Houthi rebels continue Red Sea attacks despite security operation

Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for another drone attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea. The group also recently sent drones to attack the Israeli port city of Eilat, he said. The United States and other countries have begun Operation Prosperity Guardian to increase their military presence in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Roughly one-tenth of international shipping passes through the region each year.

What does this mean for shipping in the region? Some international shipping companies earlier this month had paused trips through the Red Sea. The Danish shipping giant Maersk on Christmas Eve wrote in a statement that it would resume trips through the area now that Operation Prosperity Guardian had begun. Besides the United States, other countries participating in the security operation include Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, according to a statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Dig deeper: Listen to Myrna Brown’s interview with Benham Ben Taleblu on The World and Everything in It podcast about attacks on ships in the Red Sea.