The Iran-backed Houthis say they will block Saudi shipping at the Red Sea gateway – National
Yemen’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels on Monday announced that they are launching a naval war against Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the blockade of Yemen and the recent attack on the Sanaa International Airport, threatening another important waterway for global shipping and raising fears of renewed conflict.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the naval blockade against Saudi Arabia would take effect immediately, describing it as “an ‘eye for an eye.'”
There were few details, but the deputy head of the Houthi press office, Nasruddin Amer, told X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed in response to what he called “Saudi Arabia’s unjust blockade of Yemenis for more than 10 years.”
Bab el-Mandeb, on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the gateway to the Red Sea through which 12 percent of the world’s trade passes. A quarter of the world’s container trade traffic passes through the 32-kilometer (20-mile)-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.
Previously, the Houthis demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping when they targeted ships for months during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, and more than 100 ships were attacked. It is not clear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia.
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There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is already under pressure as it uses its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains occupied by Iran immediately after the US and Israel attacked it on February 28. The Saudis have been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the pipeline.
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Saudi Arabia leads the coalition against the Houthis and imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen in 2015. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. An agreement was reached in 2022.
The deal has been threatened in recent days after the Houthis said the Saudis attacked Sanaa airport in an attempt to intercept a plane carrying Houthi leaders returning from Iran, where they had attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport.
The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport to face each other in years past.
By allowing a direct international flight to land without the permission of the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis want to establish a new reality where they can make independent decisions in Yemeni airspace, experts told the AP.
“We guarantee the right of our great people to respond where it was blocked,” Saree stressed on Monday, adding that the Houthis are ready to face “any foolish act by the reckless Saudi enemy…
The Houthis are an important part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which includes militant groups in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
The rebels have a large number of drones, but several members of the Houthis previously told the AP that the stockpile is decreasing after their attacks during the Israel-Hamas war. The war in Iran has also hampered the flow of weapons, said the members at the time who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The US and Israel responded to earlier Houthi naval attacks with a punitive air campaign in Houthi-held areas of Yemen until a deal was reached that saw the rebels end their offensive.
Interrupting navigation through the Bab al-Mandeb forces shipping firms to move ships around the Cape of Good Hope, greatly increasing costs.
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