US and allies fail to stem Houthis' high pace of Red Sea attacks


Robert Tollast
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Ten months into the Houthi blockade of the Red Sea, industry experts are again asking if the Iran-backed militia has defeated two international naval coalitions trying to keep open the vital shipping route through which about $1 trillion of goods pass every year.

One of those forces is led by the EU and aimed at shooting down Houthi missiles and drones launched at civilian ships and the other is led by the US and UK that has bombed Houthi positions. But the efforts of the US and EU would need to be more robust, said Salvatore Mercogliano, an expert on military and commercial shipping at Campbell University, North Carolina.

The Houthis can expend missiles and drones attacking ships, or lose them in US-led air strikes, but Iran is able to resupply them.

“You would be talking about something akin to the Maritime Interdiction Operations of Iraq from 1991 to 2003. This will require a sizeable naval presence and be another requirement on the world's navies,” Mr Mercogliano said, highlighting how the US navy has also been stretched by Pacific deployments to counter China.

“It would also slow the arrival of cargo into Yemen which could cause a stir from humanitarian groups if it impacts food. This, of course, does not stop shipments by air direct to Yemen from Iran," he told The National.

Iran has used small civilian vessels to move rocket motors and guidance systems into remote, rocky inlets on Yemen’s coast. While some ships have been halted by the US and UK navies, stopping them entirely would be a significant commitment.

The question over which side has “won” was posed last week by Elliot Abrams in an article for the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. Mr Abrams, once deputy national security adviser to former US president George Bush, said the US navy hasn’t upheld part of its mission statement to “defend freedom, preserve economic prosperity, and keep the seas open and free".

A crew member signals an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet on the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Southern Red Sea, Middle East. Reuters
A crew member signals an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet on the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Southern Red Sea, Middle East. Reuters

The debate is in sharper focus amid a delayed attempt to salvage the stricken MV Sounion oil tanker. The vessel, laden with half a million barrels of oil, was struck by Houthi missiles, boarded and rigged with bombs, and is now smouldering in the Red Sea. Civilian salvage teams are reluctant to mount a recovery operation due to the continuing conflict, the EU’s naval mission said. Several more attacks on shipping followed the August 21 strike on the Soumian.

Mr Mercogliano contends the US could achieve better results by striking Iranian assets, perhaps naval vessels of the group’s key backer, if the Houthis continue attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, transit point for about 30 per cent of the world’s container trade. The Houthis say they are maintaining their campaign, which has sunk two ships, damaged dozens and killed three sailors, until Israel ends its devastating war in Gaza.

So far, the attacks have been effective, although Israeli retaliation for direct Houthi strikes on Israel saw fuel and power infrastructure devastated at the port of Hodeidah on July 20. The group has also been hit with fresh western sanctions.

Global trade damage

Despite these setbacks, the campaign has cut transit through the Red Sea by more than 60 per cent, according to a report last month by shipping giant Maersk, raising the cost of maritime trade and causing billions of dollars in losses for Egypt through declining Suez Canal revenue. Financial losses for Israel are unknown, although the port of Eilat has taken a heavy financial blow after months of no revenue.

Meanwhile, the Houthis seem almost impervious to the US and UK air campaign to bomb its hideouts and missile and drone arsenal. This is not a sustained campaign but instead described by Centcom, the US military headquarters in the Middle East, as acting in “self defence.” Mr Abram’s article contends that the US has not “lost” the conflict, but that Washington is too timid amid fears of wider escalation.

US Rear Admiral Marc Miguez, who led a carrier strike group in the Red Sea, recently told naval veteran and YouTuber Ward Carroll that more "aggressive" action was being considered, without elaborating.

Craig Picken, a former US navy pilot and aviation expert who runs Northstar Group, an executive search firm in aerospace, says the dilemma the US now faces should spur a rethink of its military commitment in the region. The US, he says, is spending billions protecting shipping lanes like the Red Sea.

“If it’s international shipping, it should be everybody's job,” he says, highlighting how countries such as China could do more to protect vessels.

China has escorted some of its ships through the waterway, vessels the Houthis appear to be avoiding with their targeting, although a Chinese tanker was damaged in late march, likely a case of poor intelligence.

US navy under strain

Mr Picken explained to The National the difficulty of a full-scale US naval effort to stop Iranian resupply of the Houthis. Even a prolonged non-combat operation intercepting Iranian smuggling boats to the Houthis would place immense strain on ships and aircraft, dragging on for many months, adding billions in cost to naval deployments. A US aircraft carrier, its aircraft and supporting ships can cost up to $8 million a day to deploy.

The aircraft carriers come with E-2 Hawkeye airborne radar planes, capable of surveying hundreds of vessel over hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of ocean in one mission.

Crew members work on the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye AWACS during a Nato vigilance activity in the Mediterranean Sea on May 23, 2022. AFP
Crew members work on the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye AWACS during a Nato vigilance activity in the Mediterranean Sea on May 23, 2022. AFP

The USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier, which was deployed to the Red Sea for nine months, was “ flying the wings off their F-18s, to protect naval assets, to protect their own assets, to shoot down drones.

Millions and millions of dollars in wear and tear on the planes,” said Mr Picker, a veteran E-2 airman. During deployments over Iraq and Somalia in the early 1990s, his squadron “flew 2,000 hours in six months. So that's 500 hours per aeroplane, for a six month cruise,” he said.

Today, 500 hours of flight would cost $20,000,000, at $40,000 per hour, based on US government estimates for the Hawkeye. Add submarine deployments and other assets that could be used to counter other US adversaries, such as satellite reconnaissance, and even action short of war costs billions.

“What’s happening in the Red Sea is unprecedented and it may require a new way of thinking from the western navy forces," said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank.

"The Houthis are learning fast and improving their attacks. However, it’s understandable that some western forces like the US may need to be present in different areas in the Middle East at the moment due to the Gaza war," she told The National.

“Meanwhile, some regional Arab countries probably need to start thinking, if they aren’t already about confronting similar maritime threats in the future and under different circumstances. As for vulnerable commercial ships, some are still taking risks and sailing in the region. Others have been forced to take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope,” she said.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go

The flights

Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.

The hotel

Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850

 Events and tours

There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com

For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art. 

More information

For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com

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Scoreline

Swansea 2

Grimes 20' (pen), Celina, 29'

Man City 3

Silva 69', Nordfeldt 78' (og), Aguero 88'

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
While you're here
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo

Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic

Power: 242bhp

Torque: 370Nm

Price: Dh136,814

How to help

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200

Recent winners

2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)

2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)

2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)

2007 Grace Bijjani  (Mexico)

2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)

2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)

2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)

2011 Maria Farah (Canada)

2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)

2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)              

2014 Lia Saad  (UAE)

2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)

2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)

2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)

2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

Based: India, UAE and the UK

Industry: EdTech

Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Updated: September 05, 2024, 7:26 PM`