Yemen Conflict Observatory
Interactive Map

Red Sea Attacks
Dashboard

Red Sea Attacks: Interactive Map

This dashboard encompasses political violence and interception events associated with attacks carried out by the Houthis in the Red Sea in response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. By default, the map displays all events recorded by the YCO since 19 October 2023, the date of the first Houthi attack on Israel. The dashboard is updated on a weekly basis, with new events being uploaded on Tuesdays.

This dashboard encompasses political violence and interception events associated with attacks carried out by the Houthis in the Red Sea in response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. By default, the map displays all events recorded by the YCO since 19 October 2023, the date of the first Houthi attack on Israel. The dashboard is updated on a weekly basis, with new events being uploaded on Tuesdays.

Events on the map are associated with a color legend describing the type of target, whether it be a commercial ship, an attack against Israeli territory, an attack on a military target (such as warships, drones, etc.), or an unidentified target. The YCO records the most precise geographical coordinates publicly available for each event. In cases where precise information is unavailable, events are coded to generic Red Sea, Strait of Bab al-Mandab, and Gulf of Aden areas. Consequently, some events on the map may overlap.

The bar graph in the top right corner of the dashboard displays the number of attacks conducted by Houthi forces. It is important to note that, in the YCO methodology, ‘attacks’ and ‘events’ are two distinct measurement units. The overall count of ACLED events is higher than the number of attacks, because ACLED events encompass various sub-event types, such as missile interceptions, which the YCO may classify as components of a single attack.

The filters on the left enable users to specify a monthly time range to visualize the list of events recorded by the YCO. Each event is identified by a date, a color representing the target type, the target’s name, and the sub-event type. Users can click on each event to display it on the map. Events that are part of the same attack are visualized together on the map. Additionally, the ‘Show/Hide‘ checkboxes enable users to choose whether to include or exclude interceptions and attacks against Israeli territory.

Clicking over the dots displayed on the maps will reveal a tooltip, with the list of all events recorded in the same geographic location. Each event is identified by date and target name, along with additional information about the target’s affiliated countries, and the sub-event type, reported as follows:

  • For target ‘military’: Warship name (nationality) | Sub-event type
  • For target ‘commercial ship’: Commercial ship name (flag/owner’s nationality/operator’s nationality/manager’s nationality) | Sub-event type
  • For target ‘unclear’: No target identified | Sub-event type

Data on the flag, owner, operator, and manager of commercial ships is collected using the Electronic Quality Shipping Information System (Equasis) database. ACLED has found Equasis to be the most reliable public source where all these data are consistently available.

By clicking on the events, a box opens revealing the event notes with a qualitative description of the incident.