Houthis Fire Missiles at Israel, Threaten Red Sea Shipping
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- Houthi rebels fired missiles at "sensitive Israeli military sites" in southern Israel on Saturday — their first attack since the start of the Middle East war a month ago — and the Israeli military confirmed it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
- Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel is "preparing for a multifront war," and Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree declared "our fingers are on the trigger," vowing to block U.S. and Israeli use of the Red Sea for attacks on Iran.
- From November 2023 to January 2025, the Houthis attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, before halting under a deal that prompted President Trump to end U.S. strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
- Roughly 12% of global trade transits the Suez Canal, and a quarter of global container trade passes through the 32-kilometer-wide Bab el-Mandeb strait — a disruption would force ships around the Cape of Good Hope as they did in 2024 and 2025, sharply raising costs.
- Since the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, Saudi Arabia has been rerouting millions of barrels of crude oil daily through Bab el-Mandeb, making the southern Red Sea route even more critical to global energy flows than before.
- The European Union depends on LNG tankers transiting the Red Sea for natural gas to power factories, generate electricity, and heat homes, meaning renewed Houthi attacks would hit European energy supplies directly.
Why it matters: With the Strait of Hormuz already choking global energy supply, renewed Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping would compound the crisis by disrupting the millions of barrels of Saudi crude now rerouted daily through Bab el-Mandeb and the LNG tankers supplying Europe, forcing 12% of global trade to detour around Africa and pushing already shaken energy markets higher.
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