Are international shipping companies paying the Houthi rebel groupin Yemen $180 million monthly?
A panel of experts appointed by the United Nations to monitor the Houthis' military evolution seems to think they might be. In a report for the UN Security Council in October, the experts write that the Houthis may have started charging ships going past the Yemeni coastline millions for guarantees that they won't be attacked.
The Houthis have been firing rockets at maritime traffic off Yemen's coast since November last year. The rebel group, which controls most of northern Yemen, says it is doing this to back the Palestinians and to fight against Israel and the US, whom they consider enemies.
"The Houthis allegedly collected illegal fees from a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked," the UN report says, quoting anonymous sources. "The sources estimate the Houthis' earnings from these illegal safe-transit fees to be about $180 million [€169 million] per month."
This money is transferred to the Houthis via the informal network of money transfers known as "hawala," the report continues.
These fees could add up to about $2.2 billion (€2 billion) a year and would be one of the Houthis' largest income streams. They might also give the group a financial incentive to continue their attacks, no matter what happens in Gaza and Lebanon, observers say.
However, the UN experts conceded, they could not independently verify the information.
Several maritime security and insurance experts have expressed doubts about the alleged "safe passage" scheme.
The numbers don't really add up, says........