Houthis have decided to pull back on the Red Sea campaign, will only target Israeli flagged ships.

 

Ships in the port of Hodeidah, Yemen. Reuters. 

The Houthis of Yemen have decided to pull back on the anti-shipping Red Sea campaign, vowing to only target Israeli flagged ships. Reuters. The Houthis said they were ending "sanctions" against US and UK flagged shipping, but reserved to right to restart attacks if they are attacked themselves. The cease-fire is dependent on the cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Israeli ships would still be targeted but that would stop when the cease fire deal is fully implemented. The war in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden was notable for the large number of ships attacked while two ships were sunk outright. Shipping companies have not decided to return to the Red Sea and will continue to use the dramatically longer Cape of Good Hope route that circles Africa. The Houthis still hold the crew of a ship they captured, the Galaxy Leader and there are hopes that they will be released soon as well. 

My Comment:

This news is getting lost due to the drama surrounding the inauguration, so I figured I should cover it while everyone else is ably covering those stories. The end of the Red Sea war is in sight and that is a huge deal for everyone who cares about peace. 

The Houthis campaign was reasonably impressive. Though they only sank two ships and captured another they managed to mostly shut down travel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They were able to punch above their weight to a dramatic degree and it was the start to the end of the war between Israel and Hamas that ended the war, not military pressure against them from the United States and United Kingdom. 

Our response to the Houthis was less impressive. They managed to shoot down several of our drones and though they weren't able to damage or sink any of our US Navy ships, we also weren't able to stop there attacks despite many rounds of air strikes. We were able to intercept a large number of missiles and stop some raids, but we weren't able to ever stop the attacks. 

I do think that this is an easy success for Donald Trump. He was able to pressure both Hamas and Israel to end the war and this is collateral from that as well. The Houthis decided that the war was no longer necessary and that's a win for his administration. He might not get too much credit for it, given the media and the fact that the story got buried today, but it's still a major win for him. 

Still, I expect it will take some time before the war ends entirely and shipping returns to the Red Sea. Yemen could go back on this announcement at anytime. And the agreement doesn't cover every ship, Israeli ships could be targeted until their war with Hamas is officially over. Nobody wants to take that kind of risk. 

Either way, when the Red Sea opens up it will be a major win for anyone that needs to ship products. America itself won't see much gain, but both Europe and Asia will see this as a major improvement, one that will save millions of dollars in shipping costs. It should help both their economies.