Houthis Escalating Red Sea Attacks on Shipping

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and a drone assault on an American destroyer on Thursday, and they targeted Israel’s port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones.

The statement by a Houthi representative on social media site X came shortly after the group’s leader said it was ramping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters – including with new “submarine weapons” -to mirror Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November in support of Palestinians, as the Israel-Hamas war continues and the Gaza death toll reaches almost 30,000.

“Operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden are continuing, escalating, and effective,” Abdul Malik al-Houthi added in a televised speech. He gave no details of the submarine weapons.

The group’s strikes are disrupting the vital Suez Canal trade shortcut that accounts for about 12% of global maritime traffic, and forcing firms to take a longer, more expensive route around Africa.

Militant leader al-Houthi said retaliatory strikes by the U.S.-British coalition have failed to stop its campaign.