Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen, have warned to target all ships sailing through the Red Sea bound for Israel. Attacks, they say, will continue until Gaza receives the food and medicine it needs. They are certainly having an impact.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.
In November, Houthi rebels hijacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea.The owner of this ship may be related to Israel. In the last two months, Houthi rebels have targeted many merchant ships here with rockets and drones.
Houthi rebels have fired missiles and drones towards Israel
Since Israel's retaliatory attacks on Gaza began on October 7 following the Hamas attack, Houthi rebels have fired several missiles and drones towards Israel.
America says that its warships present in the Red Sea had shot down some of these missiles and drones, while some fell in the Red Sea in the Egyptian territorial waters.
In November 2023, Houthi rebels captured a cargo ship in the Red Sea. They said it belonged to Israel. They took it to a place on the coast of Yemen.
Israel says that neither the ship belonged to Israel nor was any member of its crew Israeli. But unconfirmed reports suggest that the owner of this ship may be an Israeli citizen.
Houthi rebels have targeted many merchant ships in the Red Sea
Since December 3, Houthi rebels have targeted many merchant ships in the Red Sea. For this, they have used drones and ballistic missiles from the area under their control on the coast of Yemen.
American, British and French warships shot down many such air-to-air weapons, yet many ships were hit by them.
Several companies pulling their ships from the Red Sea
The world's largest carrier, Mediterranean Shipping Company, has said it is pulling its ships from the Red Sea.
French companies CMA CDM, Danish company Maersk, German company Hapeg-Lloyd and oil company BP have also taken a similar decision.
Centcom, which oversees America's military activities in the Middle East, has said, "These attacks may have been carried out by Houthi rebels from Yemen, but they were completely carried out by Iran."
The US has proposed creating a naval taskforce to protect merchant ships from attacks by Houthi rebels.
According to America's research institute 'Combating Terrorism Center', Hezbollah has been providing them with military expertise and training on a large scale since 2014.
The Houthis also call themselves allies of Iran because their common enemy is Saudi Arabia. It is suspected that Iran is also providing arms to the Houthi rebels.
Iran equipped the Houthi rebels with ballistic missiles: US
The US and Saudi Arabia say Iran equipped the Houthi rebels with ballistic missiles, which were used in the 2017 attack on the Saudi capital Riyadh. These missiles were shot down in the air itself.
Saudi Arabia has also accused Iran of providing cruise missiles and drones to the Houthi rebels, which were used to attack Saudi Arabia's oil factories in 2019.
Houthi rebels have fired thousands of short-range missiles at Saudi Arabia
Houthi rebels have fired thousands of short-range missiles at Saudi Arabia and have also targeted the UAE.
Supplying such weapons means violating the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations. But Iran rejects all these allegations.
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