A big move has been announced by the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, to extend their terror campaign beyond the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Chief Abdul Malik al-Houth announced his militants would now attack warships related to Israel down to the southern point of Africa.
According to al-Houthi’s broadcast statement, the primary objective is to block Israeli enemy ships from traversing the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, as well as the Arabian and Red Seas and the Gulf of Aden.
For more than ten years, the international community paid little attention to the Shia terrorist organization that is now in charge of the majority of Yemen.
One of the busiest maritime channels has become an active battlezone since the Israel-Gaza conflict broke out, and they went from being relatively obscure to holding about £1 trillion worth of global commerce hostage.
As Israel maintains its bombardment in Gaza, the Yemeni militia with ties to Iran has been attacking vessels since last November in support of Hamas.
Reports show ships worldwide have had to reroute and take longer, more costly routes around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope due to months of Houthi strikes, which have hampered global trade. With the Houthis’ new threat, however, not even this previously secure route is safe, and shipping costs might skyrocket worldwide.
There was a more than 300 percent increase in the price of shipping containers worldwide from November to January. Concerns that the conflict between Israel and Hamas may escalate into a regional upheaval have been heightened by the Houthis’ persistent naval strikes.
The United States and the United Kingdom reclassified the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization and carried out a series of airstrikes on Houthi military installations in Yemen. Al-Houthi claimed that the assaults had resulted in the deaths of 34 of his men.
The first deadly Houthi attack on a US cargo vessel occurred off the coast of southern Yemen on March 7th, killing three sailors.
The crew of the Liberian-owned tanker True Confidence, which flew the flag of Barbados, had to be rescued from an inflatable raft in the Gulf of Aden after the ship was hit by missiles, killing three people on board.
The UK-owned carrier Rubymar was the first vessel to sink in March after surviving a missile hit for two weeks. Everyone on board was rescued.
