An attack on Copts in a village in Egypt… and security intervenes

#attack #Copts #village #Egypt.. #security #intervenes

British official figures showed that ship traffic through the Suez Canal has declined by two-thirds since the beginning of this April, highlighting the impact of the turmoil in the Red Sea on global trade.

The British Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that ships crossing the waterway decreased by 66 percent during the first week of April, compared to the same period last year, according to what the newspaper reported.The Independent” British.

The Suez Canal is an important and busy trade route for ships traveling between Asia and Europe, often carrying goods such as oil and natural gas.

British Bureau of Statistics figures showed a 59 percent decrease in ships entering and exiting through the Bab al-Mandab Strait during the same period.

The Office for National Statistics based its data on an analysis of the number of ships using technology that tracks shipping locations every few seconds.

These data highlight the impact of the disturbances that the Red Sea has witnessed since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Container ships along major trade routes in the Red Sea have been subjected to repeated attacks since last November by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

These attacks forced many shipping companies to reroute their ships around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, which is a much longer journey, causing shipping costs to rise and causing delays.

The data showed that ship traffic around the Cape of Good Hope began to rise in December, and by the second week of February it had more than doubled compared to the same week in 2023.

The Office for National Statistics said these figures were consistent with widely reported marine disturbances in the Middle East.

Since the start of the war in October 2023 between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemeni Houthi rebels have carried out dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden against commercial ships they said were “connected with Israel,” disrupting global maritime trade in this strategic region.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, recently claimed responsibility for attacking about 100 ships since the start of their operations.

Washington, Israel’s main ally, formed a multinational coalition in December to “protect” maritime traffic without succeeding in stopping the attacks.