A helicopter Houthi attack on an Israel-linked ship in the Red Sea highlights the danger now lurking in one of the world's key shipping routes as the Israel-Hamas war rages, as well as the rebels' tactics mirroring those of its chief sponsor, Iran. While Tehran has denied aiding the Yemen rebel group in its attack Sunday, the targeted ship before the assault passed by an American-sanctioned Iranian cargo vessel suspected as serving as a forward spying base in the Red Sea. The rebels, dressed in bulletproof vests carrying assault rifles, covered each other and moved in military formation before quickly seizing control of the bridge of the Galaxy Leader. While their body-cam footage serves as propaganda to bolster their own position in Yemen amid protests against their rule, it also signals a new maritime front has opened in a region long focused on the Persian Gulf, reports the AP.
It also puts new pressure on commercial shippers traveling those waters, threatens to increase insurance costs that will pass onto consumers, and likely further stretches the US Navy as it tries to serve as the region's security guarantor. "This has all the signs these people were trained by a professional military, which could clearly be Iran," a US defense official told the AP on condition of anonymity. "This looks like something we haven't seen before." It's not just the US and Israel suspecting Iranian involvement, however. The risk intelligence firm RANE referred to the tactics employed by the Houthis as reminiscent of those used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard when seizing vessels in the past. Ambrey, a private intelligence firm, similarly referred to the operation as an "Iranian-style vessel seizure" that "provides the Houthis with a negotiation lever."
"The incident displayed a significant increase in the Houthis' capability to disrupt merchant shipping," Ambrey said. "The sophistication of the operation suggests that Iranian involvement is highly likely." The Galaxy Leader, linked to Israeli billionaire Abraham "Rami" Ungar, also passed by the Iranian cargo vessel Behshad before the attack Sunday, according to satellite imagery. An Iranian Foreign Ministry rep denied involvement, saying, "Those accusations are void, and a result of the complicated situation the Zionist regime is struggling with." However, Hamas has Iran as one of its main sponsors. The Houthis have been able to fly this year a Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jet over the capital, Sanaa, during a military parade, along with a Northrop F-5 Tiger combat aircraft at another. A Houthi parade also saw Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopters flying—the same model used in Sunday's attack.
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This makes the Red Sea, which stretches from Egypt's Suez Canal down to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula, increasingly dangerous for shipping. That narrow strait, some 18 miles across at its tightest point, is crucial for cargo and energy shipments. The US has sent more vessels into and through the Red Sea, including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group. The Eisenhower is now in the Gulf of Oman, according to satellite images, meaning there are fewer US Navy assets in the Red Sea. And if the next attack sees fatalities—particularly of US or Israeli nationals—that raises the risk of a wider war breaking out on the seas. "Significant Houthi interference with commercial shipping through the Strait is almost certain to trigger US intervention due to the political and potentially economic implications," the Soufan Center warned. (More Houthis stories.)
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