Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world. Yemen faced a civil war in 2014 when the Shia Muslim Houthi movement captured the capital Sana’a and since then the civil war has continued in the country.
Since the start of the civil war, a Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis has carried out a long period of airstrikes in Yemen. These actions not only caused more destruction in Yemen but also led to poverty in the country.
Despite the country’s civil war and poverty, the Houthis have threatened to disrupt shipping since November last year and have demonstrated their prowess in this regard. Britain and the United States have now retaliated after the attacks on cargo ships by the Houthis.
This recent action by the United States and the United Kingdom against the Houthi fighters in Yemen may have serious effects on the global economy.
Where is Yemen and what is its importance in the region?
Much of the power or support the Houthis have to disrupt maritime traffic comes from the geographic location of the area they control.
The Iran-backed Houthis have controlled large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, the country’s north and the Red Sea coast since seizing power in 2014.
This gives them control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the shortest sea route connecting Europe to Asia, within their weapons range, meaning they can target any cargo ship passing through it.
Why are the Houthis attacking ships in the Red Sea?
According to the US military’s Central Command, Yemen’s Houthis have carried out at least 26 separate attacks on cargo ships transiting the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19, 2023.
The Houthis claim that these attacks have been carried out in response to ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza and say that these attacks have targeted ships in contact with Israel.
However, critics say most of the recent attacks have been carried out on ships that have no connection to Israel.
They say that the Houthis are doing this to increase their popularity and demonstrate their capabilities while taking advantage of the situation in Gaza to prove Iran as an ally.
Current military capability of the Houthis
In recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis have used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (USVs).
In their initial attacks, the Houthis also attempted to board or capture ships using small boats or helicopters.
It is believed that the UAVs or so-called ‘kamikaze drones’ deployed by the Houthis in these areas are ‘Qassif drones’ which are also capable of long-range strikes and have a distinctive V-shape. There is a tail. They were initially acquired by the Houthis for use in their long-running conflict with Saudi Arabia.
According to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Houthis have anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 80 to 300 kilometers, including the Sayed and Sejal missiles.
The think tank says that the Houthis’ anti-ship ballistic missiles can easily hit targets up to 300 kilometers away. According to the Washington Institute, these missiles are very difficult to stop because they travel long distances and hit their targets with lightning speed.
These drones, ships or forces need ‘intelligence information’ for timely targeting.
Ballistic and cruise missiles are more dangerous than drones because “they have larger warheads and greater maneuverability,” said naval historian Sal Mercogliano.
“One-way drones are more common, because they’re cheaper and easier to put together,” says Mercogliano. But they have a major drawback that they are slow.
But Mercogliano believes that it is USVs that are ‘exceptionally troublesome’, ‘because they collide with ships on the surface of the water, meaning they sink by going into the water. .’
In this current climate of insurgency, the Houthis first used unmanned aerial vehicles packed with explosives on January 4 to target international shipping, according to the US Navy.
U.S. Navy Commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper described the attack as the use of “a new capability,” saying, “Fortunately, there were no casualties and no ships were hit, but the USV But a unilateral attack is a cause for concern.
However, according to the Saudi government, the Houthis used USVs in an attack on the Saudi frigate al-Madinah in January 2017 and then in a “failed attack on an oil tanker bound for Aden in Yemen in March 2020”.
Who is supporting the Houthis?
The Houthis are backed by Iran and have described themselves as a ‘symbol of resistance’, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, Hamas in Gaza and other Iran-backed groups against Israel and the US.
In February 2023, the British government said it had presented evidence to the United Nations that linked the Iranian state and the Houthis to the smuggling of missile systems used to attack Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. indicate a relationship.
The British government says the Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose seized Iranian weapons from speedboats operated by smugglers in international waters south of Iran on two occasions in early 2022.
The attack included the engines of surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface cruise missiles and commercial quadcopter drones designed for surveillance activities, the report said.
Will the US-led offensive stop the Houthis?
The US, Britain and a dozen other countries are warning the Houthis to stop their attacks and in December 2023, a multinational called ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ to tackle security problems in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Gathered the force.
On the night of Thursday 11 January, the coalition counter-attacked.
The U.S. Air Force says that U.S. forces, with the support of the United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, hit more than 60 targets in 16 locations used by Houthi fighters in Yemen.
But analysts say years of airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies have failed to completely defeat the Houthis.
