Yemen’s April rebels have carried out attacks on ships in an attempt to pressure Israel into a cease-fire in Gaza.
As a side effect of the war in Gaza, more and more large forwarding companies have announced that they will suspend traffic through the Red Sea. The reason is the attacks on ships carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which have been aimed at pressuring Israel into a cease-fire in Gaza.
The decision was announced over the weekend by the world’s largest container shipping company MSC Mediterranean Shipping and the French shipping company and container company CMA CGM. Already on Friday, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, which belong to the world’s largest forwarding companies, made the same decision.
The Red Sea, which connects to the Mediterranean Sea through Egypt’s Suez Canal, is a vital route for international trade. It is fresh in my mind how the Ever Given cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal for almost a week in 2021, mixing up the world’s cargo traffic.
The importance of the trade route for world trade as well as for Egypt was reminded by a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Timo R. Stewart message service in X.
– The lock will be very expensive and that is why we are trying to decide it soon. The Yemeni Houthis will surely soon find out that they took too big a piece, Stewart estimates.
The Houthis, who carry out the attacks, control the northern parts of Yemen. Middle East correspondent for the British magazine The Economist Gregg Carlstrom to point out also in Xthat the jamming of transportation also hurts Yemen – a poor country that imports food and fuel via the Red Sea.
According to Carlstrom, the increase in prices caused by the shutdown will hit the countries of the global south most strongly.
USA and Britain shoot down drones
Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked an MSC ship in the Red Sea on Friday. No one was injured in the attack, but the ship was damaged.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have also carried out drone and missile strikes towards Israel. On Saturday, attacks hit the southern Israeli seaside town of Eilat.
On Saturday, a US warship shot down a dozen drones that had been launched from Houthi areas in Yemen, the US military said. According to the US, it was a one-way attack aircraft that was repelled without damage or injury to the ships.
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps reported that the British destroyer HMS Diamond in the X area shot down a fighter jet sent towards a merchant ship with an interceptor missile in the Red Sea.
Sources: AFP, Reuters