Commentary
On Aug. 17, Israeli missile boats struck a power station in Yemen, in apparent retaliation against Houthi leaders. Jerusalem provided a justification. The Houthis have launched more than 100 ballistic missiles and dozens of armed drones against Israel since 2023. As if to underline the reasoning, the Houthis reportedly responded the next day with a hypersonic missile attack on Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv.
The Houthis control two-thirds of Yemen’s population and coordinate with other terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Iranian proxy group in Yemen frequently uses ballistic missiles and drones to not only attack Israel, but to sink commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which serves the Suez Canal.
Apparently, to further these ends, Iran delivers anti-ship cruise missiles to the Houthis, along with anti-aircraft missiles, cruise missiles, and chemical weapons. During U.S. air strikes on the Houthis in the spring, the terrorists frequently fired at U.S. military ships and managed to down seven U.S. Reaper drones. The Houthis also captured commercial ships and took their crews hostage. On Aug. 18, a report emerged that the Houthis resupplied militants in Yemen’s Western provinces with munitions, including missiles and radar systems, that will enable their continued attacks on international shipping.
The Houthi flag includes the words, “Death to the U.S.A., death to Israel,” and “Curse be upon the Jews,” which makes their goals crystal clear. According to Yemen’s government, which the United States supports, “The Houthis do not show a desire for peace because they live on war.” The foreign ministry added that “Iran’s role is very large in keeping them entrenched in these positions.” The conflict in Yemen, which proves deadly for civilians on both sides, persists because Iran discourages the Houthis from making compromises.
The Houthis obtain much of their military equipment from Iran, and their dual-use military technology from China. Beijing participates in the export of satellite technology, drones, and weapons manufacturing equipment to the terrorists, apparently in exchange for free passage of China’s shipping through the Red Sea. This increased by 85 percent since 2023, including with shadow tankers that supply China’s teapot refiners with sanctioned oil from Russia and Iran.
Currently, 60 percent of the Europe–China trade passes through the Red Sea, and so would otherwise be vulnerable to Houthi attacks as the ships transit the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Western shipping that avoids the Red Sea by rounding the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa must add about two weeks, $1 million per ship in fuel, and 30 percent in overhead. This gives China’s shipping companies a critical advantage over their Western, Japanese, and South Korean counterparts.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) apparently welcomes Houthi attacks on U.S. and allied shipping, which complicates the West’s international trade and, therefore, puts downward pressure on the West’s commercial influence and GDP growth. In January 2024, the CCP abstained from a resolution at the United Nations that condemned the Houthis for their attacks.
U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby in 2024, “Why would China help us address the Houthis problem when it obviously distracts and depletes us?” The U.S. military is distracted at least a little from the CCP’s “core interests” in Taiwan and the South China Sea, for example. During the spring attacks on the Houthis, two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups were in the region.
The United Nations has been counterproductive in dealing with the Houthis. Almost half of all U.N. personnel detained globally are held hostage by them. A U.N. agreement granted control of Yemen’s main western port to the Houthis, which enables their attacks on international shipping. And the United Nations pays $450,000 a month for the operations of a tanker controlled by the Houthis that amounts to an offshore terrorist fuel depot, logistics hub, and transshipment point for sanctioned Russian oil.
The dynamic is one of a never-ending environmental hostage situation in which sinking the tanker would result in an oil spill. The tanker should be acquired by the U.S. Navy, moved, and sold, with the proceeds paying for ongoing U.S. and allied naval operations in the region.
The Houthis, along with China, Russia, and Iran, all seek to dismantle the international rule of law so they can more easily prey on their neighbors and international shipping lanes. The CCP is purposefully making U.S. and allied shipping difficult in places like the Red Sea through its support of terrorism. This strengthens shipping companies associated with authoritarian countries and weakens those associated with democracies.
If Washington keeps letting Beijing and its allies get away with this in exchange for short-term U.S.–China trade deals, China’s ascendancy, along with its control of international shipping, is increasingly inevitable. Broad-spectrum tariffs and sanctions on China should be tied to a complete end to Beijing’s support for the Houthis, including through support of third countries like Iran. Until that happens, the U.S. and allied militaries have every justification in taking back control of any Houthi possession, including the U.N. ship and Yemen’s western port.
