Houthi attacks on commercial vessels

As part of the Red Sea crisis, Houthi attacks on commercial vessels have occurred in the Red Sea.

Houthi forces began attacking shipping vessels affiliated with Israel passing through the Red Sea on 19 November 2023. By February, 40 vessels had been attacked. Global shipping companies, which had typically sailed through the Red Sea, as well as the Suez Canal, instead moved to position their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, off the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.

Between November and December 2023, a 1.3 percent decrease in global trade resulted from Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. By March 2024, over 2,000 ships had diverted routes away from the Red Sea, making costlier voyages, since the first Houthi attack the previous November.

Initial Houthi pledges to target any ship with links to Israel were followed by attacks on ships connected to over a dozen nations, as well, stated, in January 2024, as avenging "American-British aggression against our country". US Central Command responded that the Houthis attacks "have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza" and that Houthis had "fired indiscriminately into the Red Sea", targeting ships, and impacting more than 40 nations. On 3 May 2024, the Houthi-aligned Yemeni Armed Forces SPC military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced, in a televised speech, that "We will target any ships heading to Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea in any area we are able to reach".