Tel Aviv has decided to deploy four new Sa'ar 6-class corvettes - Magen, Oz, Atzmaut and Nitzachon, built in Germany by German Naval Yards Holdings and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). These ships are heavily armed, but Israeli authorities sent them to an area under threat of attack from Yemen's Houthis.

The width of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which corvettes are expected to pass and which separates the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is only about 26 kilometers at its narrowest. This creates the potential for Yemen's Houthis to use cruise missiles to attack ships.

The Houthis have P-15 (P-15U) anti-ship missiles of the Termit complex, the range of which reaches 40 kilometers. Yemen also has coastal missile systems "Rubezh" armed with these missiles.

History already knows examples of the use of such weapons against Israeli warships. In 1967, the destroyer Eilat was attacked by four missiles and quickly sank.

Representatives of the Houthi Ansar Allah movement have already issued a warning about their readiness to attack any ships associated with Israel passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait until the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) ceases military operations in the Gaza Strip .