• Container ships are avoiding the threat of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, The New York Times reported.
• Sailing around Africa extends journeys by up to 10 days and adds significant to fuel costs.
• Sending US and EU warships to the region has done little to improve the situation for shipping companies.

Some cargo ships are extending their journeys by up to 10 days and thousands of miles to avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

More than a year ago, Houthi rebels based in Yemen began targeting ships and vessels in the Red Sea, which they said was in response to Israel's escalations in Gaza.

However, the rebels have also attacked ships with no obvious connection to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Maritime historian Salvatore Mercogliano told the Times the situation was one of the most significant challenges shipping had faced for some time.

A report by the Defense Intelligence Agency said that at least 65 countries' trade interests had been affected by Houthi attacks on commercial shipping as of April.

There have been about 130 such incidents involving commercial ships since October 2023, per figures collated by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Diverting ships around Africa's Cape of Good Hope adds thousands of nautical miles, up to two weeks of transit time, and about $1 million in fuel costs for each voyage, per the report.

It also said container shipping through Red Sea, which typically accounts for about 10% to 15% of international maritime trade, had declined by about 90% between December 2023 and February.

The US and EU have sent warships to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to prevent Houthi attacks, but the move has had little impact.

According to Portwatch, a database run by the IMF and Oxford University, the average number of container ships passing through the Red Sea a week as of December 1 was 26, down from 73 the same time last year.

As well as longer journey times and higher costs, the management consultancy Inverto estimated that an additional 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide had been emitted since the crisis began.

• Yemeni men may have been tricked into fighting in Ukraine after promises of Russian citizenship.
• Russia is increasingly bringing in soldiers from other countries to help it fight in Ukraine.
• Analysts see this as part of growing Russia-Houthi cooperation.

Yemeni men were duped into fighting in the Ukraine war after traveling to Russia on the promise of high salaries and citizenship, according to a report in the Financial Times.

One recruit, who traveled to Russia with the help of a Houthi-linked company, told the FT that he was promised a $2,000-a-month job with a $10,000 bonus.

However, he said when he arrived in Russia, he was forced to sign an enlistment contract that he could not read before being sent to a military base near Rostov, near the Ukrainian border.

Another recruit told the publication that he was promised work in engineering and security, but ended up fighting for Russia in a forest in Ukraine.

The FT estimated that hundreds of Yemenis men are fighting for Russia.

Analysts believe this latest development with the Houthis is a sign of the growing cooperation between Russia and the Iran-backed military group.

"It makes a lot of sense for the Houthis because Russia has been known to provide them with intelligence on Israeli targets," Bashir Abbas, a fellow at the Stimson Center, told BI. "So there is very clearly an avenue of cooperation between the two."

The full extent of Russian cooperation with the Houthis is unclear. However, last week, a US State Department official told BI that Putin is engaging with the Iran-backed rebels at a "serious level."

Tim Lenderking, US Special Envoy to Yemen, told the FT that Russia is actively discussing weapons transfers with the Houthis, who have been targeting ships in the Red Sea for more than a year.

"The kinds of weapons that are being discussed are very alarming, and would enable the Houthis to better target ships in the Red Sea and possibly beyond," said Lenderking.

Abbas said that it's further proof that Iran is actively helping Russia in the war in Ukraine. "It's almost a symbiotic relationship, especially when Russia is fighting an active war in Europe, draining its coffers every single day," he said.

This isn't the first report of men being coerced to fight in Ukraine. In March, The Guardian reported that countless Indian and Nepalese men have been duped into joining Russia in its fight against Ukraine.

Indian and Nepalese men told the publication that they had been pressured into signing military contracts written in Russian and that they couldn't leave because their passports had been taken.

North Korea has also sent thousands of soldiers to Russia to fight against Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank said last week that the influx of fresh troops gives Putin a way to, at least temporarily, avoid a second involuntary mobilization.

Spokespeople for the Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request by BI for comment.