The Houthis have damaged 4 underwater communication cables in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The cables are critical global infrastructure that facilitates internet connections between parts of Asia and parts of Europe.
In response to the war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis started firing drones and missiles towards Israel. Most have been intercepted. The Houthis say they are targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, or operated, or which are heading to Israeli ports. However, many of the vessels which have been attacked have no connection with Israel. The US and UK started carrying out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on 11 January. There have been several more strikes since then.
President Joe Biden said they were in “direct response” to the attacks on Red Sea ships, which “jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation”.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the action was “necessary and proportionate” to protect global shipping.
Also among those attacked was a British-linked tanker, which the Houthis said was in response to “American-British aggression”. US-led naval forces have thwarted many of the attacks.
Major shipping companies have stopped using the Red Sea – through which almost 15% of global seaborne trade usually passes – and are using a much longer route around southern Africa instead.
On 19 November, the Houthis hijacked a commercial ship in the Red Sea and have since attacked more than two dozen others with drones, missiles, and speed boats.
New satellite images have emerged that show the UK-registered Rubymar cargo vessel abandoned in the Red Sea after it was targetted in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group.
New satellite images have emerged that show the UK-registered Rubymar cargo vessel abandoned in the Red Sea after it was targetted in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group. New satellite images have emerged that show the UK-registered Rubymar cargo vessel abandoned in the Red Sea after it was targetted in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are an armed political and religious group that champions Yemen’s Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis.
They declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel, the US, and the wider West – along with armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the group emerged in the 1990s and takes its name from the movement’s late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. The current leader is his brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
In the early 2000s, the Houthis fought a series of rebellions against Yemen’s long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in an attempt to win greater autonomy for the group’s homeland in the north of Yemen.
