media: US will announce the deployment of a group to contain the Houthis
The United States is expected to announce on Friday the deployment of coalition forces in the Red Sea to deter Houthi attacks on civilian ships, the portal reports with reference to American and Israeli officials.
We are talking, according to the portal, about a “special reinforced multinational task force.”
The portal, citing American officials, also reports that the US administration recently sent warnings to the Houthis through several channels demanding that they stop attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking, who visited the Persian Gulf countries in recent days convey to the Houthis that the United States is extremely concerned about attacks by Yemeni rebels that threaten freedom of navigation in international waters. Qatar and Oman, Saudi Arabia, asked his colleagues in
Several countries in the region have already conveyed similar messages to the Houthis over the past two weeks, the sources said. According to American officials, these warnings have not yet had an effect on the Houthis.
At a briefing on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said information about the task force would be presented soon.
Previously, the Yemeni Houthis stated that they would continue to prevent the passage in the Red and Arabian seas of ships associated with Israeli companies or going to Israel, until the cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
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