The escalating threat in the Red Sea posed by the Houthi militia in Yemen culminated on 12 December 2023 with a Norwegian tanker, the 20,000-tonne Strinda, being struck by a missile.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations organisation (UKMTO) published an initial report on 11 December at around 23:45 Central European Time (CET), which was 01:45 the next morning in Yemen), noting an incident in the northern Bab al-Mandeb strait, west of Mocha in Yemen. That report was amended at 07:44 on 12 December to state that it was a missile attack. This was then confirmed by the Houthis’ military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Sarea, on Twitter/X on 12 December at 09:02. His statement indicated that the Houthis assumed that Strinda was delivering oil to Israel, although the ship’s owners noted that it was heading to an Italian port with feedstock for biofuel.
From the study of various reports it appears that the Houthi militia first launched an attack on Strinda at around 22:00 CET on 11 December. The ship was about 15 nautical miles from the Yemeni coast when it was hit by at least one missile. The French frigate Languedoc, which was patrolling in the area, subsequently intercepted a ‘suicide drone’ (bomb-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)) launched toward Strinda. Although a fire broke out on board the tanker due to the missile attack, it was brought under control and there were no casualties.
USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is reported to have then accompanied Strinda into the Gulf of Aden. Since the incident Strinda is not signalling with its AIS transponder, meaning that the ship’s current whereabouts remains unknown. The tanker was originally scheduled to make a port call in Venice, Italy, on 15 December.
The threat from the Houthis has increased over the last week or so. Most recently, both USS Mason and Languedoc were able to successfully combat bomb-carrying UAVs launched by the militia on 6 December and 9 December respectively. Languedoc was located around 60 nautical miles west of A-Hudaida at the time of its 9 December intervention and used its Aster 15 air defence missile system to make the interception. It was not reported what system Languedoc used to defend Strinda.
In November, meanwhile, Houthi militants hijacked the cargo ship Galaxy Leader and took it to an anchorage off the Yemeni coast.
In their statements both the US and French general staff have avoiding the notion of a targeted or direct attack on their respective naval units. According to Reuters on 7 December, Riyadh has asked Washington for restraint.
Meanwhile, shipping is being warned by the UKTMO and other services about the worsening security situation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb strait, which, given that they form the southern approach to the Suez Canal, form one of the world’s most important maritime passages.
According to the US Naval Institute, efforts are being made in Washington to set up an international maritime task force for the region, while merchant ships are increasingly avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal due to the threat posed by the Houthis, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights, citing a representative from the Baltic and International Maritime Council: an international shipping organisation based in Copenhagen. According to Seatrade Maritime News, Alphaliner, a ship reporting service, identified 12 container ships in its weekly report up to 4 December that had already switched from transiting the Suez Canal to the longer route via the Cape of Good Hope. At 18 knots (33 km/h), this adds eight days to the journey from Shanghai to Rotterdam. According to Seatrade Maritime News, the shipping companies Maersk and ZIM have already publicly stated that they will withdraw some ships from the region.
