Yemen's Houthi rebels claim to have a new hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russian state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways in the context of Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. .
The report by state news agency RIA Novosti cited an unnamed official but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its devastating war against Ukraine.
However, the Houthis have for weeks been hinting at “surprises” they are planning for battles at sea to counter the United States and its allies, who have so far been able to shoot down any missile or bomb-carrying drone that approaches their warships. war in the Middle East. waters.
EXPLOSION NEAR A SHIP IN THE RED SEA APPLIES TO AN ALLEGED HUTHI ATTACK
The Houthis' main benefactor, Iran, claims to have a hypersonic missile and has extensively armed the rebels with the missiles they now use. Adding a hypersonic missile to its arsenal could pose a more formidable challenge to air defense systems employed by the United States and its allies, including Israel.
“The group's missile forces have successfully tested a missile that is capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 8 and runs on solid fuel,” said a military officer close to the Houthis, according to the RIA report. The Houthis “intend to begin manufacturing it for use during attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel.”
Mach 8 is eight times the speed of sound.
Russia has maintained close ties with Iran, relying on Iranian bomb-carrying drones to attack Ukraine. Russian state media, particularly its Arabic services, have reported in detail on Yemen's years-long civil war, which pits the Iranian-backed Houthis against forces of the internationally backed Yemeni government supported by a Saudi-led coalition. Saudi.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds above Mach 5, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems due to their speed and maneuverability.
The danger of a hypersonic missile depends on its maneuverability. Ballistic missiles fly in a trajectory where anti-missile systems like the American-made Patriot can anticipate their trajectory and intercept them. The more irregular the flight path of a missile, such as a hypersonic missile with the ability to change direction, the more difficult it will be to intercept it.
China is believed to be seeking the weapons, as is the United States. Russia claims it has already used them on the Ukrainian battlefield. However, speed and maneuverability do not guarantee that the missile will successfully reach a target. Ukraine's air force said in May it shot down a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile with a Patriot battery.
Houthi supporters gather to attend a rally protesting the US airstrikes against Yemen and Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
In Yemen, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the secret supreme leader of the Houthi rebels, boasted about the rebels' arms efforts in late February.
“We have surprises that the enemies do not expect at all,” he warned at the time.
A week ago he warned in the same way: “What is coming is greater.”
“The enemy… will see the level of achievements of strategic importance that place our country in its capabilities among the limited and numbered countries of this world,” al-Houthi said, without elaborating.
After seizing Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the Houthis looted government arsenals, which contained Soviet-era Scud missiles and other weapons.
When the Saudi-led coalition entered the Yemen conflict in 2015, the Houthis' arsenal came under increasing attack. Soon, even though Yemen has no local missile manufacturing infrastructure, newer missiles found their way into rebel hands.
US and allies shot down at least 28 Iran-backed Houthi drones
Iran has long denied arming the Houthis, likely due to a year-long United Nations arms embargo against the rebels. However, the United States and its allies have confiscated multiple shipments of weapons destined for rebels in Middle East waters. Weapons experts have also linked Houthi weapons seized on the battlefield to Iran.
Iran also now claims to have a hypersonic weapon. In June, Iran unveiled its Fattah missile, or “Conqueror” in Farsi, which it described as hypersonic. He described another as under development.
Iran's U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, nor did the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, which patrols Middle East waterways.
Israel's military, which has also been under Houthi fire since the war against Hamas broke out on October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage, declined to comment.
The Houthis have attacked ships since November, saying they want to force Israel to end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians in the besieged strip. However, the ships attacked have had increasingly fewer or no connections to Israel, the United States or other nations involved in the war.
But the attacks have raised the profile of the Houthis, whose Zaydi people ruled a 1,000-year-old kingdom in Yemen until 1962. Adding a new weapon increases that prestige and puts more pressure on Israel after a ceasefire deal failed to come together. in Gaza ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In early March, a Houthi missile hit a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three of its crew and forcing survivors to abandon ship. It marked their first fatal attack by the Houthis against shipping.
Other recent actions by the Houthis include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which later sank after drifting for several days, and the downing of a US drone worth tens of millions of dollars. .
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A new suspected Houthi attack targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, but missed the ship and caused no damage, the British military's Maritime Trade Operations center in the United Kingdom said.
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he would not be surprised if Iran transferred a new hypersonic weapon to the Houthis. The question, however, is how maneuverable such a weapon would be at hypersonic speeds and whether it could hit moving targets, such as ships in the Red Sea.
“I wouldn't exclude the possibility that the Houthis have some system that has some maneuverability to some extent,” Hinz said. “It is also possible that the Iranians transfer new material for the Houthis to test.”
