Red Sea Attacks Spread in Geography and Target Scope

According to container-shipping expert Lars Jensen, a US-owned bulk carrier “Gibraltar Eagle” was hit by an anti-ship missile while crossing the Red Sea. Fortunately no one was hurt and the vessel continued sailing without any significant damage.

A second missile was also launched by the Houthies but it failed in mid-flight failure and crashed-landed inside Yemen.

Yesterday’s attack took place in the Gulf of Aden and not in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which was the the area where the drones and missiles have been launched so far.

Iranian vessel "Behshad" has been relocated to the Gulf of Aden over the weekend from Bab al-Mandeb strait. The vessel is accused of being an Iranian spy ship providing targeting information for the Houthies.

The expansion of the area of attacks makes shipping into the ports of Djibouti and Berbera highly risky. The hinterland of these two ports serves a population of over 100 million people in Ethiopia.

Presently there are 28 vessels of all kinds in transit in the Bab al-Mandeb strait - plus an unknown number with AIS turned off.

Last week the daily number was in the range of 40-50 ships, hence the actions of the past few days have clearly caused more shipping lines to stop using the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, the Suez Canal has seen a 40% year-on-year reduction in transiting vessels since January 1st 2024.

Read More: US and UK Air Forces Strike Houthi Targets Inside Yemen