2024-01-19 06:12:00

The Suez Canal joins the bloc war. As tensions escalate in the Red Sea and threaten global maritime trade, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis guarantee ” a secure passage » to Chinese and Russian ships on this strategic route which sees 12% of global maritime traffic transit. This is what Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the political leadership of the Houthis, told the Russian daily Izvestia on Friday.

“Israeli ships, or those with even a tenuous link with Israel, will not have the slightest chance of crossing the Red Sea (…) our goal is to increase the economic cost for the Jewish state in order to stop the carnage in Gaza,” he said. And American and British boats are particularly closely monitored following the bombing of Houthi sites in Yemen by the American army, sometimes supported by British aircraft.

“The madness and idiocy of the United States and the United Kingdom have worked once morest them: now none of their ships will be able to cross one of the main trade routes in the world. The losses for the aggressor countries are greater than the losses for Yemen,” said the Houthi leader.

« For other countries, including China and Russia, their maritime transport in the region is not threatened. Moreover, we are even ready to ensure the safe passage of their ships through the Red Sea “, assured Mohammed al-Bukhaiti.

Nothing surprising if we consider that Iran, which supports the Houthis, is close to Moscow and Beijing. Since mid-November, the Houthis have carried out around thirty attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, claiming to target ships heading towards Israel in ” solidarity » with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

By being able to use the Red Sea and therefore the Suez Canal, Russian and Chinese ships avoid passing through South Africa and thus save between 10 and 20 days of travel compared to ships which prefer to avoid the Red Sea for security reasons. But this new route is much more expensive and is starting to disrupt supply chains.

Escalade

This Friday, Yemeni rebels claimed responsibility for strikes once morest an American merchant ship circulating in the Gulf of Aden, which, however, did not cause any damage according to Washington.

« The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces (the name given to the armed wing of the Houthis, editor’s note) carried out a targeted operation once morest an American ship, the Chem Ranger, in the Gulf of Aden with several anti-ship missiles, some of which hit their target “, they said in a press release.

The US military command in the Middle East (Centcom) confirmed the attack, but with “ two missiles », the merchant ship Chem Ranger without however reaching it as the rebels claim.

The crew ” saw the missiles hit the water near the ship” and “there were no reports of injuries or damage », added Centcom. According to the specialist site Marine Traffic, the Chem Ranger is an American tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands which has been off the coast of Yemen in recent days. For its part, the British Maritime Safety Agency (UKMTO) reported an incident 115 nautical miles southeast of the city of Aden with an explosion 30 meters from the ship and specified that a drone had stolen nearby.

The United States struck Houthi sites in Yemen for the fifth time on Thursday.

More specifically, Washington said it struck Houthi missiles. “We believe they were ready for imminent launch into the Red Sea,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

The deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, Sabrina Singh, said that these bombings, which began at the end of last week and sometimes carried out with the United Kingdom, might have “ destroy a significant part of the capacitys » des Houthis.

Moscow calls on Washington to stop their “ assault » once morest Yemen

In Moscow, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, however, called on the United States to stop its “ assault » once morest Yemen. “The more the Americans and the British bomb, the less the Houthis will want to talk,” Sergei Lavrov said.

Thursday’s American bombings were the second in less than 24 hours on missiles from the Houthis, a group placed on Wednesday by Washington on one of its lists of ” terrorist organizations ».

France wants to avoid escalation

US President Joe Biden declared this week that these strikes would continue as long as the Houthis disrupt international maritime trade.

Faced with these attacks, the United States set up a coalition to patrol off the coast of Yemen and protect maritime traffic. Not all the countries in this coalition are participating in the strikes, but Denmark, the birthplace of No. 2 in global shipping Maersk, announced Thursday that it would join. France has decided not to participate “ to avoid any escalation » in the region, according to its president Emmanuel Macron.

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