Iran’s Navy commander, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, said on Wednesday that the presence of his country’s troops in the Red Sea would be reinforced to protect navigation routes.
Khanzadi indicated, in a press statement issued by Fars News Agency today, that “the Red Sea’s maritime security has been undermined, as several oil tankers have been targeted in recent months, which requires further strengthening the presence of our troops in this zone.”
SEOUL/DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement released three vessels and 16 people it had seized, South Korea’s foreign ministry and a Houthi military source in Yemen said on Wednesday.
The seizure on Sunday was the latest incident at sea around Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed coalition of Arab states against the Houthis, who control the capital and most population centres and have been accused of attacking shipping.
‘Attack’ on ship towing South Korean drilling rig threatens vital shipping routes, Saudi spokesman says.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Iran-aligned Houthi rebels hijacked a vessel south of the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia‘s state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki as saying on Monday that Houthis seized the ship while it was towing a South Korean oil drilling rig on Sunday.
MaritimeSecurityNews: This is a significant roll of the dice by al Houthi rebels. As war weariness sets in on both sides, it has been suggested that this incident is an attempt by Houthis to show Saudi Arabia how difficult it can still make life for them. South Korean media outlets have suggested that three vessels were hijacked/seized by Houthi rebels and have dispatched their anti-piracy Cheonghae unit to the region, which will focus minds in Yemen, given their reputation.
Maritime security in the Red Sea remains perilous, with Iran reporting attacks which are unverified independently and the ongoing threat posed by Houthi naval mines and SVBIEDs. A persistent threat to a major shipping lane will not go unchallenged by other countries in the region as well as the USA. I hope the al Houthis appreciate just how risky this gamble may prove to be. Image below via OCEANUSLive.org, who carry the initial UKMTO report.
The legitimate government asked Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and head of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) Abhijit Guha to “open humanitarian corridors in the city of Hodeidah,” an informed Yemeni source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The government explained that it requested to open the corridors because of the presence of government-controlled areas in the city, although Houthi militias rule most of it, the source said Thursday.
In a ruling issued Monday, the High Court of London ruled that the tanker Brillante Virtuoso was irreparably damaged not by pirates, as her owner and banker claimed, but by a group of conspirators. Justice Nigel Teare found that the owner’s claims of piracy were improbable, and he reached the “firm conclusion” that the attackers intended to destroy the vessel, that they had the assistance of the master and chief engineer as they went about the task, and that the owner orchestrated the scheme in order to defraud his insurer.
On July 6, 2011, Brillante Virtuoso was drifting off Aden, awaiting a team of unarmed security contractors before transiting Bab el-Mandeb. A small boat approached carrying seven masked, armed men. The men informed the crew that they were “security,” and they came aboard with the master’s permission. (The disputants in the case agreed that the boarding party’s members were likely current or former Yemeni Coast Guard or Navy servicemenbers.) They ordered the crew to the day room, and escorted the master to the bridge and the chief engineer to the engine room.
The
Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed an unmanned
explosives-laden boat launched from Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi
group on September 19, 2019, an incident that could further increase
regional tensions after the attack on Saudi oil installations. Since
2017, in fact, there have been several reports of attacks or discovery
of these unmanned explosive vessels in the country.
“The coalition’s naval forces detected an attempt by the terrorist Houthi militia backed by Iran to carry out an imminent act of aggression and terrorism south of the Red Sea using an unmanned, rigged boat … launched from Hodeidah province,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said in a statement. Malki said that the foiled attack represented a threat to regional and international security and the safety of maritime routes and international trade. He did not specify the intended target.[1]
The Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden face many potential threats
to free movement, ranging from the presence of non-state armed groups
(such as the Houthis
in Yemen) and organised crime outfits, to ongoing territorial disputes
and environmental concerns. Yet maritime traffic has largely gone undisrupted in recent years.
The hitherto safe passageway of the Red Sea should not be taken for granted though, and the area has attracted significant geopolitical interest. New initiatives concerned with the shared maritime space are being conceived, including a Red Sea Forum championed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The African Union (AU) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are also taking a greater interest. All these actors aim to address a perceived gap in management of the Red Sea space.
RIYADH — The Arab Coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen said on
Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed an explosive-laden boat
launched by Yemen’s Houthis from Hodeidah port.
Col. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman of the coalition, said that the naval forces of the coalition spotted on Thursday morning an attempt by the Iran-backed terrorist Houthi militia to carry out an imminent hostile and terrorist act in the south of the Red Sea by using a booby-trapped boat and a drone launched from the Hodeidah governorate.
Underway yacht approached by speedboat w/ 6 armed POB at 0338 UTC in position 16:30N – 040:08E, around 55nm West of Eritrean coast, Red Sea. Yacht reported hijacked. Awaiting further details/conformation. Reported (Sources) 17 Sep. Via OCEANUSLive.org
The Iran-backed Houthi militias’ refusal to implement a legitimate Yemen government order on collecting customs fees on all oil derivative revenues at Hodeidah port has led the halt of ten vessels in the Red Sea.
At Houthi orders, the oil tankers did not pay the revenues and did not disclose the certificate of origin of the shipment that ensures its legality.
Maritime Security News 