"The escalation in the Red Sea highlights the centrality and irreplaceability of maritime sea lanes of communication for world trade," Albert Vidal, research analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Media Line.
He added that it also shows how these maritime routes are vulnerable to attacks by conventional state actors and non-state actors without a navy, such as the Houthis.
In Context: The Houthis are a Yemen-based armed group aligned with Iran that controls large areas in Yemen, including its capital, Sanaa. The group emerged in the 1990s, and 2014, they conquered Yemen's capital city, starting a civil war that persists until today. The Iranian-backed group, which has been recently designated as a terror organization by the United States, claims that the attacks on the vessels are in support of the people of Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Dr. Andreas Krieg, a lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, Royal College of Defence Studies, and fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, tells The Media Line that the maritime domain is one of the key domains in defining our global order today, and it has always been that way.
In many ways, he says, "Freedom of navigation around maritime choke points is key for the proper functioning of our international liberal order, which is based on trade, freedom of navigation, and interconnectivity." READ MORE
