Despite the global focus on maritime security in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, concrete actions and practical support for effective Yemeni naval forces have been lacking, allowing piracy and smuggling to persist near international fleets.
The National Resistance's naval forces successfully destroyed a booby-trapped boat belonging to Houthi militias and neutralized a naval mine planted in a critical international shipping lane within the Bab el-Mandeb strait. These operations are part of ongoing efforts to secure global trade and counter military threats. Over the past two weeks, naval and coast guard units have engaged and destroyed explosive-laden boats, both manned and unmanned, along the western coast, thwarting attacks on shipping lanes and vital infrastructure from Khokha to Mokha. This comes amid intensified missile and drone attacks targeting the same areas.
The navy has also conducted rescue and evacuation operations for crews of vessels attacked by missiles in the sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Notable incidents include the sinking of an Indian commercial transport vessel and significant damage to the vessel "Tihama," resulting in casualties among its Pakistani and Indonesian crew. The injured were transported to hospitals in Mokha.
The Yemeni navy, a relatively modern security force, along with the coast guard and in coordination with the National Resistance's intelligence, covers a vast and critical area for global trade in the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait. This is occurring under continuous threats to commercial vessels and oil tankers, with international European, American, and other naval alliances failing to mitigate these attacks or address their sources.
With extremely limited capabilities, the National Resistance's navy and coast guard have established a new reality, effectively containing the Revolutionary Guard's influence in Bab el-Mandeb. In contrast, international alliance warships and destroyers, ostensibly deployed to protect navigation, appear to do little more than safeguard themselves, maintaining a tacit non-interference policy with Iranian arms shipments and Somali pirates. If these multinational fleets are incapable of protecting navigation and combating smuggling and maritime terrorism, then at the very least, they should provide logistical, technical, and security assistance to effective security entities operating on the ground and at sea. However, beyond commendations and promises, tangible actions have been absent.
The intelligence and security operations accumulated by the National Resistance's naval forces, coast guard, and intelligence apparatus have proven a significant source of frustration for Iran and its Houthi allies over the past two years. These efforts have disrupted numerous arms shipments, establishing a new reality dictated by determined efforts that have made a substantial difference with limited resources, effectively strangling the Revolutionary Guard's presence in Bab el-Mandeb.
In a short period of operational engagement, the National Resistance's navy and coast guard, supported by intelligence, have achieved remarkable and highly impactful successes. They have thwarted numerous shipments of military matériel intended for the militias, which continued to flow from Iran despite the presence of American, European, and international naval fleets in the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea for years. The global need to secure navigation and the transit of trade and energy through Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea is more critical than ever, particularly with the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's efforts, through its Houthi proxy, to expand its targeting and blockade to the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb. The capabilities and fleets of international alliances, tasked with protecting navigation, have largely been a show of force, literally sunbathing in the waters of the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden, while barely protecting themselves. Meanwhile, Iranian shipments continue to flow, and pirates have consecutively hijacked three tankers in a short period, taking them towards Somalia, with a mutual non-interference understanding with the well-behaved destroyers and warships.
