Tag: MaritimeSecurity
Houthi Blockade Claims First Tanker Casualty
Yemen's Houthi movement said it struck two Saudi-flagged oil tankers in the Red Sea on July 22, the first tanker attack since it declared a blockade on Saudi-linked shipping two days earlier. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the vessels, the Encelia and the Layla, had violated the blockade order, according…
Hormuz Traffic Falls to Just Three Vessels
Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just three commodity vessels on Tuesday, down from four the previous day, according to shipping data cited by Reuters. No very large crude carriers or liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers were observed making the transit.The decline is not primarily a story…
Saudi Coalition Threatens Force Over Houthi Blockade
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen threatened to respond with force on Monday after Houthi spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree declared an immediate naval blockade on the kingdom. Coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said forces had begun protecting coalition shipping through Bab el-Mandeb and would respond "firmly and forcefully" to any threat…
Russian Frigate Holds Live-Fire Drill Off UK Coast
A Russian Baltic Fleet frigate, the Neustrashimy, carried out a live-fire weapons exercise in international waters roughly 40 nautical miles south of Plymouth on Monday, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed. The Royal Navy monitored the exercise throughout and continues to track the vessel, according to ITV News.The Russian ship…
China, Philippines Summon Envoys After Shoal Clash
China and the Philippines moved to summon each other’s ambassadors on Tuesday, a day after a confrontation at Second Thomas Shoal left a Filipino sailor with a head injury and damaged a Philippine Navy rubber boat. The reciprocal diplomatic action, unusual despite repeated maritime confrontations, marked a sharper turn than…
Beyond Piracy: Nigeria Seeks Maritime Allies
On June 1, six navies answered to a single command for the first time. In Lagos, Nigeria inaugurated the Combined Maritime Task Force (CMTF), a joint force to confront piracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, oil theft, illegal fishing and trafficking across waters from Senegal to Angola. Eleven governments had endorsed the…
How Sanctions Created a Parallel Maritime System
What began in 2022 as a workaround to Western sanctions has evolved into one of the most important pieces of strategic infrastructure in the modern global economy. Russia depends on it to finance its war in Ukraine. Iran relies on comparable networks, built over decades of sanctions, to keep exporting…
Houthis Announce Immediate Naval Blockade on Saudi Arabia
Yemen's Houthi rebels declared an immediate maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia on Monday, putting the kingdom's Red Sea oil exports at risk, according to Bloomberg.Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree framed the move as retaliation for what the group calls a decade-long Saudi siege on Yemeni ports, airports, and the capital,…
How Commercial Shipping Became a Battlefield
Every incident involving a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz now sends shockwaves far beyond the Gulf. But those shockwaves are no longer merely a byproduct of military confrontation – they are increasingly part of the objective. The June truce between Washington and Tehran collapsed this month, and the…
ASEAN Turns to Iran War as Security Risks Grow
Southeast Asia's diplomats opened a week of high-level meetings in Manila on Monday under the Philippines' 2026 ASEAN chairmanship, with the bloc's foreign ministers set to convene among themselves Tuesday to address the war between the United States and Iran alongside two long-running regional priorities: Myanmar's civil war and tensions…
