The strategically important strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, runs past Yemen and there have been more than 10 attacks on ships in the area by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. . . .
The attacks risk disrupting the global supply chains that pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the waterway that accounts for 30 per cent of all container ship traffic and is a vital conduit for crude oil shipments. . . .