Houthi attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea have driven calls to the UK's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which functions as the area's maritime '9-1-1,' up 86%, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The Houthis escalated their attacks on international shipping last year after the start of the Gaza war, "in solidarity" with Hamas terrorists, as part of Iran's "axis of resistance" alliance.
The Royal Navy's Lt.-Cmdr. Joanna Black told the WSJ that attacks have greatly intensified following the Houthis decision to begin attacking international shipping, going from "one or two incidents every two to three months, to eight incidents a day," involving multiple vessels, which had multiple nationalities on board and faced multiple simultaneous threats.
What is UKMTO?
The UK's Royal Navy runs the UKMTO and provides commercial shipping with a primary contact for the US's anti-piracy fleet, which is required to assist all vessels in the event of piracy.
The UKMTO deals with three major areas of maritime traffic: the Red and Arabian Seas and the Gulf of Aden. All naval vessels are encouraged to call UKMTO in the event of an incident, regardless of nationality.
The UKMTO highlighted several difficulties with the current situation. In particular, there is a dilemma for many shipcaptains regarding whether to leave their transponders on.
Many captains chose to turn off their naval transponders while traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb straits to avoid drawing fire from the Houthis. This, unfortunately, means that if their ships are hit, it can become extremely difficult for rescue services to locate and respond.
The report also highlighted that new intelligence is showing that Russia has been supporting Houthi attacks on shipping by providing accurate targeting information to the Houthis.