Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthis on Monday announced they are imposing a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in retaliation for a blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on Sanaa International Airport, threatening another vital waterway for global shipping and raising fears of renewed conflict.
A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a video statement that the maritime ban against Saudi Arabia will be effective immediately, describing it as an “equation of ‘an eye for an eye.'”
The Houthis did not specify how the embargo would be enforced, but the deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab el-Mandeb strait will be closed in response to what he called Saudi Arabia’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years.”
Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula — whose name means “Gate of Tears” in Arabic — is the gateway to the Red Sea through which around 12% of the world’s trade usually passes. A fourth of global container trade transits through the 32-kilometre-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.
A closure would force vessels to take the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, adding two to three weeks to journeys between Asia and Europe and sharply increasing shipping costs.
The Houthis — formally known as Ansar Allah — earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked.
Many major shipping companies suspended transits through the Red Sea during the campaign, while the US and several allies launched a multinational naval mission to protect commercial shipping.
It is unclear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attack against neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia. The kingdom already faced pressure as it uses its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains under a blockade Tehran imposed shortly after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February in the opening salvo of the war.
Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the pipeline.
‘Respond to blockade with a blockade’
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the rebels seized the capital, Sana’a, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A truce was reached in 2022.
That truce has been threatened in recent days after the Houthis said the Saudis struck the Sana’a airport in an attempt to affect a flight carrying Houthi leaders back from Iran, where they attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport.
The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in the most significant confrontation in years.
By allowing a direct international flight to land without the approval of the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis sought to establish a new reality in which they could independently make decisions over Yemen’s airspace.
The coalition has long maintained control over access to Yemen’s airspace and ports as part of measures it says are intended to prevent weapons from reaching the Houthis, while the rebels argue the restrictions amount to collective punishment.
“We affirm the right of our great people to respond to the blockade with a blockade,” Saree emphasised on Monday, adding that Houthis are prepared to confront “any foolish act committed by the reckless Saudi enemy … with a comprehensive and decisive escalation.”
The Houthis are a crucial part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which also includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and militias in Iraq.
The rebels have had a large stockpile of drones, but several Houthi members previously said that the supply was running low after their attacks during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Iran war has further impeded the flow of weapons, said the members, who at the time spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
The US and Israel responded to the Houthis’ earlier attacks on shipping with a punishing air campaign across Houthi-held areas in Yemen until a deal was reached that saw the rebels stop their assaults.
The previous Houthi campaign contributed to higher freight rates, longer delivery times and renewed concerns over supply chains already strained by wars in Europe and the Middle East.
Additional sources • AP
