Yemen's Houthis Employ Gunboats to Deepen Presence in Red Sea(Video)

Sheba Intelligence | 2023-12-13 01:59 PM UTC

The Houthi group in Yemen dominates approximately 350 kilometers of the Red Sea coastal line, extending from Al-Khokha in Al-Hudaydah to Midi to Hajjah and many strategic islands. From their bases on the coastal line, the Houthis launched dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and near Bab al-Mandab.

Houthi operations in international shipping lanes represent a serious threat to civilian and military ships passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, from which about 4.8 million barrels of oil, equivalent to 12% of global trade, pass every day.

The Houthis have used gunboats in their naval attacks. These boats are either self-driving suicide boats or attack boats carrying personnel and missiles. There are other boats employed for various reconnaissance and intelligence operations.

The idea of suicide boats is not new but has been used during wars by countries including Germany, Italy, and Israel, as well as by armed organizations such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Al-Qaeda.

This report attempts to find out the Houthis' maritime capabilities, especially the gunboats.

First: Naval boats owned by the Houthis:

First: Self-driving suicide boats: They are simply small boats loaded with explosives that ram the target ship. The cost of self-driving boats is not high, and the operators can control them from a safe distance. This helps hide the fingerprints of the crews that control these boats.

The Houthi group, with Iranian assistance, modified at least two different types of boats that were owned by the Yemeni army before 2014:

1- Shark-33: These boats are considered very fast and are powered by two Yamaha outboard engines with a power of 200 horsepower. They are equipped with cameras, hydraulic steering gears, GPS antennas, navigational computers, and a P15-type anti-ship Soviet-made missile warhead and can be programmed to identify a target using electronic-optical television systems.

Experts pointed out that the Shark-33 boats share common characteristics with the LTTE suicide boats, and the change in their external design is likely a sign of a change in the Houthis' strategy regarding suicide boats.

2- Blowfish: They are very small boats and are more technically modified. These boats were modified to float at lower water levels, and they can have certain characteristics to reach their goals stealthily. A "Yamaha" outboard engine operates this type of boat, with a power of 200 horsepower. Such a boat is equipped with several different explosives, placed in wooden boxes, and distributed throughout the structure. These boats are also equipped with GPS systems and many electronic components.

3- Tufan-1, which has the following features:

- Homemade self-driving surface vehicle.

- It can carry a warhead weighing up to 150 kg.

It is characterized by its small size, high speed, and ability to evade radar systems.

- It can reach speeds of up to 35 nautical miles per hour.

- It is used to target moving and stationary marine targets from close range.

4- Tufan-2, which has the following characteristics:

- Homemade self-driving surface vehicle.

- It can carry a load of up to 400 kg of explosives.

-It has high speed and the ability to evade radar systems.

- It can reach speeds of up to 41 nautical miles per hour.

- It is used to target moving and stationary naval targets at the medium range.

5-Tufan-3

- Homemade self-driving surface vehicle.

- It can carry a load of up to 500 kg of explosives.

-It has high speed and the ability to evade radar systems.

- It can reach speeds of up to 52 nautical miles per hour.

- It is used to target moving and stationary naval targets at the long range.

Second: Attack boats

1-Asif-1

-Homemade speedboat

- It can move at very high speeds and has excellent maneuverability.

- It can carry medium machine guns (MMG) and light machine guns (LMG) in addition to four fully equipped soldiers.

- It is used in raiding still and moving naval targets.

2-Asif-2

-Homemade speedboat

- It is used in various reconnaissance and intelligence operations and carries many electronic warfare weapons and radio jamming devices.

3-Asif-3

-Homemade speedboat.

- It can move at very high speed, and it is one of the fastest boats in the Yemeni army's arsenal and has excellent maneuverability.

- It can carry heavy machine guns, air defense weapons, such as machine guns and ZU-23, and six fully equipped soldiers.

- It is used to intercept moving naval targets and raid ships.

4-Al-Malah

-Homemade speedboat.

- It can move at very high speeds and has excellent maneuverability.

