Houthis reshape Red Sea routes

The Red Sea disruption has moved from emergency to operating condition. The House of Commons Library says the Houthis have attacked commercial shipping and launched direct drone and missile attacks on Israel since 2023, while the United States, Britain and Israel have all carried out military responses through 2025. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) That matters because the crisis is no longer confined to one sea lane. Shipping companies have spent more than two years weighing Red Sea transit against longer voyages around Africa, and governments around the region are now using that disruption to argue for new routes, new alignments and new diplomatic openings. (jns.org) The Commons Library briefing describes the problem as part of the wider Yemen conflict and sets out a response that has continued beyond the first wave of strikes in early 2024. ### How did a shipping security crisis become a long-running trade problem? (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) Since November 2023, the Houthis have waged what Britain’s Defence Secretary described to Parliament as a campaign of aggression against international shipping in the Red Sea. A Commons Library research note says the group also began direct attacks on Israel, while U.S. and British forces conducted five joint naval and air strikes between Jan. 11 and May 30, 2024; the United States later carried out separate strikes, most recently in January 2025, and Britain’s most recent strike was in April 2025. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The result is persistence rather than a short shock. The Commons Library says the attacks, retaliatory strikes and related diplomacy have stretched across 2024 and 2025, which is why the issue now sits alongside wider questions about Yemen, Israel and maritime security rather than as a one-off shipping disruption. ### Why is Turkey talking about the “Middle Corridor” now? An Observatoire de la Turquie contemporaine article republishing an Al-Monitor analysis on May 17 said Ankara sees transport disruptions from the Iran and Ukraine wars as an opening to promote the “Middle Corridor.” That route links China and Central Asia to Europe through the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Turkey. (gov.uk) Barin Kayaoglu wrote that the corridor is being pitched as an alternative trade route, but said high costs, logistical bottlenecks and South Caucasus politics remain obstacles. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The point is not that Turkey can replace sea transport outright; it is that repeated disruption in the Red Sea and nearby waterways has strengthened Ankara’s case that overland redundancy now has commercial value. That framing comes from the analysis itself. ### What does Somaliland’s move with Israel have to do with the Gulf of Aden? (observatoireturquie.fr) On May 18, 2026, Mohamed Hagi presented his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem as Somaliland’s first ambassador to Israel, according to JNS and other Israeli media reports. JNS said the ceremony took place on Somaliland’s Independence Day and followed Israel’s recognition of Somaliland in December. The JNS report also noted Somaliland’s northern coast runs along the Gulf of Aden opposite Yemen. That geography has gained new attention because the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have attacked Israel and shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden approaches. (observatoireturquie.fr) The article did not say the appointment was caused by the shipping crisis, but it placed the diplomatic step in that maritime setting. ### What is the practical takeaway for trade routes? The practical change is that alternative corridors are now being marketed against a live security risk, not a hypothetical one. (jns.org) The Commons Library briefing shows the Red Sea threat has lasted into 2025, while the Turkey analysis shows governments are trying to convert that instability into support for rail, road and port networks outside the Suez-Red Sea chain. On the next step, the Commons Library briefing remains a baseline document for Britain’s response, and Turkey’s case for the Middle Corridor will be tested against the cost and political hurdles listed in the May 17 analysis. (jns.org) In Jerusalem, Mohamed Hagi has now formally taken up his role after the May 18 credentials ceremony with Isaac Herzog. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk)