Houthi rebels in Yemen have indiscriminately attacked more than 70 vessels in the Red Sea since October 2023, disrupting an estimated $1 trillion in commerce on shipping lanes crucial to Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
A United States-led coalition tasked with preserving maritime security in the region has repeatedly intercepted the missiles and drones targeting vessels. The number of ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, has stabilized at about 1,000 per month, Vice Adm. George Wikoff, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces, said in an August 2024 interview hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute.
Wikoff said about 2,000 ships transited the strait monthly before October 2023. He called the current situation an “unacceptable stabilization.”
Operation Prosperity Guardian involves more than 20 nations committed to maritime security. Its mission also includes information sharing through the Joint Maritime Information Center, which provides shipping companies with regional threat assessments.
“Our Sailors have been tasked to do an extremely difficult job,” Wikoff said. “They know they’re going to be engaged. They put the conflict on the bow, and they steam right into it. … They’re the best trained, best equipped Navy in history and we’re seeing it right now. … The whole battery of weapons systems, both defensive and offensive, are being used in different scenarios.”
The Houthis, who have waged a decade-long civil war in Yemen, claim to be acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Their indiscriminate strikes on civilian shipping and military vessels predate the Hamas-Israel war, however. The Iran-backed group is blamed for attacks on at least 25 vessels in the Red Sea between 2016 and October 2023, when the war began. Mariners from almost 120 nations have been targeted in the latest attacks, Wikoff said.
Such assaults wreak havoc on vulnerable populations, disrupting aid to Yemen, where the United Nations says nearly 18 million people face acute food insecurity, and other nations in the Red Sea region, home to an estimated 30 million people at risk of starvation.
The Houthis, Wikoff said, “continue to threaten shipping and those very ships that will bring aid.”
While the global shipping industry has largely absorbed the cost of detouring thousands of kilometers to avoid the Red Sea, nations including Egypt, Jordan and Saudia Arabia face economic disruption to shipping and tourism.
“The reality in front of the globe is pretty clear,” Wikoff said. The Houthis “are seeding tremendous unrest. They don’t care for the people that they’re claiming to represent.”
He said preserving maritime security also requires diplomacy.
“The entire globe is impacted by this problem,” he said. “And we can certainly try with some warships and some Sailors and some folks trying their best to preserve maritime security, but this is going to require a global solution. And the more players on the field that can get involved in the diplomatic piece of this, the better off I think we’ll be.”
