Syrian naval vessels and small civilian ships are seen destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last week in the port of Latakia, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. AP/PTI(AP12_14_2024_000446B)
| Photo Credit: AP

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have signalled they will now limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships, just as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip entered its second day Monday (January 20, 2025).

The Houthis’ announcement, made in an email sent to shippers and others on Sunday (January 19, 2025), likely won’t be enough to encourage global firms to reenter the route that’s crucial for cargo and energy shipments moving between Asia and Europe. Their attacks have halved traffic through the region, cutting deeply into revenues for Egypt, which runs the Suez Canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

The Houthis separately planned a military statement on Monday (January 20, 2025), likely about the decision.

The Houthis made the announcement through their Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre, saying it was “stopping sanctions” on the other vessels it has previously targeted since November 2023.

For Israeli ships, those “sanctions … will be stopped upon the full implementation of all phases” of the ceasefire, it added.

However, the center left open resuming attacks against both the United States and the United Kingdom, which have launched airstrikes targeting the rebels over their seaborne assaults.

“In the event of any aggression … the sanctions will be reinstated against the aggressor state,” the center said. “You will be promptly informed of such measures should they be implemented.”

The Houthis have targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023, after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but say women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels had maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked had little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The tempo of Houthi attacks has slowed in recent weeks, particularly involving ships at sea. That may be due in part to the U.S. airstrike campaign. The U.S. and its partners alone have struck the Houthis over 260 times, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

However, the rebels had continued to launch drones and missiles targeting Israel, which has warned it will continue to strike Houthi leadership.

It also remains unclear how President Donald Trump will handle Yemen after he is inaugurated Monday. He may reapply a foreign terrorist organization designation on the Houthis that President Joe Biden revoked, which could spark attacks again.

A fighter jet lands on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, also known as “IKE,” in the Red Sea on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The U.S.-led campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II. That’s what its leaders and experts tell The Associated Press, whose journalists visited U.S. ships off Yemen in recent days.
| Photo Credit: AP

The United States military unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over their assaults on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, authorities said Saturday, after one merchant sailor went missing following an earlier Houthi strike on a ship.

The attacks come as the U.S. Navy faces the most intense combat its seen since World War II in trying to counter the Houthi campaign — attacks the rebels say are meant to halt the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. However, the Iranian-backed rebel assaults often see the Houthis target ships and sailors who have nothing to do with the war while traffic remains halved through a corridor vital for cargo and energy shipments between Asia, Europe and the Mideast.

U.S. strikes destroyed seven radars within Houthi-controlled territory, the military’s Central Command said. It did not elaborate on how the sites were destroyed and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

“These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping,” Central Command said in a statement.

The U.S. separately destroyed two bomb-laden drone boats in the Red Sea, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis over the waterway, it said.

The Houthis, who have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014, did not acknowledge the strikes, nor any military losses. That’s been typical since the U.S. began launching airstrikes targeting the rebels.

Meanwhile, Central Command said one commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk cargo carrier Tutor remained missing after an attack Wednesday by the Houthis that used a bomb-carrying drone boat to strike the vessel.

“The crew abandoned ship and were rescued by USS Philippine Sea and partner forces,” Central Command said. The “Tutor remains in the Red Sea and is slowly taking on water.”

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

The war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians there, according to Gaza health officials, while hundreds of others have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. It began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

“The Houthis claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting and threatening the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza,” Central Command said. “The ongoing threat to international commerce caused by the Houthis in fact makes it harder to deliver badly needed assistance to the people of Yemen as well as Gaza.”