By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-01-06

ADEN -- Yemen's government has warned ship-owning and operating companies and shipping and insurance companies to steer clear of the Houthis' efforts to promote a "humanitarian aid center" recently exposed as an extortion scheme.

The Iran-backed group established the so-called Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC) last February, and has been using it to extort money from commercial vessels traversing Bab al-Mandeb, per multiple sources.

An October United Nations panel of experts' report estimates the Houthis -- designated as a terror group by a number of countries -- generate $180 million a month through maritime piracy and extortion of international shipping agencies.

In a December 31 post on X, Yemen's Minister of Information Muammar al-Eryani urged companies not to participate in a webinar the HOCC is promoting on "Navigation Security in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden."

The Houthis are "trying to exploit this webinar to legitimize their terrorist activities and promote themselves as a major player in the field of 'navigation security' under the cover of 'humanitarian symposiums'," he said.

"It is a miserable attempt aimed at camouflaging their aggressive actions that have caused the deaths of many innocent people and threatened the global economy in one of the most important international maritime trade corridors."

The group has continued its threats against maritime traffic, he said, launching "hundreds of attacks using ballistic missiles and drones, in addition to Iranian-made drone boats rigged with explosives."

"These attacks have resulted in the destruction of commercial ships, killing of many sailors, and the seizure of other ships, in blatant defiance of international maritime laws."

Countries that fall into the Houthis' trap and deal with the HOCC will be held accountable for their actions, al-Eyrani warned.

Veiled threat

By organizing a Red Sea security webinar, the Houthis seek to position themselves as the sole entity capable of safeguarding regional security, Abaad Center for Strategic Studies director Abdul Salam Mohammed told Al-Fassel.

The webinar is a ploy they intend to use to negotiate agreements with shipping companies and the countries they operate under, seeking acknowledgment of their authority in the Red Sea, he said.

Their end goal is to "secure control over Bab al-Mandeb," in service of the Iranian regime, he added, and to gain international recognition as the "guardians of the Red Sea."

The Houthis' webinar invitation "serves as a threat to companies, implying that non-compliance could expose their vessels to targeting," political analyst Faisal Ahmed told Al-Fassel.

But the primary threat to Red Sea security is the Houthis, "who are executing the agenda of the Iranian regime," he added, noting that "no party, including Yemen, benefits from these terrorist operations."