WSJ: Russia Provides Satellite Data To Houthis For Striking Merchant Vessels In Red Sea

The Houthis did not fire at the ships, which were flying the Russian flag.

Yemen's Houthis rebels used data from Russian satellites to launch drone and missile attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, two European military officials and another source familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The data was transmitted through members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were in Yemen, one of them said. This helped the rebels significantly ‘expand the scope of their strikes,’ the WSJ interlocutors claim.

The Houthis began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea after the war between Israel and Hamas began last autumn. Since November 2023, the group has shelled more than 100 ships, making two of them sink and capturing one.

Attacks by Yemeni rebels have disrupted global trade as shippers have had to divert ships along a longer route around Africa. By April 2024, the US had spent about $1bn to destroy the Houthis' drones and missiles and protect shipping in the Red Sea.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to start supplying arms to Western adversaries in response to Ukraine's permission to pound long-range missiles deep into Russian territory. ‘If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to strike at our territory and create problems for us, why don't we have the right to supply weapons to those regions of the world where sensitive strikes will be made against the facilities of those countries that do this towards Russia,’ Putin said.

Reuters sources then reported that Russia, with Iranian mediation, was holding secret talks with the Houthis on handing over Yakhont (also known as P-800 Onyx) anti-ship missiles to the militant group. As the agency's interlocutors noted, this could increase the threat to US and EU warships protecting merchant ships, but Moscow has not yet made any final decision.

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, so far Yemeni Houthi rebels have most often attacked merchant ships carrying Russian goods. Back at the beginning of the year, the rebels promised that they would not hit Russian and Chinese ships. However, of the 83 ships hit by attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November last year, 19 per cent left Russian ports. All of the ships attacked by the Houthis were oil tankers and container ships.

According to Bloomberg, the Houthis did not shoot at ships flying the Russian flag, but attacked ships with sailors - citizens of the Russian Federation. At that, before the attack, numerous ships transmitted satellite signals of ‘crew from Russia’ and ‘Russians on board’.

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