- It can carry MMG weapons, such as a 12.7 heavy machine gun, a 14.5 machine gun, and an RPG launcher.

Sources of the Houthis' gunboats

1- Yemeni army arsenal seized by the Houthi group after September 2014.

2- The boats that are seized and confiscated from fishermen, especially the modern ones which have been rehabilitated, equipped, and activated for the benefit of the Houthi naval force.

3- Iranian-made boats were smuggled to the port of Al-Hudaydah.

Places of manufacturing, equipping and launching boats by the Houthis

-Yemen's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Abdullah Al-Saadi, said that the Houthi group is using the city of Al-Hudaydah and its ports to prepare and launch booby-trapped boats.

- The Houthis use the boat docking site in the Al-Alawi area, north of the city of Al-Luhayah, which is a dense forest covered with mangrove trees, as a maintenance and equipment center for boats, in addition to other naval military purposes.

- A workshop for preparing and booby-trapping remotely piloted (suicide) boats on highlands overlooking the water and the navigation lane to the other interior side of Al-Luhayah, and equipped with surveillance and monitoring sites and military telecommunications networks. Al-Luhayah is 110 km north of Al-Hudaydah.

- A laboratory for assembling and booby-trapping boats in the Al-Jabbana coastal camp in Al-Hudaydah Governorate.

- An area for military trials near the port of Al-Salif, where the Houthis are testing booby-trapped boats.

-The report of the UN experts, which was submitted to the Security Council on January 29, 2022, indicated an increase in the launching of Houthi boats, sea mines, and drones that threaten cargo ships, and making use of Al-Salif, Ras Issa, and Al-Hudaydah Port to target navigation lanes in the southern Red Sea. According to the UN report, the launching of booby-trapped boats from Houthi-controlled areas has increased significantly, stressing that the Houthis deliberately collect these waterborne explosive devices in the ports of Al-Hudaydah and Salif and launch them from them.

Houthi Use of gunboats

-In January 2017, Houthis used a remote-controlled boat to strike a Saudi ship, killing two sailors and wounding three others.

-On July 30, 2017, the port of Mocha was targeted with a remotely operated boat rigged with explosives. It then collided with the pier and hit one of the ships anchored in the port. That was the first time that the Houthi group used booby-trapped boats in its naval attacks.

- In January 2018, the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces seized a Shark 33 unmanned surface boat after a failed attack.

- On September 9, 2018, Yemeni and Saudi forces found a remote-controlled suicide boat (Blow Fish) belonging to the Houthis off Al Fasht Island on the western coast of Yemen. After inspection, it was found that the small boat loaded with explosives had undergone major modifications aimed at reducing its visual visibility on the surface of the water.

Iranian support for the Houthis in the field of naval forces

1- booby-trapped boats with Iranian specifications

- Iran supplied the Houthis in Yemen with self-driving, remotely operated booby-trapped boats and provided experts and training. The Houthis installed explosives on modern boats confiscated from fishermen.

-Various sources confirmed the presence of Iranian experts supervising the workshops where suicide and attack boats are prepared in several places near the port of Al-Salif and the city of Al-Luhayah.

-On December 20, 2017, an American military source revealed in statements to CNN that the American army had detected an Iranian Shark 33 explosive boat at the Ras Issa pier near the port of Al-Hudaydah.

-According to US Department of Defense sources, the Houthi group is preparing more than 400 booby-trapped boats with the help of Iranian experts, who are training dozens of Houthis coming from Saada under the supervision of the personal guard of the group's leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and the security supervisor of Al-Hudaydah, Abu Ali al-Kahlani.

-On December 14, 2017, Laura Seal, a Defense Department spokesperson, displayed Shark 33 guidance components at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling that had been seized by the United Arab Emirates. "There are more than half a dozen pieces of evidence demonstrating that these components are directly traceable to Iran," she said.

2- Intelligence and logistical support, including:

- The Iranian ship "Safez" provided intelligence support to the Houthi group by monitoring the movement of ships belonging to the Arab coalition countries passing through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb for several years. Safez was attacked in March 2022 and replaced by the "Behshad" ship.

