Protecting Commercial Ships in Red Sea Against Houthi Missiles: A Challenging Task
The latest Houthi attacks on American, British and Israeli ships in the Red Sea have sparked questions about the Houthi military capabilities and unleashed concerns about the safety of international navigation in Bab Al-Mandeb, one of world trade's most crucial chokepoints.
Despite the Houthis' continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea, no declared military action has been taken against the group. Presently, the U.S. is calculating establishing a naval task force to guard commercial vessels in the Red Sea. It seems the U.S. and its allies prefer to protect vessels instead of attacking the Houthis or incapacitating them.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the U.S. has been in active conversations with allies about setting up the escorts, describing such a move as a "natural" response to such threats.
Sullivan told reporters, "We are in talks with other countries about a maritime task force of sorts involving the ships from partner nations alongside the United States in ensuring safe passage."
On Sunday, Houthi ballistic missiles struck three commercial vessels in the Red Sea, and such attacks, according to the U.S. National Security Advisor, "show the level of recklessness" of the Houthis.
The group used anti-ship ballistic missiles on Sunday, and this points to their considerable military capabilities. Fabian Hinz, a research fellow specializing in Middle East defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, told Newsweekthat Houthis' "anti-ship missile arsenal is not only comparable but superior to probably most state actors."
According to Hinz, anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles are "a very, very niche capability that only very few countries have—including Iran—and Iran shared it with the Houthis."
The Houthi involvement in the Gaza-Israel war has been under the spotlight over the past few weeks, and many people in different countries have raised questions about the group's arsenal and how it amassed weapons.
Sheba Intelligence revealed in a previous report that the Houthi group has 14 types of drones. Drones have two tasks: monitoring and reconnaissance and attack and targeting. Hence, the drones that the Houthis possess are designed to carry out both functions at the same time, especially the suicide drones that are used to direct missiles at still targets.
According to the report, the Houthis use specific types of drones for monitoring and reconnaissance, and such drones are named Raqeeb, Hudhud 1, Rasid, Marsad, and Sammad 1. Most of the Houthi drones are developed by Iranian experts, the report said.
Another report by Sheba Intelligence revealed 30 types of Houthi missiles. The missiles have three ranges: short, middle, and long and air defense missiles.
In 2017, the Houthi group killed Saleh and defeated his forces after a few days of clashes in Sanaa. Therefore, the group inherited all the military capabilities of the Yemeni state, including missile depots. It also received significant Iranian support, including missiles of Iranian versions, and could smuggle many types of missiles into Yemen.
The report explained that the Houthis seized the Yemeni army's stock of missiles. They also obtained Iranian missiles developed from Chinese and Russian types through smuggling or aerial delivery when they took control of the capital, Sana'a, in 2014.
Since October 19, missiles from Yemen have kept flying toward Israel and ships in the Red Sea. While Israel has managed to intercept Houthi missiles, which many of them fell short, commercial ships in the Red Sea are easy targets and within the range of Houthi missiles.