Free Republic

Despite an agreement with China to give safe passage to all Chinese shipping in the Red Sea, the Houthis struck a Chinese ship with a ballistic missile on Saturday.From 2:50 to 4:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) March 23, the Iranian-backed Houthis launched four anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) into the Red Sea in the vicinity of M/V Huang Pu, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated oil tanker.At 4:25 p.m. (Sanaa time), a fifth ballistic missile was detected as fired toward M/V Huang Pu. The ship issued a distress call but did not request assistance. M/V Huang Pu suffered minimal damage, and a fire on...

Half the workers at Eilat Port are on the verge of losing their jobs after the seaport took a major financial hit due to the crisis in Red Sea shipping lanes, Israel’s main labor federation says. Eilat sits on a northern tip of the Red Sea and was one of the first ports to be affected as shipping firms rerouted vessels to avoid attacks by the Houthis in Yemen.

The major disruption caused by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea is hardly the only trouble spot in the world’s increasingly dangerous seas. An Indian navy warship has intercepted a hijacked cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, safely rescued all 17 crew members, and detained all 35 Somali pirates. The Indian navy vessel INS Kolkata came to the rescue of the Bulgarian ship MV Ruen, which was hijacked by pirates back on December 14, 2023. The operation lasted no less than 40 hours. The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful action by Somali pirates in the past six...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine.

The Yemeni militia’s three-and-a-half month long campaign of ship seizures, missile and drone strikes has added billions of dollars to global commercial shipping costs, with the fighters vowing to continue their partial blockade of the Red Sea until Israel halts the war in Gaza. The Houthis will continue their operations against Israel-affiliated commercial vessels and Western warships in the Red Sea throughout the holy month of Ramadan, militia spokesman Yahya Saree has announced. “We will continue to prevent navigation to the ports of occupied Palestine until the end of the aggression and the siege of Gaza,” Saree said in a...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Demand for transporting goods from Asia to Europe by rail via Russia has increased by an average of 30% since the start of the Red Sea crisis, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing logistics companies and rail operators. German shipping company DHL said that requests to transport goods on Russian railways have increased by 40% since container ships began traveling along alternative routes following the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the report said on Sunday. At the same time, Netherlands-based Rail Bridge Cargo said that rail freight traffic via Russia was 31% higher this year compared...

The head of the Yemeni Houthi terrorist organization, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, issued remarks on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on Sunday guaranteeing to his supporters that he would continue to orchestrate terrorist attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea despite the holiday season. “We will continue our operations and many of our fundamental and necessary activities must continue,” Houthi promised, according to the Iranian state Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Houthi’s terrorist group, formally known as “Ansar Allah,” began a campaign of drone and missile strikes against seemingly random ships attempting to navigate in the greater...

Three sailors have died and others have been injured after a Houthi missile attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden, US officials have said – the first fatalities of crew of commercial shipping since the Houthis began launching strikes at ships in waters off Yemen last year. The officials told US news agencies that the crew of the MV True Confidence had abandoned ship after the attack, which was claimed by the Houthis. The British embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, posted on X: “At least two innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence...

After Biden came home from his Caribbean vacation, the Deputy Defense Secretary came back from hers and the Secretary of Defense was on the verge of being released from the hospital, airstrikes were finally authorized against the Houthi Jihadis attacking ships in the Red Sea. Biden said that the air strikes sent “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes.” The message was not very clear since the Houthis then struck a bulk...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An incident in the Red Sea has cut three underwater sea cables providing internet and telecommunications around the world as the waterway remains a target of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said Monday. A statement by Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications acknowledged the cuts but did not say what caused the lines to be severed. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in the Houthi campaign, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have denied attacking the lines,...

The first ship to sink as a result of Houthi rebel strikes is the Belize-flagged Rubymar, which descended into the depths of the Red Sea, officials announced Saturday. The Houthi attacks have had international implications as major companies have started avoiding the crucial shipping lanes and opting for safer - but longer and more expensive - routes. Via the Associated Press:The sinking of the Rubymar comes as shipping through the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe has been affected by the Houthi attacks.Already, many ships have turned away from the...

ADEN, Yemen, March 2 (Reuters) - The Rubymar cargo ship, attacked last month, has sunk in the southern Red Sea, Yemen's internationally recognised government said in a statement on Saturday. If verified, it would be the first vessel lost since Houthi militants began targeting commercial shipping in November. [ed., Sinking has since been verified by multiple outlets including UK maritime shipping office.] The government statement said the ship sunk on Friday night and warned of an "environmental catastrophe". The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it came under attack, the U.S. military's Central Command previously said.

German frigate Hessen caused a blunder in the Red Sea as it led EU's anti-Houthi mission. The German warship opened fire at American MQ-9 Reaper drone as it spotted it flying in the area. The warship mistook it for being a Houthi drone, however, its missiles failed to reach the drone due to a reported "technical defect." RT News reported that the Reaper drone was flying in the area with its transponder shut off. Watch for more details.

The Biden administration’s legal justification for its attacks on Houthi militants in Yemen is “laughable,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said at a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing Tuesday on United States actions in the Red Sea. Speaking to defense officials, Kaine said though “Houthi behavior is abhorrent,” he has “grave skepticism” about the administration’s interpretation of presidential military powers under Article 2 of the Constitution. “A narrow mission to defend U.S. shipping, both military and commercial — that is Article 2 self-defense,” Kaine said. “Article 2 self-defense means you can defend U.S. personnel, you can defend U.S. military assets, you...

3 submarine cables cut in the Red Sea between Jeddah and Djibouti. AAE-1, EIG and SEACOM/TGN-Eurasia are down. Note: Authorities looking at potential terror link. Confirmed: Submarine cables cut by Houthis in Yemen waters. To repair the cables, need permission from Yemen to enter their waters Insurance companies have canceled insurance for cable ships to ply in Yemen waters No maintenance cable ships willing to do repairs Cable ships cost $60-&100 million each. Who will take the risk?

An attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels on a Belize-flagged ship earlier this month caused an 18-mile (29-kilometer) oil slick, the U.S. military said Saturday. It also warned of the danger of a spill from the vessel’s cargo of fertilizer. The Rubymar, a British-registered, Lebanese-operated cargo vessel, was attacked on Feb. 18 while sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, U.S. Central Command said. The missile attack forced the crew to abandon the vessel, which had been on its way to Bulgaria after leaving Khorfakkan in the United Arab Emirates. It was...

DUBAI/ADEN/LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and a drone assault on an American destroyer on Thursday, and they targeted Israel’s port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones. The statement by a Houthi representative on social media site X came shortly after the group’s leader said it was ramping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters – including with new “submarine weapons” -to mirror Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

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Two missiles have hit a ship off Yemen and caused a fire on board, authorities say, in another apparent attack by Yemen's rebel Houthi movement. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said the unnamed vessel was in the Gulf of Aden when it was attacked and that US-led coalition forces had responded. A maritime security firm identified it as a Palau-flagged cargo ship. There was no claim from the Houthis, but they have been targeted merchant vessels in the region since November.

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