- On September 25, 2018, the spokesman for the Arab coalition, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, revealed the presence of an Iranian ship in the Red Sea for a long time, called "Safez," which represents a military operations room to coordinate and direct the Houthi operations. He said such a ship a warship, although it is registered as a commercial ship.

- The report of the UN experts, which was presented to the Security Council on January 29, 2022, concluded that it was impossible for the Houthis to independently operate the bomb-laden boats, especially in the attack on April 27, 2021, which targeted the Saudi port of Yanbu with two boats, due to the long distance from the Houthi-controlled coasts to Yanbu. The report said that the Iranian Saviz ship likely participated in launching these waterborne devices.

The Houthi threat to maritime security in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab

-Suicide and attack boats owned by the Houthis caused destruction and damage to some international cargo ships, the most important of which are the following:

- In 2016, the Emirati ship HSV-2 Swift was the first victim in a naval battle in Yemen, where it was attacked by a suicide boat directed by the Houthis.

On January 29, 2017, an explosive boat collided with a Saudi frigate, killing two sailors, in the first major strike carried out by the Houthis using this method.

-On January 30, 2017, a Saudi ship was targeted while on surveillance patrol west of the port of Al-Hudaydah with (3) suicide boats, which led to the death of two of its crew and the injury of 3 others.

-In April 2017, the Houthis attempted to blow up a fuel station and gas distribution station belonging to Saudi Aramco in Jizan. They used a high-speed boat equipped with explosives.

-In early June 2017, an oil tanker carrying the flag of the Marshall Islands called "Muskie" was subjected to a missile attack in Bab al-Mandeb, specifically between the Yemeni islands of Mayun and the Djiboutian Seba Islands, by a naval boat using 3 RPG shells, and no damage was caused.

- On June 15, 2017, the Houthis targeted an Emirati ship with a guided missile as it was leaving the port of Al-Mocha, west of Taiz, and a crew member was injured.

- On June 16, 2017, a "Shark-33" suicide boat was used in an unsuccessful attack on a Saudi naval loading facility in Jizan.

- In August 2017, an Emirati ship anchored in the port of Mokha, west of the city of Taiz, was attacked by a booby-trapped boat, but it was detonated before it reached its target.

- In November 2017, the coalition announced the thwarting of an imminent Houthi attack on ships in the Red Sea.

- On November 17, 2019, the Houthis seized a small Saudi ship and a boat carrying the South Korean flag as part of their systematic operations to pirate cargo ships.

-In early April 2018, a Saudi oil tanker was attacked west of the port of Al-Hudaydah.

-In May 2018, the Houthis attacked a Turkish ship loaded with foodstuffs with a missile.

-In July 2018, the Houthis attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, causing damage that almost caused a major environmental disaster.

- In July 2018, the Houthis attacked the Saudi oil tanker "Arsan" in the Red Sea, which was loaded with about two million barrels of oil, heading to Egypt.

-On July 22, 2019, the spokesman for the coalition forces to support legitimacy in Yemen, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, confirmed that the coalition forces are pursuing the Houthis who threaten maritime navigation. He indicated that the coalition forces dealt with a booby-trapped boat that was targeting a commercial ship in the Red Sea.

- In February 2020, the Houthis pirated an Omani ferry after it ran aground due to the winds to a small island under the control of the Houthis off the coast of Al-Hudaydah. The group arrested the ship's crew, consisting of 20 sailors of Egyptian and Indian nationality, for more than a year, and the Houthis placed the ferry under its military control to supply its fighters.

- In January 2022, the Houthis hijacked the Emirati ship "Rawabi" off the coast of Al-Hudaydah.

-In 2023, the Houthis exploited the Gaza-Israel war to gain popularity in Yemen and the Arab region by targeting ships in international shipping lanes.

Intercepting Houthi boats

- In April 2017, Saudi forces intercepted a remote-controlled boat carrying many explosives that attempted to target an oil depot and distribution station in Jizan, near the Yemeni border. According to media reports, the boat was launched from neighboring islands in Yemeni territory.

