Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
17
The remains of the United Arab Emirate High Speed Vessel HSV 2 Swift ship (Tasnim1 [Iran])
Since the beginning of October 2016, the Houthi-Yemeni conflict has assumed a new
naval and international dimension that could endanger civilian freedom of
navigation in the Red Seas Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil
tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal. The Houthis are backed and
armed by Iran; the Yemen army is backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.
On October 1, 2016, the Houthi-allied Yemeni Republican Guard launched an antiship cruise missile (ASCM) near the Red Sea port of Mocha in the strategic Bab elMandeb shipping lane. It struck a humanitarian ship in the service of the United
Arab Emirates Navy.
The United States dispatched three battleships to the area. On October 9, Iranianbacked Houthi militants fired on the USS Mason in the same area; on October 11,
they fired two more cruise missiles at the ship. No damages or injuries were
reported.
In retaliation, the USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missile strikes knocking out
three Houthi coastal radar sites that were active during previous attacks and
attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea." The strikes, authorized by President
Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected
Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict.
Apparent in Yemen are the absence of the American player and the weakening of its
overall policy in the Middle East. Not far from Yemen in the Persian Gulf and the
Strait of Hormuz, Iranian fast boats continue to harass and provoke American
warships, which operate without any appropriate response. Meanwhile, Iran
continues to build its naval and missile power.
Playing down the incident will play into Iranian propaganda and bolster Irans
already overconfident and defiant stance.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been waging war against the Yemeni army and the
Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen for several years. Since the beginning of October
2016, the conflict has assumed a new naval and international dimension that could
endanger civilian freedom of navigation in the Red Seas Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which
serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal.
On October 1, the Houthi-allied Yemeni Republican Guard launched what appears to
have been a Chinese-made C-802 anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) near the Red Sea port
of Mocha in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane. Another possibility is that it was
a Noor guided missile (the Iranian version of the C-802) that Iran supplied to the Houthi
rebels as part of its extensive military and political assistance to them. Iran supports
Houthis in their struggle to take control of Yemen, including their firing of missiles at
Saudi Arabia.2 The maximum range of the advanced version of the missile is 170 km.
(apparently Iran supplied the 120-km. version).
The missile struck an HSV-2 Swift hybrid catamaran belonging to the United Arab
Emirates navy operating in the area as part of the Saudi coalition. The ship was carrying
a humanitarian cargo as well as people injured in the combat areas of the city of Aden
the temporary capital for the Yemeni government since the Houthi conquest of Sanaa.
3
This is not the first time the Houthis have claimed they are acting against ships of the
Saudi-led Arab coalition in the area of Bab el-Mandeb.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement: The targeting of the civilian ship in an
international channel has serious implications for freedom of navigation, and is an act of
terror.3 The United Nations also condemned the act. It is worth noting that, during the
Second Lebanon War in 2006, a Noor missile that Iran supplied to Hizbullah struck the
Israeli naval vessel INS Hanit and killed four crew members.
The Houthi rebels claimed to have fired the missile that destroyed the UAE ship. They
also posted videos on social networks that document the surveillance, the launch of the
missile, the moment it hit the ship, as well as rocket fire toward rescue boats that came
to the area.4 They said the ship was advancing toward Mocha.5 Earlier, on September 26,
Houthi forces encamped on the Hanish Islands and fired artillery shells at Eritrean forces
at the seaport and the military airport at Assab in Eritrea. The Houthis claimed that the
attack was a response to the aid Eritrea is giving to the Saudi-led Arab coalition by
allowing it to use the port, which is very near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.6 After the
October 1 incident, the damaged ship was able to reach the port of Assab.
