New Delhi: The Bab-el-Mandeb strait, Arabic for the “gate of grief” or “gate of tears”, lying between Yemen on the Arabian peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea on the Horn of Africa, has lived up to its name in the past month.
While it is believed that the strait traditionally got its name owing to the dangers in navigating it, since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October, it is the Houthis — a group of Iran-backed militants — who have added a pall of gloom to the strait.
In response to Israeli bombardment in Gaza — controlled by the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas since 2007 — the Houthis have been attacking ships traversing through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
The Bab-el-Mandeb strait is also the gateway to the Suez Canal, an extremely important sea trading route and a choke-point. The strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and, by extension, the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The 193-kilometre Suez Canal, opened in 1869, is the fastest sea route connecting the continent of Europe with Asia.
According to a 2021 report by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, roughly 12 percent of global seaborne trade and 30 percent of global container traffic passes through the canal, and in 2020, approximately 19,000 ships passed through it.
ThePrint looks at the background of the Houthi action, its significance for India and the world, and why India Monday deployed guided missile destroyers to various areas amid the Red Sea crisis.
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Why do Houthi attacks matter to India?
Over $1 trillion worth of goods traverse the Suez canal and it is the most important route for Russian oil to reach Indian shores, stated a December report by Vortexa, an energy markets data analytics firm.
Between January and November this year, 72 percent of oil southbound through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean was of Russian origin, Vortexa noted. This is roughly 2.8 million barrels per day (mbd) of oil.
A part of the Russian oil traversing south of the Red Sea can be assumed to be heading towards India, given that Indian imports of Russian crude increased to $38.814 billion in 2022-23 from $5.25 billion in 2021-22, according to commerce ministry data.
US liquified petroleum gas (LPG) worth roughly 180 kbd (thousand barrels per day) also traversed the Suez Canal in the past four months mostly to reach India, the Vortexa report noted, highlighting the importance of the route for India’s energy markets.
The crisis in the Red Sea can increase the travel time of Russian oil to India by almost 63 percent as a result of rerouting tankers to travel around the Cape of Good Hope (all the way around the continent of Africa), Jay Maroo, head of market intelligence & analysis (Middle East and North Africa) of Vortexa, said in a note.
Shipping times from India to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope could see a 58 percent increase, from 24 days to 38 days, Maroo added.
Further, attacks on commercial shipping by the Houthis have increased the cost of freight for Indian exporters, affecting the exports of basmati rice and textiles from Haryana, as reported by ThePrint.
Freight per container cost in some instances has gone up from $600 to $2,000, thereby hurting the bottom line of Indian exporters.
With Russia contributing to 40 per cent of India’s total oil imports and Indian exporters facing an increase in costs, the Red Sea crisis could negatively impact India.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthi movement began in the late 1990s, when the family of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi — a member of Yemen parliament from 1993 to 1997 — set up a religious revival movement for the Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam. The sect had long ruled Yemen, but its northern heartland was eventually marginalised and impoverished.
According to a July 2022 article available on the website of Wilson Center, a US-based think-tank, the Houthis emerged in part as a reaction to rising Saudi financial and religious influence. The article originally authored by Cameron Glenn of the U.S. Institute of Peace was first published in 2015. Later additions were made to it by Garrett Nada and Mattisan Rowan from the U.S. Institute of Peace.
According to the article, the power of the Houthis grew during the first decade of the new millennium and, when the civil war began in Yemen in 2014, the Houthis captured the capital Sana’a and large swathes of northern Yemen. In March 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, in support of the internationally recognised Sunni-majority Yemen government.
Tensions between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis escalated in November 2017 when the Sana’a-based militant organisation launched a ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The US and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the strike — a charge which was dismissed by Tehran at the time, the article added.
The internationally recognised Yemen government shifted its seat to Aden, while controlling parts of southern Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, however, has been pushing to exit the war against the Houthis and has been holding talks with the rebels — with a ceasefire between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Houthis committed to in recent months.
Given the delicate situation in Yemen, Riyadh has reportedly been urging the US to show restraint in its response to attacks on commercial shipping by the Houthis.
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Why are Houthis attacking ships in Red Sea?
On 7 October, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel leaving 1,200 Israelis dead and capturing over 200 hostages. In retaliation, Israel launched an aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip and a ground offensive on 27 October. At least 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza are reported to have been killed in Tel Aviv’s retaliatory strikes.
On 19 November, the Houthis, after declaring support for Hamas, seized an Israel-linked cargo ship – Galaxy Leader – and took its 25 crew members hostage, opening a new front to the conflict in Gaza. The ship was chartered by the Japanese-based NYK Line at the time.
At the time, the Houthis said that “all ships belonging to the Israeli enemy or that deal with it will become legitimate targets”.
“The detention of the Israeli ship is a practical step that proves the seriousness of the Yemeni armed forces in waging the sea battle, regardless of its costs and costs… this is the beginning,” said Mohammed Abdul-Salam, chief negotiator and spokesperson of the Houthis at the time, according to an AP report.
Is Houthi threat to ships serious?
The Houthis are believed to have significant weapons capabilities.
