Houthis strike Saudi ship in Bab al-Mandeb, 2 Pakistanis and an Indonesian national killed

Yemeni government-affiliated media reported on Tuesday that three crew members had been killed in a Houthi attack on a ship in the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Al-Jumhuriya TV reported that a strike by the Iran-backed, Yemen-based Houthis on a ship killed two Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian national.

While the outlet did not identify the ship that was struck, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported that it was a Saudi vessel. The report said the ship was hit by a missile.

After declaring a blockade of Saudi Arabia, the Houthis have been pursuing a campaign of attacks on vessels in waters around the kingdom. They have also carried out attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Their operations have been concentrated in the Bab al-Mandeb, the waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

In addition to disrupting Saudi oil exports, Houthi attacks have disrupted global maritime traffic, forcing ships to avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal because of security concerns and sail around Africa to reach Western markets. Thie additional distance has slowed the delivery of goods, leading to shortages, creating supply chain crises, and adding to the cost of goods as increased costs of shipping would be eventually passed on to customers.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are locked in a proxy conflict in Yemen where they support opposing sides. While Saudi Arabia backs the internationally recognised government, Iran supports the Houthis, who are part of its anti-US, anti-Israel network of armed groups in the region called the ‘Axis of Resistance’.

The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, previously attacked ships in the Red Sea on a regular basis in 2023 and 2024, disrupting maritime traffic. Currently, the impact of Houthi attacks is more severe as the world is already dealing with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

While Iran is not allowing ships to pass through the Strait, the Houthis are now targeting vessels transiting the Red Sea. Around 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas passes through the Strait whereas the Suez Canal provides a vital link between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. But traffic through both waterways has now slowed to a crawl because of Iranian and Houthi strikes.