Hodeidah (South24)

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) affiliated Joint Forces announced today that they had observed the construction of two sea canals carried out by the Houthis in Hodeidah on the Red Sea.

‘December 2’, a website that covers news related to Yemeni forces fighting against the Houthis, published a statement from the Joint Forces, which said “The reconnaissance units of the Joint Forces in the Hodeidah Axis monitored intense movements by the Houthi militia, using explosive boats in sea canals that the militia created on the coast of Al-Tuhayta district, south of Hodeidah Governorate, to target international navigation".

"The Houthi militia's movements, over the past few hours, included the introduction of small boats believed to carry explosives into two sea canals that the militia created in Al-Faza and Al-Majlis areas, as part of Iran's plan to militarize the Red Sea and turn it into an area of influence for its country," the statement added.

The statement explained that “the canal is 210 meters long, 20 meters wide, and 10 meters deep, from the sea to the middle of the dense palm plantations".

"The Houthi militia deployed a security fence preventing the people of the two aforementioned areas from approaching the two canals, and prohibited them from working on their farms," the statement added.

The statement also said that "the Houthis had previously transformed the largest fish landing center south of Hodeidah Governorate into a headquarters for what they call the naval forces, and [prevented] fishermen from carrying out their work".

South24 Centre analyzed map data retrieved from Google Maps, in an effort to confirm the presence of the reported canals, and found evidence of two man-made waterways along the coast of Al-Tuhayta district in Hodeidah Governorate, in the areas reported on by the Joint Forces.

However, according to Google Maps, the length of one of the canals- which merges with another canyon stretching from the coast to the road in the Al-Faza area – exceeds 1.3 kilometers.

#BREAKING

Joint Forces in the Hodeidah Axis: Houthi boats with explosives were detected in new sea channels on the coast of #Hodeidah off the Red Sea#south24 pic.twitter.com/66exFxMgC4

— South24 | English (@South24E) January 8, 2024

This clearly contradicts the numbers published by the Joint Forces. South24 Center reached out to them for comment, but has yet to receive a response.

The length of one of the two canals from the sea to Al-Faza road in Al-Tuhayta, Hodeidah (extracted from Google Maps by South24 Center)

Today, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that two small boats had approached a merchant vessel 50 nautical miles south east of Mokha in Bab al-Mandab. The post added: "No weapons have been sighted and vessel and crew are safe".

UKMTO WARNING 004/JAN/2024

SUSPICIOUS APPROACHhttps://t.co/zHGNgQp1UB#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/q0E32fDFGi

— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 8, 2024

For more than a month and a half, the Red Sea region and the Bab al-Mandab Strait have been witnessing unprecedented security tensions as a result of Houthi militia attacks against commercial ships under the pretext of their connection to Israel, necessitating the formation of an international maritime coalition led by the United States late last year.