The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization of Yemen claimed on Thursday that it had successfully conducted a drone attack on Tel Aviv, Israel, urging jihadists throughout the region to unite to destroy Israel.
Separately, a report by the Reuters news agency on Thursday revealed that Houthi terrorists have begun an intimidation campaign in which they reach out to global shipping companies directly by email, telling them to avoid sending ships into the Red Sea or face deadly bombings. The Houthis launched a campaign against all international shipping last year following a declaration of war against Israel, claiming they would only seek to disrupt international trade with Israel. In reality, however, the Houthis have bombed dozens of civilian ships in the Gulf of Aden area and the Red Sea, including some associated with Houthi allies such as Russia, China, and Iran.
Houthi supporters attend an anti-Israel and anti-American rally in Sanaa, Yemen, on August 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, are an Iran-allied Shiite terrorist organization that launched an attempted coup in Yemen in 2014, triggering the ongoing civil war in that country. The group currently controls the national capital, Sana’a, relegating the legitimate government of Yemen to the southern port city of Aden. The official motto of Ansar Allah is “God Is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
Top Houthi spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree made an announcement of what he described as the “fifth phase” of war against Israel, a series of allegedly successful drone attacks on Israeli territory. Saree claimed, “Multiple drones successfully struck important targets within the city without interception from Israeli defense systems,” according to the pro-Hezbollah outlet Al-Manar.
“The operation achieved its goals successfully as the drones reached their targets without the enemy being able to confront or shoot them down,” al-Arabiya, a Saudi news outlet, quoted Saree as saying on Thursday.
In reality, the Times of Israel reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the identification, and successful intercepting, of three drones, resulting in “no damage or injuries.” The three drones were shot down over the sea; only one of them hit land, an “open area.”
While failed, the attack is notable as it represents an increase in belligerent activity by the Houthis directly attacking Israel, as opposed to the Red Sea campaign against all of global commerce. The Times of Israel reported that the Houthis had launched over 220 missiles and drones at Israel since they first declared war on Israel, though most had targeted Eilat, a southern Israeli port city on the Red Sea whose economy has suffered significantly from the Houthi anti-shipping campaign. Prior to Thursday, Houthi terrorists most recently targeted Tel Aviv with a surface-to-surface missile last week, which the IDF intercepted successfully. Similar missile attacks occurred, causing no damage, throughout September.
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Independent of direct violence against Israel, the Houthis have continued to terrorize international shipping companies by bombing ships they claim, often incorrectly, to have some ties to the Israeli economy. Reuters revealed on Thursday that Houthi leaders, beyond randomly bombing ships, had begun sending threatening emails to global shipping companies demanding they stay out of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
An unnamed Greek shipping company confirmed to Reuters that it received an email in May from a send identifying itself as the Yemeni Houthi “government.” The Houthis claimed to blacklist the company for allegedly allowing one of their ships to dock in an Israeli port.
“You bear the responsibility and consequences of including the vessel in the ban list,” the email reportedly said, claiming the ship in question would be “directly targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces [sic] in any area they deem appropriate.”
“The warning message was the first of more than a dozen increasingly menacing emails sent to at least six Greek shipping companies since May,” Reuters detailed. “The threats were also, for the first time in recent months, directed at entire fleets, increasing the risks for those vessels still trying to cross the Red Sea.”
Houthi emails reportedly targeted both shipping companies and insurance companies, a clear attempt to force the increase of insurance rates for global shipping companies and further disrupt international trade.
The result has been a catastrophic collapse in ship traffic through the Suez Canal in Egypt, leaving the Egyptian government with a meaningful decline in revenue. Egyptian authorities reportedly documented an over 64-percent decrease in revenue from Suez Canal fees year-on-year from May 2023 to May 2024, representing over $300 million. Egypt’s financial authorities have had to reconfigure the nation’s finances, including. selling resort-equipped land to foreign investors, to make up for some of the losses from the shipping fiasco.
The Houthis have been able to attack dozens of ships, sinking two of them, with minimal intervention from the international community. In December, the administration of outgoing American President Joe Biden announced a plan called “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” allegedly boasting a large coalition of foreign navies, meant to protect commercial shipping in the region, but the Pentagon never confirmed the members of the partnership, and “Operation Prosperity Guardian” has taken minimal action against the Houthis.
In June, a coalition of shipping organizations, convened by the World Shipping Council, signed a letter demanding world governments to do more to stop Houthi attacks.
“We call for States with influence in the region to safeguard our innocent seafarers and for the swift de-escalation of the situation in the Red Sea,” the letter read. “We have heard the condemnation and appreciate the words of support, but we urgently seek action to stop the unlawful attacks on these vital workers and this vital industry.”