Yemen’s Houthi terrorists signaled Monday they now will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.
The Houthis’ announcement, made in an email sent to shippers and others on Sunday, 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 ceasefire is considered fragile,” said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, an association representing shipowners.
“It is assessed that even minor deviations from the ceasefire agreements could lead to hostilities, which would subsequently prompt the Houthis to again direct threats against a broader range of international shipping.”
That was underscored by a speech aired Monday from the Houthis’ enigmatic supreme leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
We are “maintaining constant readiness to intervene immediately should the Israeli enemy resume any escalation, commit acts of genocide, impose a siege on Gaza or deny food and medicine to the people of Gaza,” al-Houthi said. “We are ready to return to escalation again alongside our brothers, the fighters in Palestine.”
The Houthis made the initial announcement through their Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, 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.
