{"id":690274,"date":"2026-03-29T13:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690274\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T13:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:59:17","slug":"houthi-attack-on-israel-raises-fears-for-red-sea-shipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690274\/","title":{"rendered":"Houthi attack on Israel raises fears for Red Sea shipping"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO (AP) \u2014 A missile attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen<\/a> on Saturday raises concern that Tehran\u2019s proxies may again try to block Red Sea shipping routes, as Iran\u2019s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> keeps another key global trade passage virtually closed. <\/p>\n

The Houthis said they fired a barrage of missiles at \u201csensitive Israeli military sites\u201d in southern Israel, their first since the start of the war in the Middle East a month ago. The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.<\/p>\n

When asked about the Houthis, Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin replied: \u201cWe are preparing for a multifront war.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Houthis are a key Iranian ally<\/p>\n

The Houthis are a crucial part of Iran\u2019s so-called \u201cAxis of Resistance,\u201d which includes militant groups in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. They control the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and much of the country\u2019s north, and since 2014 have fought a civil war against the internationally recognized government that is backed by a Saudi-led coalition. <\/p>\n

Unlike Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah and militant groups in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen had held back for a month since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. <\/p>\n

Red Sea shipping attacks would further disrupt the global economy<\/p>\n

Now that they have entered the war with a missile attack on Israel, there are growing concerns that they could start attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Such a move would further disrupt the maritime industry and the global economy<\/a> since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and energy prices. The rebels also have the capability of striking oil facilities in the Persian Gulf as they did previously during the Yemen civil war.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Houthis said they won\u2019t allow the U.S. and Israel to use the Red Sea for attacks on Iran. \u201cOur fingers are on the trigger,\u201d Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said in a statement Friday. <\/p>\n

The Houthi attacks on vessels would not only further push up oil prices<\/a> but destabilize \u201call of maritime security,\u201d said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. \u201cThe impact would not be limited to the energy market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. <\/p>\n

The 32-kilometer (20-mile)-wide strait is one of the busiest for global oil trade. A fourth of global container trade also transits through the strait on its way to and from the Suez Canal<\/a>. Disrupting transit through Bab al-Madab forces shipping firms to route their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, as they did in 2024 and 2025, significantly increasing costs.<\/p>\n

About 12% of the world\u2019s trade typically passes through Suez, including oil, natural gas, grain and everything from toys to electronics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be devastating for so many countries,\u201d Nagi said. \u201cIf we see more pressure on the Iranians, or there\u2019s any escalation, the Houthis will jump in harshly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Sea is a critical corridor for Europe\u2019s natural gas<\/p>\n

Such attacks will add more pressure on energy supplies for the 27-nation European Union, which relies on imported natural gas to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes. Tankers carrying liquefied natural gas \u2014 which is supercooled to travel by ship instead of pipeline \u2014 routinely pass through the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The Houthis attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels<\/a> and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January 2025, and also launched projectiles at Israel. They said their attacks were in support of Hamas during the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Israel responded with a punishing air campaign<\/a> across the Houthi-held areas in Yemen, which killed many people, including most of the Houthi-allied Cabinet in Sanaa. President Donald Trump halted U.S. strikes<\/a> on the Houthis after a deal that saw the rebels stopping their attacks on ships in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Beirut contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO (AP) \u2014 A missile attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday raises concern…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":690275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[201368,64,69,56270,10102,57,34081,13790,83,6087,99,3097,8132,13342,50,930,53197,9258,5503,96,103,107,288549,13193],"class_list":["post-690274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-ahmed-nagi","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-drone-surveillance-and-warfare","tag-energy-industry","tag-general-news","tag-houthis","tag-international-trade","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-military-and-defense","tag-military-technology","tag-news","tag-oceans","tag-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-red-sea","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-yahya-saree","tag-yemen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116312825349111928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}