The Shia rebels, known as 'Houthis' have swept through Yemen with extraordinary speed, alarming Saudi Arabia which fears it is being encircled by forces linked to its rival, Iran. They swept southwards from their northern heartland of Saada province last summer, entering the capital in September. They have since pushed into central, western and southern provinces with the support of Mr Saleh's allies, sparking clashes with Sunni tribesmen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants and southern separatists.

Aden is all but surrounded. This once thriving port city that guards the southern entrance to the Red Sea is now on the verge of being overrun by Shia rebel fighters, backed by Iran and allied to soldiers loyal to Yemen's previous president Saleh.

On 25th March, The rebels have made rapid gains since seizing a key airbase only 37 miles (60 km) from Aden. Gunfire could be heard around the city centre, and security forces allied to the Houthis have taken over the international airport. As Yemen descends further into chaos there are fears it could soon join Syria and Libya as another intractable war zone, attracting jihadists from many countries.

Meanwhile, on 25th March, Yemen's president fled his palace in Aden to an undisclosed location, 5 Yemeni officials told The Associated Press, as the advance of Shiite Houthi rebels plunged the Gulf nation further into crisis. Besides, Houthi officials said its fighters had arrested the country's Defence Minister, Mahmoud al-Subaihi, and a senior aide in the southern city of Lahj. Government officials deny reports that the president has fled the country, and say he remains in Aden. State television, which is controlled by the rebels, announced a reward of capturing 'fugitive' president would be $93,000.

According to the accumulated data from SHIELD monthly reports of 2015, there were no other actual piracy attacks reported such as 'boarded', 'attacked' or 'hijacked' by pirates in commercial traffic lines from Gulf of Oman to Red Sea, even Indian Ocean. Piracy incidents occurred only with 'suspicious approach'. In comparison with the past data, however, the quantity of incidents being approached by pirates still exists and has increased recently.

SHIELD annual reports from past years show that the possibilities of an attempt on boarding and attacking vessels still exist due to the quantity of suspicious approaches. Because, actually there were more violent incidents such as 'attacked' and 'hijacked' by pirates during past years. The problem is that the potential possibility of using aggressive fire-power such as RPG and planting explosives to crash into the vessel for blocking the waterway becomes new menace which seems to raise threat level of waters in the vicinity of Yemen.

Article Published on 26 March, 2015