- On March 16, 2017, the Arab Coalition Navy intercepted three booby-trapped boats while they were trying to target ships near the port of Midi in Hajjah province (western Yemen).

-On July 30, 2017, the port of Mocha was targeted by an explosive self-driving boat. It then collided with the pier and hit one of the ships anchored in the port.

-In January 2018, Saudi Arabia thwarted an attack on an oil tanker carrying the Saudi flag. Three remote-controlled suicide boats were used in the attack.

- On August 23, 2018, Saudi forces in the Jazan region intercepted a Houthi booby-trapped boat as it attempted to blow up an Aramco oil products distribution dock and station.

On September 30, 2018, the Arab coalition announced the interception and destruction of two explosive-laden, remotely operated boats belonging to the Houthi group as they attempted to target the port of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia, causing minor material damage.

- In September 2018, the Yemeni Navy intercepted an unmanned Houthi boat carrying explosives in the Red Sea.

-In October 2018, the Arab Coalition announced that it had thwarted an attack by the Houthis that targeted the port of Jizan. The Royal Saudi Naval Forces said that they monitored the attempted attack when two remotely operated booby-trapped boats moved towards the port of Jizan and were intercepted and destroyed according to the rules of engagement, causing minor material damage.

-On June 21, 2019, the coalition destroyed about five booby-trapped boats north of Al-Hudaydah port.

-In July 2019, the coalition announced that it had dealt with a booby-trapped boat that attempted to target a commercial ship in the Red Sea.

- On September 19, 2019, the Saudi-led coalition announced that it had destroyed a Houthi booby-trapped boat in the southern Red Sea, accusing the Houthis of sending such a boat.

-In March 2020, the coalition thwarted 4 booby-trapped boats that targeted an oil tanker 90 nautical miles southeast of the port of "Nashtun" as it was sailing towards the Gulf of Aden.

-On March 16, 202, the Arab coalition announced that it intercepted a booby-trapped boat launched by the Houthi group towards Saudi Arabia. The Houthi bomb-laden boat was intercepted.

- In April 27, 2021 The Saudi Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of a remotely operated booby-trapped boat in the Red Sea off the Yanbu area.

On July 3, 2021, the Arab Coalition announced that it had thwarted an attack with two booby-trapped boats in Al-Salif, in Al-Hudaydah province.

-In early October 2021, the Arab Coalition announced the destruction of three Houthi booby-trapped boats in the Al-Luhaya District of Al-Hudaydah province.

On October 23, 2021, the Arab Coalition announced the destruction of 4 booby-trapped boats in Yemen's Al-Hudaydah, which were equipped to carry out operations against ships in the Red Sea.

- In October 2021, the Arab coalition announced that it had thwarted attacks targeting international shipping lines by bombing a factory for assembling and booby-trapping boats in the Al-Jabbana coastal camp in Al-Hudaydah. Four booby-trapped Houthi boats that were equipped to carry out operations were destroyed, bringing the total number of destroyed boats to 91.

- In 2021, the naval unit in the fifth military region of the Yemeni army announced the interception of 5 naval boats launched by the Houthis to threaten international navigation in the Red Sea.

-On October 30, 2021, the Arab Coalition announced that it had carried out "an operation targeting a site for assembling and detonating booby-trapped boats" in Al-Hudaydah.

- On December 25, 2021, the coalition announced the destruction of (100) boats launched by the Houthis to target international shipping lanes.

On January 4, 2022, the Arab Coalition announced that it had thwarted more than 100 Houthi naval attacks against cargo ships, oil tankers, and civilian ships.

-In January 2022, the Arab coalition said that it received "a distress call from an oil tanker after it was subjected to armed harassment opposite the port of Al-Hudaydah," noting that there were "high-risk indicators in the region and the sea corridor opposite the port of Al-Hudaydah."

-On February 26, 2022, the naval forces in the fifth military region of the Yemeni army announced the destruction of two booby-trapped boats as they attempted to cross the territorial waters northwest of the Red Sea.

-On February 18, 2022, the Arab Coalition reported the destruction of a booby-trapped boat in the southern Red Sea.

Names of Houthi Gunboats

1-Shark-33