Houthi Attacks on Commercial Ships in Red Sea Could Be War Crimes, Human Rights Watch Says
Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that recent Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden may constitute war crimes, underscoring the growing danger to civilian crews in one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.
The international nongovernmental organization said the attacks targeted at least two Saudi-flagged vessels, a Tanzania-flagged vessel and a Dominica-flagged vessel. In July, the Houthi militant group announced a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have described the embargo as a response to what they call a Saudi sea and air blockade of Yemen. The Iran-backed group controls northwestern Yemen, where a long-running conflict has displaced millions and left the country’s infrastructure in ruins.
“The Houthis are once again putting seafarers’ lives at deadly risk through their attacks on commercial ships, this time as part of their hostilities with the Saudi-led coalition,” said Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher at HRW. “Whatever the geopolitics, attacks on civilian crews carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.”
The warning comes as United Nations officials said over the weekend that more than 76,000 people in Yemen have fled their homes amid escalating fighting between the Houthis and the Yemeni government along the country’s southwestern coast. Yemen’s internationally recognized government is backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Fighting in the area has intensified during the U.S. conflict with Iran, as regional powers and their allies compete for influence over key shipping routes. The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden serve as critical links between the Suez Canal, the Middle East and global markets, making any disruption a potential threat to international trade as well as to civilian mariners.
As of Aug. 24, HRW said, the Houthis claimed to have targeted at least nine ships since the July 20 embargo. Authorities have confirmed four of those attacks, on the Encelia, Daisy, Tihamah and Amzan.
According to HRW, the Houthis said only one of the attacks—on the Tihamah—had a military objective, asserting that the vessel was carrying Saudi military equipment.
The rights organization said evidence indicates the Houthis knew or should have known that at least the Encelia, Daisy and Amzan were commercial vessels carrying civilians. It said it could not verify whether military equipment was aboard the Tihamah.
“International humanitarian law protects civilians and civilian objects from attack at all times,” HRW said. “Parties to a conflict must do everything feasible to confirm that a target is a military objective before and during attacking it and must take precautions to minimize civilian harm.”
HRW noted that the Houthis have repeatedly attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea since November 2023. The campaign has raised concerns among shipping companies and insurers, while crews aboard civilian vessels continue to face risks that rights advocates say are avoidable.
“Civilian crew members should not have to put their lives at risk to carry out their jobs,” Jafarnia said. “The Houthis should immediately and unconditionally end all unlawful attacks on civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”