US losing Red Sea battle; global repercussions to follow: Bloomberg

The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) are leading a successful military naval campaign in support of the Palestinian people that has “arguably beaten” the United States, a Bloomberg report found.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah advanced the “biggest surprise” and the “ominous” acts to the US-led global order, an expert on foreign affairs Hal Brands wrote for Bloomberg.

Yemenis have presented the “gravest challenge” to the US self-proclaimed guardianship over global trade routes in recent decades and have “arguably beaten a weary superpower along the way,” Brands explained.

The Yemeni Armed Forces launched a naval campaign in support of Palestine in late 2023, hoping to establish an embargo over Israeli-affiliated ships sailing in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean.

Due to the strategic position of Yemen on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea, the country’s armed forces have been able to easily limit the movement of vessels in the chokepoint. According to the Bloomberg report, traffic at the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea has decreased by more than half, while the Israeli port of Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba has gone bankrupt due to the operations of the YAF.

“Nearly a year on, the group appears less deterred than emboldened,” Brands wrote, highlighting a recent attack they conducted against the SOUNION oil tanker.

The report also said that the US efforts to counter the support campaign since January have been “middling at best.” It highlighted how the YAF, via relatively cheaper and smaller capabilities, was able to “control access to vital seas.”