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Two sailors killed in Houthi ship attack, officials say
Insights from the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times
The News
At least two commercial ship crew members have been killed and six more injured in a Houthi missile strike, U.S. officials said. It marks the first time merchant ship civilians have been killed since the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen began launching strikes in the Red Sea, in the wake of the war in Gaza.
The Houthis have now claimed the vessel, named the MV True Confidence, and the remaining crew has abandoned ship, officials said. The ship, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier, reportedly has no connection to U.S. entities.
The attack happened at around 11:30 a.m. Sanaa time, (3:30 a.m. EST), authorities said.
The Houthis said reports of the strike were “accurate.”
“The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces,” a Houthi statement about the attack read. The group added that it would stop its attacks only after a deal for a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
SIGNALS
Washington still doesn’t know the extent of Houthis’ military capabilities
Despite an extensive bombardment of Houthi bases, the Pentagon doesn’t yet have a clear picture of the rebels’ arsenal and full military capabilities owing to insufficient intelligence, according to the Financial Times. The extent of damage to Houthi command centers is unclear, officials told the FT, and the Houthis “have proven adept at resupplying their positions,” the paper wrote. While the Biden administration has vowed to continue air raids in Yemen, the Pentagon is now also broadening a campaign to intercept weapons before they get to Houthis, which includes ramping up sanctions against companies suspected of facilitating trade with the rebels.
Key internet cables under threat amid military action in the Red Sea
Most internet traffic between Europe and Asia runs through submarine cables in the Red Sea, and an increasing military presence aimed at thwarting Houthi attacks is threatening that connectivity, according to The Wall Street Journal. A Feb. 24 outage in India, Pakistan, and parts of East Africa was linked to disruptions to three cables in the sea, but the exact cause remains unclear: the Houthis denied responsibility for the cable failures, while some telecoms experts believe a merchant ship that sank after a Houthi attack could have damaged the wiring. The increasing cost of doing business “threatens tech giants’ efforts to expand the internet,” the WSJ wrote. Google and Facebook are among the companies with undersea cables currently under construction in the region – raising the question of whether they could be forced to look for alternatives. While submarine cables are simpler and less expensive to build than overland routes, above-ground alternatives have been “magnified in times of conflict,” the general manager of the International Cable Protection Committee, a British industry group, told the paper.
New freighters mean trade costs could start to decrease
The cost of shipping goods from Asia has soared by 300% since the Houthi attacks began, but new freighters entering service this year could lead those costs to stabilize, The New York Times reported. More shipping companies are opting for longer routes — passing around Africa — rather than risking a Houthi attack by going through the Red Sea. Danish shipping giant Maersk is expected to raise its capacity by 9% in the coming months with new freighters, while French shipping company CMA CGM will increase capacity by 24%, analysts told the Times. While good news for multinational firms, smaller businesses that lack long-term contracts with shipping companies are still seeing their profits dwindle because of lengthy shipping times and heightened costs, the Times reported.
