By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-01-06

ADEN -- The Houthis' attacks on ships passing through Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea have been aided and abetted by an Iranian spy ship that provides them with intelligence and arms, Yemeni sources said.

And in a further sign of rising tensions in the key waterway, Iran's Alborz warship entered the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandeb on January 1, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated Tasnim News agency.

Tehran's decision to send a warship to the Red Sea further complicates the already volatile situation in the region, analysts said.

Before the arrival of Alborz, an Iranian spy ship in the Red Sea was providing the Houthis with intelligence related to the movement of commercial vessels between the Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb, military experts in Yemen said.

Iranian spy ships in the Red Sea -- the Behshad, and its predecessor, Saviz -- serve the Houthis, retired Yemeni military officer Brig. Gen. Abdullah Hammoud told Al-Fassel, using a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the information.

He accused the IRGC of smuggling weapons, drones and missile components to the Houthis using these ships.

Hammoud said Iran also is using the ships to provide the Houthis with information on shipping traffic, enabling the militant group to target commercial vessels.

The Houthis' November 19 hijacking of the Galaxy Leader is believed to have occurred after the vessel passed Behshad, as contact with it was lost at that time, he said.

In addition to providing intelligence to the Houthis, Behshad is used for smuggling Iranian arms and transporting IRGC trainers to support the Houthis in al-Hodeidah, Sanaa and others areas under the militia's control, Hammoud said.

Yemen's Deputy Minister of Justice Faisal al-Majeedi has previously accused the IRGC of routinely using fishing vessels to smuggle weapons unloaded from Iranian ships to ports under Houthi control.

Operations center

In August 2022, Behshad replaced the Saviz, an Iranian intelligence-gathering vessel which had been patrolling the Red Sea for five years.

Behshad provides "significant logistical support to the Houthis," said Abaad Center for Strategic Studies director Abdul Salam Mohammed, as did Saviz.

This is done through the provision of boats, skiffs and other equipment to the Houthis to arm and prepare them for attacking vessels, he told Al-Fassel.

Behshad "is an operations center run by the IRGC to direct military, espionage and arms smuggling activities," said Col. Yahya Abu Hatem, an official with the Yemeni Armed Forces Moral Guidance Department.

"The Houthis can obtain information about every ship in direct coordination with the IRGC," political analyst Faisal Ahmed told Al-Fassel.

"The IRGC provides them with data on all ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and those sailing from the Indian Ocean toward the Arabian Sea."

They can acquire this information approximately 17 days before the ship arrives in the Red Sea, off al-Hodeidah, he said.

The IRGC provides the Houthis with long-distance reconnaissance equipment radars that enable them to identify vessels, as well as software and electronic tracking technologies, to determine the itinerary of any ship, he added.

The Equasis information system is among these technologies, which allows the Houthis to identify ships, acquire data on them and target them, Ahmed said.

Securing commercial vessels

Thirteen nations led by the United States on January 3 jointly warned the Houthis to immediately halt their attacks against commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.

The joint statement, released by the White House, referenced the broad consensus as expressed by 44 countries on December 19, and the UN Security Council on December 1, condemning Houthi attacks against commercial vessels.

It noted "a significant escalation over the past week targeting commercial vessels, with missiles, small boats, and attempted hijackings."

"Ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilizing," it said. "There is no lawful justification for intentionally targeting civilian shipping and naval vessels."

To counter the Houthis' attacks, which have disrupted the movement of commercial ships in the Red Sea and sent oil prices soaring, the United States on December 18 announced the establishment of a multinational naval task force.

Operation Prosperity Guardian which operates under the auspices of the 39-member Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and the leadership of its Combined Task Force 153 (CTF 153), aims to ensure freedom of navigation for all countries in the Red Sea and bolster regional security and prosperity, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Securing the passage of commercial vessels in the Red Sea is of great importance as 12% of global trade passes through the sea.