russia provided intelligence to the Yemeni Houthis, who attacked Western ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones earlier this year, The Washington Post reports.

The Houthis, who began launching these attacks late last year during the Gaza war, are now using russian satellite data to expand their strikes, with the information passed through Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Experts say russia aims to create instability from the Middle East to Asia to challenge the United States. The conflict escalation in the Middle East, sparked by an attack on Israel on October 7 last year, has drawn resources and attention away from U.S. focus on threats from russia and China.

"For russia, any escalation is beneficial because it shifts the world's focus away from Ukraine and forces the U.S. to allocate resources elsewhere,"
said Oleksandr Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Eurasian Center.

Since November 2023, Yemeni militants backed by Iran and russia have attacked over 100 ships, sinking two and seizing another. These incidents disrupted global trade, as some shippers temporarily rerouted ships south around the Cape of Good Hope, a longer, costlier path. About 10% of the world's daily oil shipments pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait, linking the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Tanker traffic on this route dropped by 77% in August 2024 compared to October 2023, according to Windward, a maritime intelligence company.

Interestingly, russian "shadow fleet" tankers, including those linked to Kremlin-backed Rosneft, were also targeted by Houthi attacks.

@ukrainejournal