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America is losing the battle of the Red Sea
The Houthis have upended freedom of the seas in a crucial area and paid a very modest price
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The Houthis began their campaign against shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in late 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hal Brands
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Even by the Middle Eastern standards, the past year has been full of surprises. A bolt-from-the-blue attack by Hamas produced the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. The resulting Israel-Hamas war in Gaza
Yet the biggest surprise is also the most ominous for global order. A radical, quasi-state actor most Americans had never heard of, the Houthis of Yemen, have mounted the gravest challenge to freedom of the seas in decades – and arguably beaten a weary superpower along the way.
