By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2023-12-24

The Iran-backed Houthis have turned Yemen's Red Sea islands into military zones, permitting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to operate there and increasing the threat to international shipping, experts said.

For weeks the Houthis have been harassing, seizing and attacking ships in and around the Red Sea, regardless of nationality, and warned all ships and companies against dealing with Israeli ports.

In response, the United States on December 19 announced the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new multinational security initiative in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Operation Prosperity Guardian will operate under the auspices of the 39-member Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and the leadership of its Combined Task Force 153 (CTF 153), which focuses on security in the Red Sea.

Iran had earlier threatened that an effort to boost a multinational force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face "extraordinary problems," Al-Jazeera reported.

"Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance," Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani told the official Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), referring to the Red Sea.

Even before the latest round of threats, tensions were running high.

In its November 29 report to the United Nations Security Council, the panel of experts on Yemen noted that "tension in the Red Sea is currently high, with the Houthis establishing a naval presence on Kamaran Island, off al-Hodeidah."

On April 13, the Houthis held a naval exercise off Kamaran Island, the report said.

"Multiple types of speedboats were displayed, which were equipped with various types of weapons, such as a 107-mm multiple-launch rocket system, as well as heavy and light machine guns," it said.

Iranian espionage

Since the Houthis seized control of al-Hodeidah, the group has extended its control to the Yemeni islands in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb strait, Abaad Center for Strategic Studies director Abdul Salam Mohammed told Al-Fassel.

In addition to Kamaran Island, the Houthis have been able to establish a permanent military presence on the strategic island of Antufash, according to Sheba Intelligence Agency.

Two sources on Kamaran Island told Sheba that the Houthis patrol the east of the island and prevent fishermen from approaching certain areas.

"The Houthis' presence on these islands -- which have been turned into operations rooms for the IRGC -- has grown," he said. "Command and control on these Yemeni islands has become the responsibility of the IRGC."

Mohammed noted the existence of a high-precision communications system that is used to spy on the international shipping lane and all passing ships.

The Iranian spy ship Behshad, and its predecessor, Saviz, have been known to provide logistics and intelligence support to arms-smuggling gangs in the Red Sea, according to the Abaad Center for Strategic Studies.

The intelligence-gathering vessel, which patrols the Red Sea, also provides logistics support to transport arms shipments and unload them on the islands and at ports that are out of service.

Three other vessels are connected to the Behshad, according to a report by the Sheba Intelligence Agency, and "air defense systems also have been installed."

"One of the islands is fully stocked with weapons, especially naval mines, naval missiles/torpedoes and explosives-laden [drone] boats," Mohammed said.

By way of the islands, "weapons, missiles, missile parts and other items are transported by sea by pirates and arms dealers to areas under Houthi control for use in their war" with the Yemeni government and the Arab coalition, he said.

Heightened tension

"The Houthis, as Iran's hand in the region, worked to heighten the tension in the Red Sea in order to threaten the world," Yemen's permanent representative to UNESCO Mohammed Jumaih told Al-Fassel.

"Iran has targeted commercial ships in the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, both directly and through its militias in the region," he said.

This has culminated "with what is happening now in the Red Sea," he said, referring to a spate of attacks carried out by the Houthis since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel.

"Gaza will not benefit from the Houthis' threats to ships and endangering maritime navigation, and Yemenis will not reap anything good from these threats," Jumaih said.

As threats in the Red Sea increase, "Yemeni islands have become areas for launching terrorist attacks on ships and international navigation, which calls for international intervention," political analyst Faisal Ahmed told Al-Fassel.

He said the truce with the Houthis declared in April 2022 provided Iran with an opportunity to strengthen its military presence and speed up the pace of arming the Houthis.

The Houthis now possess weapons qualitatively superior to anything they had before their September 2014 coup, he said, "and this highlights Iran's interference to achieve its interests."

Ahmed pointed to a visit by the Houthis' so-called defense minister to Kamaran Island in early May to review the military forces' level of readiness, which was reported by Houthi-controlled media outlets.

"This indicates the readiness of the Houthis and Iran to launch their threats against international navigation, regardless of the events in Gaza," he said.