Page 111 - Cyber Defense eMagazine February 2024

more expensive and time consuming. The United States responded by announcing Operation Prosperity
Guardian, which aims to protect world trade from the Houthi threat.

The Red Sea Crisis

Backed by Iran, the Houthi rebel group controls vast swaths of northern Yemen, following a yearslong
effort to gain power that ultimately plunged the country into a devastating civil war in 2014. After years of
fighting between the Iran-armed Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition, at least 377,000 people had been
killed by the end of 2021, 70 percent of whom were children younger than 5, according to U.N. estimates.

Experts say the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks are part of a bid to shore up domestic support and strengthen
the group’s regional standing, while the Houthis’ popularity has only grown since they began waging
these attacks. As part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” the Houthis have vowed to attack ships transiting
the Red Sea until Israel ends its bombardment of Gaza. By attacking ships heading toward Israel, Iran,
through its Houthi proxies, is essentially doing what Washington and the West does with economic
sanctions – imposing secondary financial costs on some policy actions by Israel, the US and their allies.

New freight charges reflecting the crisis in the Red Sea have already been announced by all the major
shipping companies. CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk are all set to raise prices on many of the
world's busiest trade routes. "The dynamic situation in the Red Sea and the necessary operational
adjustments are causing disruption across the network, which will impact shipping schedules and supply,"
Hapag-Lloyd reported last week. In a published statement, it additionally introduced an "Emergency
Revenue Charge" for Red Sea freight, which should cover the additional costs of heightened security and
naval insurance. This measure will increase the price of a regular 20-foot container by $1,000 on the
route from the Mediterranean and by $1,500 on the route from the Gulf of Aden. Similar steps have been
taken by other major freight companies. If higher shipping costs are reflected in the price of the consumer
goods transported, the geopolitical crisis in the Red Sea will be felt by end customers in Europe, Aisa
and further across the globe.

30% of the world's container traffic flows through the narrow waterway between the Arabian Peninsula
and Africa, while ships in general account for more than 80% of world trade, which flows mainly through
chokepoints like Suez, strait of Malacca, Taiwan strait or the Panama Canal. The Houthi attacks therefore
are not only attacking individual vessels, but the entire international community and global economic
prosperity. The United States and their allies have a significant interest in maintaining the security of the
Red Sea, not only because of defence commitments to Israel and US allies in the Persian Gulf like Saudi
Arabia, but also to guarantee freedom of navigation and to protect free maritime trade, which serves as
the bedrock of the global GDP rise since the Second World War.

On January 4th, U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet stated that Houthis launched a naval-surface suicide drone into a
commercial shipping lane in the Red Sea today, in the first attack of its kind by the Houthis who usually
use aerial drones and missiles; the drone reportedly exploded off the coast of Yemen not causing any
damage in what is believed to be 25th attempted attack on shipping vessels in the region since October
7th.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – February 2024 Edition 111
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