Three dead seamen, one sunken ship and a looming environmental catastrophe — Yemen's Houthis have scaled up their attacks on civilian shipping in the Red Sea.

According to the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, the freighter Rubymar, which sank earlier in March after it was attacked by the Houthi militia in mid-February, has already caused an oil spill of some 29 kilometres.

So far, there is no final assessment of the environmental damage the attacks are causing.

But it it's possible that more than 7,000 barrels of oil and 22,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate fertiliser on board the Rubymar will end up in the water, according to maritime safety expert Ian Ralby.

Despite the unclear scale of the disaster, experts already agree that the consequences would be devastating.

A large oil slick would affect the desalination plants that supply the entire region with drinking water, and the fish population could also be hit, Ralby said in his podcast "Blue Security".

This would have a huge impact on local fishing.

Due to the strong currents in the narrow strait, the oil slick could be carried even further.

The Houthi rebels were only recently designated as terror group by the United States and to tackle their attacks in the Red Sea, the US formed the international military coalition "Operation Prosperity Guardian" in December 2023.

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