Houthis Will Use 'Submarine Weapons' In Red Sea Action

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis will escalate their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters and have introduced "submarine weapons", in continued solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war, the group's leader said yesterday.

- JONATHAN SAUL, NAYERA ABDALLAH

Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes 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 a route that accounts for about 12 per cent of global maritime traffic, forcing firms to take a longer, more expensive route around Africa.

The leader’s speech came the same day the Houthis sent shippers and insurers formal notice of what they termed a ban on vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain from sailing in surrounding seas, seeking to reinforce their military campaign.

The Houthis’ communication, the first to the shipping industry outlining a ban, came in the form of two notices from the Houthis’ newly dubbed Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre sent to shipping insurers and firms.