Somali pirate and Houthi alliance targets $1T oil trade route with revived hijack tactic
Armed men hijacked an oil tanker off Shabwa and steered it toward the Gulf of Aden, Yemen's coast guard reported
By Emma Bussey Fox News
Published May 3, 2026 5:32pm EDT
A surge in Somali piracy is fueling fears of a Red Sea "security vacuum" across the region as analysts warn of a revived maritime crime playbook, now linked to Iran-backed Houthis.
The warning follows a May 2 report from Yemen’s coast guard that armed men hijacked an oil tanker off Shabwa and steered it toward the Gulf of Aden, and the vessel has since been located with recovery efforts underway, Reuters reported.
"There is a fundamental shift in the maritime center of gravity amid a new phase of maritime instability in the region," Ido Shalev, chief operating officer at RTCOM Defense, told Fox News Digital.
"Somali and Houthi-linked groups are teaming up — using skiffs and new tech to strike ships with coordination not seen in a decade — while Saudi crude rerouted from the Strait of Hormuz has created a ‘target-rich environment for them,’" he added.
"There is an opportunistic alignment, with the Houthis providing geopolitical cover and advanced GPS and surveillance, and Somali groups providing the boots on the ground or skiffs on the water," Shalev said.
With the MT Eureka taken off Shabwa, Shalev, a former Israeli naval officer, suggested what he called the "Somali model" had returned "with a vengeance."
"This is a transactional collaboration, and in the exact area where the Houthis are active and would like to cause damage and support their IRGC sponsor," he said before describing how pirates would hijack the entire ship and cargo, taking them to a secure anchorage "like Qandala or Garacad."
"They then demand a ransom for the entire package: the vessel, the tens of millions of dollars in oil, and the crew," he said.
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