"Prepare For Attacks, Best Regard": Houthis Send Warning Emails To Shipping Companies (image @safety4sea)

A message was sent to the senior executive at a Greek shipping company, warning that one of the company’s vessels travelling through the Red Sea was at risk of being attacked by the Houthis. Reportedly, the Greek-managed ship had violated a Houthi-imposed transit ban by docking at an Israeli port.

The message said the vessel would be “directly targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces in any area they deem appropriate,” said Reuters.

Also Read: Did US Navy Accept Defeat To The Houthis?

“You bear the responsibility and consequences of including the vessel in the ban list,” said the email. It was signed by the Yemen-based Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre (HOCC), a body that was set up in February to liaise between Houthi forces and commercial shipping operators.

As per the report, the Houthis have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November. The actions are in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza. Two vessels were sunk, one seized, and at least four seafarers were killed.

The email, received at the end of May, warned of “sanctions” for the entire company’s fleet if the vessel continued “to violate the ban criteria and enter the ports of the usurping Israeli entity.” The executive and the company declined to be named for safety reasons.

It was not the first email. The warning message was the first of more than a dozen such emails sent to at least six Greek shipping companies since May, amid rising geopolitical tension in West Asia, said the report, citing six industry sources with direct knowledge of the emails and two with indirect knowledge.

The email campaign, which has not been reported earlier, suggests that the Iran-aligned militant group in Yemen is widening their net.

Since Israel started its relentless bombing campaign in Gaza after Hamas, the resistance group of the enclave, attacked Tel Aviv on October 7th, Houthis started to attack ships having links to Israel.

Also Read: Who Are Houthis, The Fierce Supporters Of Hamas

The Yemeni group pledged that the attack will not be stopped until Israel stops bombing Gaza.

“Your ships breached the decision of Yemen Armed Forces,” read a separate email sent in June from a Yemeni government web domain to the first company. Another company also received the same email. To another Greek shipping company, which also declined to be named, the message read, “Therefore, punishments will be imposed on all vessels of your company… Best Regards, Yemen Navy.”

When Reuters contacted, Houthi officials declined to confirm they had sent the emails or provide any additional comment. They said that it was classified military information. The news agency could not determine whether the emails had also been sent to other foreign shipping companies.

Greek-owned ships, which represent one of the largest fleets in the world, comprise nearly 30% of the attacks carried out by Houthi forces to early September, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. In August, the Houthis attacked the Sounion tanker, leaving it on fire for weeks before it could be towed to a safer area.

Also Read: Shipping, Logistics Industries Lose Patience Over Red Sea Standoff

The strikes have prompted many cargoes to take a much longer route around Africa, through the Cape of Good Hopes. Traffic through the Suez Canal has fallen from around 2,000 transits per month before November 2023 to around 800 in August, as per Lloyd’s List intelligence data.

The European Union’s naval force Aspides, which has helped more than 200 ships to sail safely through the Red Sea, confirmed the evolution of Houthis’ tactics in a closed-door meeting with shipping companies in early September, according to Reuters.

In the document, shared with shipping companies, Aspides said the Houthis’ decision to extend warnings to entire fleets marked the beginning of the “fourth phase” of their military campaign in the Red Sea.

Aspides urged ship owners to switch off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders, which show a vessel’s position and act as a navigational aid to nearby ships, saying they had to “shut it off or be shot.”

Aspides also said the Houthis’ missile strikes had 75% accuracy when aimed at vessels operating with the AIS tracking system on. But 96% of attacks missed when AIS was off.