Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has vowed that the Yemeni militant group will expand its attack on Israel-linked commercial shipping to prevent vessels from passing through the Indian Ocean to go around southern Africa.
“The leader of Yemen's Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday the group's operations targeting vessels will escalate to prevent Israel-linked ships from passing through the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope.
‘Our main battle is to prevent ships linked to the Israeli enemy from passing through not only the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but also the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope. This is a major step and we have begun to implement our operations related to it’, al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
The Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Around 34 Houthi members have been killed since the group began the attacks, al-Houthi added.
The turmoil from Israel's war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has spilled over to some extent into other parts of the Middle East. Apart from the Houthi attacks on vital shipping lanes, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded fire with Israel along the Israel-Lebanon border and pro-Iran Iraqi militia have attacked bases that host U.S. forces.
The United States and Britain have launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and redesignated the militia as a terrorist group”. -Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba, Reuters
It appears that the U.S.-UK joint bombing campaign against the Houthis has only served to make matters in the region worse, as the Yemeni group, which has been successful in forcing firms to re-route to much longer journeys around the Cape of Good Hope, will now orchestrate attacks on merchant ships in the Indian Ocean that are trying to bypass the Red Sea.