In October, the US Navy intercepted missiles or drones reportedly launched by the Houthis towards the north of the Red Sea. The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer, intercepted three land attack cruise missiles appearing to head towards Israel, according to media reports.
The Houthis have since stepped up their attacks on commercial ships. On Saturday, drone strikes were reported in the Red Sea, one being on a Gabon-owned, Indian-flagged crude oil tanker MV Sai Baba.
A day earlier, chemical tanker MV Chem Pluto heading from Saudi Arabia to India was reportedly hit by a drone 370 km from the coast of Gujarat. The hit caused structural damage and a fire on board the tanker was extinguished — highlighting the range of attacks faced by ships in the region.
The US blamed Iran for the attack on the tanker, a charge which was dismissed by the Iranian foreign ministry Monday.
The attacks have led several shipping companies, including Maersk and British Petroleum, to pause shipping through the Red Sea.
How have world leaders reacted?
The impact of the Houthis attacks on trading ships was discussed between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 December.
“Had a productive exchange of views with PM @netanyahu on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, including shared concerns on the safety of maritime traffic. Highlighted India’s consistent stand in favour of early restoration of peace & stability in the region with continued humanitarian assistance for the affected,” Modi posted on the social media platform X.
Had a productive exchange of views with PM @netanyahu on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, including shared concerns on the safety of maritime traffic. Highlighted India’s consistent stand in favour of early restoration of peace & stability in the region with continued…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 19, 2023
The Houthi attacks have resulted in the US attempting to put together a multi-national coalition named Operation Prosperity Guardian focusing on security in the Red Sea.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III originally declared that nine nations would be joining the US, namely the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, in the operation. However, France, Italy and Spain later made it clear that their navies were not a part of the US-led operation.
Maersk in a statement Sunday announced that it was preparing to resume shipping operations through the Red Sea after the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
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What is India’s response?
In the wake of the attack on MV Chem Pluto, the Indian Navy Monday announced the deployment of guided missile destroyers — INS Mormugao, INS Kochi and INS Kolkata — to various areas to maintain a “deterrent” presence.
“We (India) have a vested interest (in the Red Sea) and have been supportive of the free movement of commercial shipping, so that is something we are interested in… we are also a part of international efforts to ensure free shipping — whether it be piracy or otherwise, India has been involved in it,” Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs, said last week at a press briefing.
On whether India would join Operation Prosperity Guardian mission, Bagchi said there had been some communication, but made it clear that he was not aware of any specific invitation to India.
Nevertheless, the Indian Navy has increased its presence on the west coast of India as a result of the crisis in the Red Sea.
How important is freedom of navigation via Red Sea for Israel?
For Israel, access to the Red Sea is important for its access to trade with the rest of Asia, especially the Far East without having to send goods via the Suez Canal.
Israel began construction of a port at Eilat, at the southernmost tip of the country, in 1952, after Egypt imposed an embargo on Israel-owned ships in 1947 from the Suez Canal.
The 1948 Arab-Israeli war further expanded the Egyptian embargo to “contraband” goods — cargo that might strengthen and support Tel Aviv’s war efforts, Eitan Barak notes in his paper ‘Israel’s Freedom of Passage in the Suez Canal, 1957–1967’, in Palgrave Studies in Maritime Politics and Security, published in January this year.
Barak explains that Tel Aviv’s response at the time was diplomatic — submission of complaints to the Egypt-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission (EIMAC) and the United Nations (UN).
In 1950, the UN Security Council (UNSC) called on Egypt to lift the embargo on Israel-owned ships. However, in 1953, the embargo was expanded by Egypt to include any ships sailing to Israel under foreign flags as well as all cargo shipped to and from Israel, Barak writes in his paper.
At the time Egypt did not own the Suez Canal, it was owned and controlled by the UK and France. In July 1956, however, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nassar announced nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, the joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869.
This eventually led to the Suez Crisis between October and November 1956, where Israel, along with British and French support launched an attack on Egypt and captured the entirety of the Sinai peninsula and reached the Suez Canal.
On 11 November, 1956, Israel declared it would not withdraw its forces from the Sinai unless the UN forces remained in the proximity of the Suez Canal — a guarantee of freedom of passage, Barak notes in his paper.
In January 1957, the Israeli cabinet demanded a formal guarantee of freedom of navigation through the canal. Nassar’s position remained unchanged despite the best efforts of the then UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld and a period between 1957 and 1959 where there was a “tacit understanding” that allowed Israeli ships access to the canal, Barak notes.
In 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel once again captured the Sinai and reached the Suez Canal, however, the Egyptians closed access to the canal to all shipping. The canal remained closed till 1975. In the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Cairo and Tel Aviv attempted to resolve the question of freedom of navigation for Israeli ships. This led to the “Sinai Interim Agreement” in 1975, that finally allowed commercial ships to carry cargo to and from Israel. In 1979, the first Israeli cargo ship passed through the Suez Canal, Barak writes.
The Houthis threat to attack Israel-linked commercial ships could eventually become another problem for Tel Aviv, given the difficulties with which it first earned freedom of navigation through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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