Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Who are the Houthis and why are they attacking ships in the Red Sea?
After the formation of the Republic of Yemen in 1990, a Shia religious
and cultural movement occurred in northern Yemen led by al-Houthi. Over time,
it became an opposition movement to Yemen’s leadership backed by Saudi Arabia,
Sunni, and the US. The movement gained power and influence over the governance
of Yemen and took control of much of northern Yemen in late 2014. Their
opponents have been Yemen itself backed by Saudi Arabia, UAE, the US and its
allies, and Israel while being supported by Shia Iran and allying with Hamas
and Hezbollah. Recently, Houthis have
been attacking passing commercial and merchant ships in the Red Sea, a narrow
seawater inlet between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean where 12% of global
trade flows, claiming as revenge against Israel’s war against Gaza. They use
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, missiles, speedboats, and
helicopters to strike or capture unarmed commercial ships. These attacks
threatened the flow of goods, materials, and fuels during the holiday season,
having made freight liners take a much longer route via South Africa. Even
though the Houthis movement is still limited in the far west of Asia, it is
affecting the world economy.
Read the article and learn about the recent threat occurring in the Red
Sea.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/19/middleeast/red-sea-crisis-explainer-houthi-yemen-israel-intl/index.html
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