Yemen's pro-Iranian rebel Houthi officially declared that he would participate in the war between the United States, Israel and Iran by firing missiles at Israel.
Amid the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil transport route, even another global logistics artery, the Red Sea is threatened with freedom of navigation, raising concerns that the negative impact on the global economy will expand.
The Israeli military said earlier in the day that it had confirmed that missiles had been fired from Yemen toward Israeli territory and that it had launched an air defense system to shoot it down.
It is the first time that military action has taken place against Israel in Yemen since the war in Iran began on the 28th of last month.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarri confirmed his participation in a statement, saying, "We carried out the first military operation, including a missile attack, targeting major military targets of the Israeli enemy," according to Houthi media Almasira.
"Until the target is achieved, our operations will continue until the attack on the resistance front is stopped," Sarri claimed.
"The operation was timed to coincide with the heroic operation carried out by Iran's Mujahideen (Islamic fighter) brothers and Lebanon's Hezbollah," he said, suggesting that the missile launch took place in coordination with the Iranian military and Lebanese militant Hezbollah.
When the war in Gaza Strip broke out in 2023, the Houthis attacked merchant ships passing through the Strait of Babel Mandev at the entrance of the Red Sea in the name of supporting Hamas in Palestine.
Houthi is a member of Iran's "axis of resistance" in the Middle East.
In the face of this war, Iranian-linked organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq have already participated in the war.
The Babel Mandev Strait has more than 10% of its crude oil shipments from the sea through the Suez Canal and is also the route for Gulf crude to Europe.
If the Houthis launch military action in earnest on the Red Sea, global logistics disruptions and energy shortages could intensify, as well as the movement of aircraft carrier fleets that play a pivotal role in U.S. military operations.
"If the Houthis decide to block the Strait of Bab el-Mandev and the Red Sea, and ultimately the Suez Canal, all two major bottlenecks, including the Strait of Hormuz, will be blocked," Muhammad Elmasri, a professor at Qatar's Doha Graduate Research Institute, said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera predicts that Israel's economy, which relies on the Red Sea for 30% of its transport routes for imports, will be hit hard first, and future developments of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, which is currently undergoing maintenance in the Mediterranean Sea, will also be difficult.
Israeli media Yediot-Aronot also pointed out, "There are strategic and military reasons why the Houthis fired missiles at Israel while participating in the war," adding, "It seems clear that the goal is to prevent U.S. aircraft carriers from passing through the Red Sea and the Strait of Bab el-Mandev."
The Houthis have high-speed boats equipped with anti-ship missiles, drones, and explosives, and there is a possibility of installing mines in the Babel Mandev Strait.
The U.S. Navy's Ford aircraft carrier called at a Suda base on Crete Island in Greece to recover from the damage caused by the fire on the 12th.
The Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on a mission in the Arabian Sea is a major target for Iranian forces, with the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush heading to the Middle East for operational support.
Houthi's recent participation in the war may be to check the use of Saudi Arabia's east-west cross-border oil pipeline, which can ship crude oil for export from the Port of Yanbu on the Red Beach by bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, Yediot-Aronot added.
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Digital News Team (jebo@ikbc.co.kr )
Iran is now attempting to seriously expand its maritime blockade.
If, as feared, they succeed in imposing further blockades, the shock to the entire world will grow even larger and much harder to bear.
If Trump fails to resolve this, there may be no reason left to regard the United States as the world’s leading superpower.