Ilan Berman
On Sunday, Israel carried out a long-range aerial attack on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The air strike, a retaliation for a drone incursion into Tel Aviv a day earlier that left one dead, killed at least six and wounded scores more in a signal that Israel was fully prepared to hit back at the country’s Houthi rebels. But the Israeli retaliation also did something more: it highlighted a way to turn the tables on what has, until now, been an enormously successful campaign of economic blackmail along one of the world’s most vital waterways.
Such an approach has been sorely lacking so far. Since mid-November, the Houthis have emerged as a major international menace, holding maritime commerce in the Red Sea at risk through repeated missile and drone strikes. Ostensibly, the ongoing campaign is a response to Israel’s continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip. But through it, the Yemeni militants – as well as their main benefactor, Iran – have gained significant leverage over the international community by holding global trade at risk.
The consequences have been nothing short of ruinous. Most immediately, the Houthi campaign has dented Egypt’s already-rickety economy, robbing the country of more than $2 billion in revenue by discouraging transit through the Suez Canal. International shippers, meanwhile, have redirected their vessels away from the vital Bab al-Mandab waterway, through which more than 10% of world commerce passes. The knock-on effects are being felt in rising world prices on everything from oil to foodstuffs.
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