The International Maritime Security Construct, a US-led “coalition of the willing” patrolling waters between the Red Sea and Bab-al-Mandeb, had put out an advisory that it is “concerned with a heightened threat level in the Red Sea,” The warning was pursuant to successful hijacking of merchant vessel “Galaxy Leader” by the Yemeni Houthi rebels. In a creative air operation, the rebels landed onboard the ship by using a helicopter, and marshalled the vessel and its 25 member crew to a Yemini port and is reported to be currently at anchor off the port of Hodeidah.

The Israeli government has categorically denied Houthis claims that the vessel has connection with their country. Apparently the vessel may have at some time been owned by an Israeli billionaire, Rami Ungar who is located in the Isle of Man and is operated by NYK a Japanese company. The UK, U.S. and Japanese governments have called for the “ship's release”.

Earlier, the Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran and support Hamas in its fight against Israel had warned that “all ships belonging to the Israeli enemy or dealing with it that they will become a legitimate target”; furthermore, “all countries whose nationals work in the Red Sea to refrain from any work or activity with Israeli ships or ships owned by Israelis”.

The warning is manifestation of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The Houthi rebels have fired ballistic missiles/rockets and launched drone attacks against Israel. For instance, explosions were reported in Taba and Nuweiba, the Egyptian towns astride the Red Sea and near the Israeli border “with the intention of harming Israel”. Also, a US Navy ship operating in the northern Red Sea intercepted projectiles potentially launched by Houthis towards Israel.

In fact Houthis have been active in the Red Sea waters since 2016 and have “publicly threatened to attack international commercial maritime traffic in the Red Sea”. The Houthis also confronted the US Navy (2018) and attracted punitive US air strikes. This was followed by hijacking a South Korean drilling rig and two tug boats (later released). In 2022 the rebels added a new dimension in attacks by conducting a drone attack on merchant vessel “Nissos Kea” close to Yemeni port of Ash Shihr.

According to a regional expert, the Houthis are now adept at “moving of weapons and units to Yemeni islands under their control, and setting up sea mines, missiles that hit ships, and rocket/missile stations atop the mountain ranges closer to the sea”.

The US has now deployed its carrier task groups in the arc “stretching from Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean, into the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb and into the Gulf of Aden and all the way into the Gulf of Oman”. Two carrier task forces are deployed in the Mediterranean Sea and in a recent move the US Navy has ordered “aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its escorts” to the Persian Gulf and operate “outside the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman”. In a “rare disclosure”, the US Central Command also announced that USS Florida, a nuclear guided-missile submarine, was being deployed east of Suez.

It also merits mention that there have been “at least 58 attacks on US bases, mostly in Iraq” since 17 October. The US has accused Iran of orchestrating the attacks through its proxies and had warned Iran about the anti-US needling in the region. The 05 October note warns Iran that if “they [Iran] continued to move against those [US] troops, we will respond, and they should be prepared.”

Earlier this month, on 8 November, the Houthis shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters. It should not be surprising that Biden Administration would soon order retaliatory strikes against the Houthis.

The deployment of the US carrier group in the Gulf of Oman should also be seen as a geopolitical move in which it is a veiled warning to China over hosting the Arab leaders and thwart any Chinese “high-profile diplomatic efforts by Beijing since the war in Gaza broke out”. It is fair to argue that Washington cannot afford to allow any peace efforts in the region without it being a stakeholder, particularly whenever China attempts to lead the efforts. This is notwithstanding the 15 March 2023 agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations with China’s involvement that the US had welcomed. Similarly, Russia is also attempting to hold similar talks to advance peaceful solutions to the Israeli Hamas war.

A limited truce between Israel and Hamas has been reached to enable exchange of limited number of captives (women and children) from both sides; but the ambers of the confrontation will not be doused so easily given that Iran will continue to keep the tensions alive in the region. It now has support from both China and Russia, who prefer the US to remain engaged in West Asia to distract it from Ukraine and South China Sea. By all counts, the ongoing Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah-Houthis war also has a distinct maritime dimension and has spilled into northern Indian Ocean.

Dr Vijay Sakhuja is Associated with Kalinga International Foundation, New Delhi.