Armed by Iran, Yemen’s Houthi rebels now threaten one of world’s busiest shipping routes, a top Israeli naval official said.
“The entrenchment of Iran in Yemen and the transfer of advance weaponry to the Houthi forces in the region constitutes a threat to merchant ships making their way to the Mediterranean Sea” via the Bab al-Mandab crossing, a senior Israel Navy official said Monday, as he described the threats to the State of Israel’s economic waters.
“We are dealing today with the most advanced systems being transferred to Houthis [in Yemen] and Hezbollah [in Lebanon], and this definitely constitutes a threat to Israel’s merchant ships and gas rigs.”
This same officer claims that as of today, Hezbollah has weapons that threaten the entire area of Israel’s economic waters and could cause damage to each of the fields that supply gas to Israel. “At a time of war we have to be able to order the closure of the [gas] rigs such that if a rig takes a hit it can be repaired. A rig that has gas in it – a hot rig – will disintegrate [if hit] and will not return to service.”
Full story here: Haaretz
