The American Wall Street Journal: Russia provided targeting data for Houthi attacks on global shipping

The American Wall Street Journal said that the assistance provided by Moscow in the attacks that disrupted global trade shows how the Kremlin seeks to involve the United States in the Middle East.

The newspaper confirmed that Russia provided targeting data to the Houthi rebels in Yemen as they attacked Western ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones earlier this year, helping the Iranian-backed group attack a major artery of global trade and further destabilize the region.

The Houthis, who began their attacks late last year, eventually began using Russian satellite data as they expanded their strikes, said a person familiar with the matter and two European defense officials. One of the people said the data was passed through members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who were mingled with the Houthis in Yemen.

The previously unreported assistance shows the lengths Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to go to undermine the U.S.-led Western economic and political order. In this case, Russia has backed the Iranian-backed Houthis, designated a terrorist group by the United States, who have carried out a series of attacks on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

More broadly, analysts say Russia has sought to stoke instability from the Middle East to Asia to create problems for the United States. The widening conflict in the Middle East, sparked by the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel last year, has consumed resources and attention at a time when Washington has sought to focus on threats from Russia and China.

“For Russia, any escalation anywhere is good news, because it diverts the world’s attention away from Ukraine, and the United States needs to allocate resources — Patriot systems or artillery shells — and with the Middle East at stake, it’s clear where the United States will choose,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a Berlin-based think tank.

A Russian government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Houthi spokesman also declined to comment.

Moscow has sought to build closer military partnerships with authoritarian regimes, the newspaper said, prompting Iran and North Korea to become more deeply involved in its war effort in Ukraine. The two countries have provided ammunition, drones and missiles, and North Korea has sent 3,000 troops for training in Russia in recent weeks, according to American and South Korean officials.

She noted that this assistance provides battlefield support for Russia, which suffers from a shortage of manpower and materials, but it also serves Moscow's strategic goals by destabilizing two regions where its partners confront the United States and its allies.

South Korea, a key U.S. ally in East Asia, has expressed growing concern that the North Koreans could gain battlefield experience through their exposure to the war in Ukraine. South Korea is one of the world’s fastest-growing arms manufacturers, and Seoul has warned that it will take retaliatory measures, including sending lethal aid to Ukraine. While South Korea has sent weapons to countries supporting Ukraine, it has declined to send weapons directly.

In the Middle East, Russia’s aid underscores a dramatic shift in its strategy. Putin has strengthened ties with Iran while ignoring his longstanding relationship with Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has been increasingly embroiled in conflict with Iran and its proxy militias in the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Putin has criticized the United States and Israel over the Gaza conflict. He said Thursday that the region was on the brink of all-out war.

The Houthis began launching attacks in the Red Sea, where ships travel to and from the Suez Canal, late last year. In all, the militants have attacked more than 100 ships since November 2023, sinking two vessels and hijacking another.

The attacks have caused major disruptions to global trade, with shipping companies diverting ships for a while south around the Cape of Good Hope, a longer and more expensive journey. Nearly 1 in 10 barrels of oil shipped each day worldwide passes through the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait separating the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean. According to maritime intelligence firm Windward, oil tanker traffic through the route fell 77% in August 2024 compared to October 2023.

The United States has pledged to protect international shipping lanes, and in December last year launched a multinational naval coalition to escort ships passing through the strait. By April, the United States had spent about $1 billion on munitions to destroy Houthi drones and missiles and protect shipping in the Red Sea. The United States has since gone further, earlier this month sending B-2 Spirit bombers to strike Houthi arsenals.

The United States is concerned that Russia could escalate the situation by supplying the Houthis with Russian anti-ship or anti-aircraft missiles that would threaten U.S. military efforts to protect ships in the region, but there is no evidence so far that Russia has done so.

Earlier this month, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was recently released from a U.S. prison in a prisoner swap with Moscow, tried to broker a $10 million sale of small automatic weapons to the Houthis, the Wall Street Journal reported. It was unclear whether the sale was initiated or approved by the Kremlin.

Since the Houthis began attacking ships linked to Israel and its allies about a year ago, most ships making the dangerous journey near their territory have begun turning off their radio signals, complicating efforts to track them. Once a ship disappears, its direct movements can only be tracked continuously through high-quality satellite imagery. Commercially available satellite services tend to suffer from gaps in coverage and transmission delays.

Tankers carrying Russian oil shipments, including those carried by the Kremlin-linked Rosneft, have been attacked by the Houthis on several occasions. But these shipments are being flown by a so-called ghost fleet of front companies to evade sanctions whose Russian connections are known only to a close circle of Russian oil officials and market players.