A picture taken during an organized tour by Yemen's Houthi rebels (on board) on Nov. 22, 2023 shows the Galaxy Leader cargo ship, seized by Houthi fighters two days earlier, docked in a port on the Red Sea in the Yemeni province of Hodeida, with Palestinian and Yemeni flags installed on it. (Credit: AFP)
The Houthi rebels in Yemen will press on with attacks on Red Sea shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza as long as Israel continues to commit "crimes" against them, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi announced on Thursday, cited by Reuters.
"Our operations have a big impact on the enemy which constitute a great success and a real triumph," Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
He said the group would continue to support Palestinians despite joint US-British strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, which began on Jan. 12 and are ongoing, with the latest attacks carried out on Thursday. Al-Houthi said the US had launched around 40 strikes so far this week, most of them on Hodeida, but reiterated that such strikes would continue in failing to deter his forces from striking vessels so long as there is no cease-fire in Gaza.
In another televised speech on Tuesday, al-Houthi declared that the Houthis had successfully prevented all Israel-linked ships from passing through the Gulf of Aden — which runs along the southern cost of Yemen — throughout all of the previous week.
"This is a real victory," he said.
That same day, the World Bank and IMF both warned that the war on Gaza and the Houthis' actions could have serious consequences for an already weakened global economy. Their statements align with the Houthis' stated goal of using the vital shipping passage as leverage for pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza.
The Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea container vessels have seriously disrupted global shipping and forced firms — some of the world's largest — to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
On Jan. 31, the IMF's PortWatch platform indicated that the total transit volume — including not only containers — through the Suez Canal was down 37 percent this year through Jan. 16, compared to the same period a year earlier.
During the first two weeks of January, 400 ships passed through the Suez Canal, while this year during the same period, only 150 ships passed through, according to a New York Times article citing Marine Traffic, a maritime data platform.
The Red Sea attacks have not claimed a single casualty, while US and British strikes on Yemen in response to the threat to “freedom of navigation,” have killed dozens of people.
On Thursday, the US said, cited by AFP, that it had seized an Iranian weapons shipment in January destined for the Yemeni rebel group.