In the Red Sea, a strategic area located between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the weekend was extremely turbulent. Monday evening, the American army announced that a missile fired from areas controlled by the Houthis had hit a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, without causing any casualties. This Tuesday, this rebel organization in Yemen claimed responsibility for the shooting.
A “naval headquarters” for Israel
“Naval units of the Yemeni armed forces targeted a Norwegian tanker, the Strinda, carrying fuel for Israel,” said a military spokesperson for the Houthis, Yahya Saree. The latter had threatened on Saturday to attack any ship in the Red Sea heading towards Israel if the population of the Gaza Strip did not receive emergency aid. The head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, denounced a “naval siege”. “If the world does not take care of this, because it is an international problem, we will act to put an end to this naval siege,” he warned.
Earlier, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, 110 kilometers from the Yemeni coast, near Hodeida, a port in northern Yemen under rebel control, a French ship was targeted. The Languedoc multi-mission frigate (FREMM), deployed in the Red Sea for a national maritime security mission, fired Aster 15 anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down drones heading straight towards it, according to AFP information. Such a launch of surface-to-air missiles in self-defense is a first for the French Navy.
9% of global oil traffic
“This attack is part of a context of increasing attacks and acts of piracy in the Red Sea” by the Houthis, “which constitute a very worrying increase in attacks on freedom of navigation in this area”, according to the French Ministry of Affairs Foreign Affairs, which reiterates its call to the rebels “to immediately stop attacks on civilians and threats to freedom of movement and navigation”, he continued.
Last week, they had already attacked two ships off the Yemeni coast, including a Bahamian-flagged vessel, claiming they belonged to Israelis. An American destroyer also shot down three drones while providing assistance to commercial ships in the Red Sea targeted by attacks from Yemen, according to Washington. On November 19, they seized the merchant ship Galaxy Leader which belongs to a British company, itself owned by an Israeli businessman.
If there are dozens of rebel attacks in the Red Sea, it is because it is a crucial economic zone where 9% of global oil traffic passes. Both the United States and France therefore have strategic interests there.
“If the ships do not pass the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, they will have to go around the entire African continent, which means that transport will take two or three times longer, but above all will cost a lot more. And so, we can imagine the consequences for production, energy costs in Europe and other parts of the world,” analyzes Rym Momtaz, geopolitics expert at the IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies) of TF1. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait constitutes the fourth maritime passage in the world for the transport of hydrocarbons.