Human Rights Watch Says Houthi Strikes on Red Sea Merchant Ships Likely War Crimes

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that recent Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden most likely amount to war crimes in at least three cases, sharpening legal and humanitarian scrutiny of a renewed campaign against civilian shipping. In a Sept. 15 statement titled “Yemen: New Attacks by Houthi Include Likely War Crimes,” the rights group said the evidence indicated the Houthis knew or should have known that some of the ships they targeted were commercial vessels carrying civilians.

The finding matters because it links the latest wave of attacks not only to regional conflict, but to possible violations of international humanitarian law, which protects civilians and civilian objects from attack. Human Rights Watch said deliberate or reckless attacks on civilian crews or commercial ships can amount to war crimes, and that even if a vessel is carrying military cargo, any strike still has to meet the requirements of proportionality and precaution.

The deadliest of the cases Human Rights Watch examined involved the vessel Tihamah, which was attacked on Aug. 11 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, near Mokha. Yemen’s Transport Ministry said the ship was hit by three consecutive ballistic missiles. Statements from the Yemeni government and coast guard, cited by Human Rights Watch and corroborated by Reuters and The Associated Press, said the attack killed at least four crew members — three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian national — as well as two rescuers from the Yemeni Coast Guard. At least 10 others were injured. The Houthis later claimed Tihamah had carried Saudi military equipment, but Yemen’s Transport Ministry described it as a commercial civilian vessel carrying food supplies. Human Rights Watch said it could not independently verify the cargo and had asked the Houthis for evidence but received no response.

The group also highlighted three other attacks it said pointed to likely war crimes. On July 22, a tanker later identified by Saudi authorities as the Saudi-flagged Encelia was struck in the southern Red Sea, causing a fire on board, according to a UK Maritime Trade Operations report cited in the research; Saudi authorities said the crew was safe. On Aug. 5, the Houthis said they targeted the Dominica-flagged tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden. UKMTO reported that the master of a tanker heard a loud explosion nearby and no crew injuries were reported; vessel-tracking data showed the ship later continued to Djibouti. On Aug. 24, the Houthis said they targeted the Saudi-flagged tanker Amzan with a ballistic missile. Bahri, the ship’s operator, confirmed a “security-related incident” and said all crew were safe and accounted for.

Human Rights Watch said it corroborated the incidents through Houthi statements, government statements, shipmaster or company reports, UKMTO advisories, vessel-tracking websites and verified imagery and video. Its core conclusion was that the Houthis knew or should have known that Encelia, Daisy and Amzan were commercial vessels carrying civilians, and that the group did not provide evidence showing those ships contained military targets. The organization’s assessment is a legal analysis by a rights group, not a court ruling or criminal conviction.

Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch said, “The Houthis are once again putting seafarers’ lives at deadly risk through their attacks on commercial ships, this time as part of their hostilities with the Saudi-led coalition. Whatever the geopolitics, attacks on civilian crews carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.”

Human Rights Watch said the attacks followed the Houthis’ July 20 announcement of a maritime embargo on Saudi-linked shipping, which the group said was a response to what it described as a Saudi sea-and-air blockade on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. As of Aug. 24, Human Rights Watch said, the Houthis had claimed to have targeted at least nine vessels since that announcement, with four attacks corroborated by outside sources: Encelia, Daisy, Tihamah and Amzan.

The Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb Strait are vital routes for global trade and energy shipments, giving attacks on merchant vessels significance far beyond Yemen. The International Maritime Organization publicly condemned renewed attacks on ships in the Red Sea area on July 23 and warned of the danger to seafarers and shipping. Human Rights Watch also noted that the Houthis have repeatedly attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea since November 2023, including the seizure of the Galaxy Leader and the detention of its crew.