By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-01-14

ADEN -- The launch of an explosives-laden surface drone in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis last week constitutes an escalating threat to international shipping lanes, military observers say.

The Houthis have demonstrated increased capability by launching an unmanned surface vessel (USV) in a one-way attack operation for the first time since they started attacking shipping lanes on November 18, they said.

In response to the evolving threat, a US-led maritime task force to protect international shipping from Houthi attacks continues to grow, with 22 countries contributing and more expected to join in the coming weeks.

Five warships from international countries now provide persistent presence across the southern Red Sea, as well as the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier. providing manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, tactical aircraft and jets.

A Houthi USV detonated in international shipping lanes without causing any damage, US Naval Forces Central Command's Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told a news briefing on January 4.

"Fortunately, there were no casualties and no ships were hit, but the introduction of a one-way attack USV is of concern," he said.

Since November 18, there have been more than 25 attacks on merchant vessels transiting the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Cooper said.

The USV attack came one day after a coalition of nations, led by the United States, warned the Houthis of unspecified consequences unless they immediately halt attacking ships in the Red Sea.

Remotely launched USVs

Military observers described the Houthis' launch of a USV against international shipping lanes as "a major and growing" threat to global trade and shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Abaad Center for Strategic Studies director Abdul Salam Mohammed told Al-Fassel an explosives-laden surface drone "is a remotely launched boat rigged with explosives."

These surface drones are "launched using the Iranian [spy] ship Behshad in the Red Sea," he said. "They also can be launched from Houthi-controlled islands."

The Behshad and its predecessor, Saviz, provide the Houthis with intelligence related to the movement of commercial vessels between the Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb.

Mohammed noted that the Houthis had used this type of explosive drone boats in a September 2018 foiled attack against Saudi Arabia's Jizan port, during which two USVs were intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi navy.

The Houthis' use of these booby-trapped drone boats against merchant vessels "is a dangerous development and points to an Iranian-Houthi escalation in the Red Sea to fully control the [waterway] and target the alliance's warships," Mohammed said.

Since the launch of US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian on December 18, about 1,500 merchant ships have safely transited the Red Sea, the US military said, while dozens of missiles and drones have been shot down.

Iranian technology

Prior to their 2014 coup in Yemen, the Houthis did not possess remote-controlled surface drones, said Yemeni Brig. Gen. (ret.) Abdullah Hammoud.

They have since taken that technology from the Iranian regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he said.

USVs "pose a serious threat to global trade, as well as to the marine environment and fishermen," Hammoud told Al-Fassel, using a pseudonym because of the sensitivity of the information.

The damage they cause is "enormous and multifold," he said.

"These boats are 7 meters long and are powered by a 350-horsepower engine at a speed of 40 knots," he said.

"Some of them can carry two 400-horsepower engines and are equipped with GPS [Global Positioning System] technology and electronic systems that aid in hitting targets with high accuracy."

The boats are "laden with highly explosive materials such as C4 and TNT. They weigh up to a ton, so the damage that results from their explosion is enormous, affecting an area with a diameter of more than half a kilometer and a depth of more than six meters," he added.

What is happening in the Red Sea is part of Iran's longtime plans to control the Bab al-Mandeb strait, political analyst Faisal Ahmed told Al-Fassel.

Iran's Alborz warship, which entered the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandeb on January 1, aims to boost Iranian hegemony in the Red Sea by supplying the Houthis with sophisticated weapons, he said.

"This role was played by both the Saviz and Behshad ships, which are centers for directing Iran's and the Houthis' military operations in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb," he said.

By aiming to militarize the coastal areas on the Red Sea, the Houthis have now become "an Iranian arm that is harmful to international powers, global trade and international navigation," Ahmed said.