By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-07-16

ADEN -- The Houthis' recent assault on a Greek-operated bulk carrier in the Red Sea has set back progress in Yemen and shattered hopes that the group would honor its pledges to halt its attacks on international shipping, analysts said.

The Iran-backed group's hours-long July 6 assault on Liberia-flagged MV Magic Seas as it transited the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen was its first attack on a merchant vessel since November 2024.

The Houthis assailed the ship with gunfire, rockets and explosive-laden remote-controlled boats in a sustained assault that ultimately sank the vessel.

All 22 crew members were forced to abandon the ship, and were rescued by the passing merchant vessel Safeen Prism. They arrived safely in Djibouti on July 7.

The Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb strait, and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023.

Their current escalation, which threatens to plunge Yemen deeper into humanitarian crisis, appears calculated to raise the Iranian regime's negotiating position in stalled nuclear talks, political analyst Fares al-Beel told Al-Fassel.

It threatens to "disrupt peace and negotiation projects and plunge Yemen into a new cycle of conflict that impacts all aspects of life and hinders recovery efforts," he said.

'Unjustified attacks'

The Houthis' attacks are "unjustified," Berlin-based Arab Democratic Center research projects director Abdul Qader al-Kharraz told Al-Fassel.

They include an August 2024 attack on the Sounion oil tanker, which caused a fire, severed engine power and forced the evacuation of the crew, who were rescued by a French frigate operating under the Aspides naval mission.

They also include a June 2024 attack on the merchant ship Tutor, which killed a Filipino sailor and eventually sank the vessel; and a March 2024 attack on the True Confidence, which killed three crew members and wounded four wounded.

Earlier attacks targeted the Rubymar, which sank after being attacked in February 2024, and the Galaxy Leader.

The global trade disruption caused by such attacks leads to increased shipping costs, commodity prices and insurance premiums, al-Kharraz said.

The Houthis' attacks on ships also cause "widespread pollution in the Red Sea, affecting marine life and the upper food chain," with toxins transmitted to humans through contaminated fish, he added.

"The militarization of the sea harms the fishing profession and the livelihoods of fishermen amid the ongoing poverty and suffering caused by the war," he said.