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Yemen’s Houthi rebels have grown bolder of late and after already disrupting global shipping in the Red Sea, they are now threatening ships around the Cape with hypersonic missiles.

Thanks to ‘improved missile tactics’, the Houthis claim to have extended their target zone using hypersonic military technology deep into the Indian Ocean.

Their bite might be catching up with their bark it seems, as the group now wants to disrupt global shipping and not just vessels using the Europe-Asia passage through the Suez Canal.

The militia’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said in a televised interview: “Our main battle is to prevent ships linked to the Israeli enemy from passing through not only the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but also the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope”.

The bigger target zone is a concerning shift in the group’s ambitions, but after months of persistent attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, global commerce is already disrupted, forcing corporations to reroute vessels on longer and more costly routes.

The group’s claims of having hypersonic missiles, as alleged by numerous sources, has everyone a bit on edge, but so far there does not seem to be an official response to the threat. The new development to the crisis at the Horn of Africa comes after yet another ship was attacked as it sailed about 122 kilometres past Yemen’s Port of Hodeida. This brings the number of vessels targeted by the rebels since November to 65.

The militia now seems to be acting on their threat after it claimed that it had attacked Israeli and American ships in the Indian Ocean for the first time on Friday. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the militia launched drones and anti-ship missiles at three Israeli and American ships in the Indian Ocean this weekend.

Its statement said: “The Yemeni armed forces warn all Israeli ships heading to or coming from the ports of occupied Palestine not to pass through the Cape of Good Hope, or they will be a legitimate target for our armed forces.”

[source:safreightnews&arabnews]