A few days after the missile was fired at the UAE ship, the Houthis, under the name
Yemeni Navy Coastal Defense, issued a warning to any vessel belonging to the Saudi-led
coalition not to take action against Yemen, with a reminder about the strike on the UAE
vessel. The vessels were warned not to approach Yemeni territorial waters without
permission from the Yemeni authorities. The statement cautioned: In case of
4
witnessing any uncoordinated movements near Yemens territorial waters or trespass of
our sea border, the vessels of Saudi Arabia and its allies will be destroyed.7
The ship when it once belonged to the U.S. Navy (DOD photo)
Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and
former aide to retired former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said
following the incident that It might be the first time the SM-2 was used against an
actual threat for which it was designed....Its definitely the first time ESSM has been
used....This is obviously a huge deal.11
In retaliation, the USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missile strikes knocking out
three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces that
were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea," said
an American official. The areas in Yemen where the radars were located were identified
near Ras Isa, north of Mukha, and near Khoka.12
6
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.14 Arab media saw the award as further evidence of
Irans growing involvement in the Yemeni conflict. Notably, unlike in the past, Iran is no
longer concealing its involvement in Yemen and the aid it is providing to the Shiite
Houthi rebels.
The firing of guided shore-to-sea missiles at U.S. and UAE ships constitutes an escalation
in the Yemeni conflict and could pose a threat to a key international sea lane in the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The ability to fire guided missiles, along with their long range
(120 km.), endangers not only the coalitions freedom of action and ability to enforce
the Arab embargo but also civilian vessels, including tankers that operate in the area.
Irans aid to the Houthi rebels has apparently increased beyond Tehrans ongoing
assistance to fighting at the different fronts in Yemen. Iran is prepared to provide tiebreaking weapons that could help the Houthis breach the naval blockade that Saudi
Arabia and its coalition partners have imposed on Yemen. In the past, weaponssmuggling ships have been intercepted as Iran was trying to transfer arms to the Houthi
rebels. It appears, however, that with the Houthis holding their own in the battles, the
embargo is ineffective and Iran has found other lanes for transferring weapons to the
Houthis.
The ceasefire in Yemen collapsed at the beginning of August. Despite attempts to renew
the dialogue (with the involvement of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the UN
envoy to the region) between the Houthis, who are Irans proxies, and the Yemeni
government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, which is backed by the Saudi-led Arab
coalition, the war is continuing and even expanding. This war constitutes an additional
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arena for the Battle of the Titans between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is also being
waged in other venues including Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain, and is part of the realignment
of the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
15
Part of a cartoon on Khameneis webpage. Caption: Iranian leader conveys a strong message the
Islamic Republic of Iran unlike in the past when foreign powers exploited its natural resources and
humiliated its people is powerful enough to defend itself and humiliate its enemies.
For Iran, Yemen is a perfect venue for such tests. Iran is preparing for future
engagement with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf where the IRGCN frequently
provokes and sometimes humiliates American naval presence in the area. The
Americans reaction to launching the missiles against its ships may change the dynamics.
Playing the incident down will again play into Iranian propaganda and bolster Irans
already overconfident and defiant stance.
***
9
IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on
Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for
Public Affairs and at Alcyon Risk Advisors..
***
Notes
Tasnim, https://goo.gl/HiQm6f
http://jcpa.org/islamic-revolutionary-guards-corps-revolution-continues-beyond-irans-borders/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-emirates-security-idUSKCN1242DB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSbJeR8ZKvA(video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaMSb_7_3cM
https://goo.gl/0AyNG3
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950713001035
https://news.usni.org/2016/10/04/official-3-u-s-warships-off-yemen-following-attack-uae-ship
http://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2016/10/10/yemen-us-navy-targeted?sr=fbCNN101016cnnayemen-us-navy-targeted0512AMStoryLink&linkId=29742636
10
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-us-navy-attacks_us_57ff0994e4b05eff55819087
11
https://news.usni.org/2016/10/11/uss-mason-fired-3-missiles-to-defend-from-yemen-cruisemissiles-attack
12
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-missiles-idUSKCN12C294
13
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/us-weighs-response-to-yemen-rebel-missile-attack-onships
14
https://goo.gl/MqxMuU, http://fa.alalam.ir/news/1867425
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Cartoon: http://farsi.khamenei.ir/photo-album?id=34494