Navy SEALs carried out a nighttime seizure Thursday of a dhow carrying Iranian-made propulsion, guidance, and warheads for Houthi medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles; during the mission, two SEALs went missing in the water.

According to US Central Command, this is the first seizure of what is termed "advanced conventional weapons," which in this case seems to refer to man-portable air defense systems since the Houthis began attacking maritime traffic in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in November. It is also the first capture of Iranian ballistic and cruise missile components since 2019.

Though this is the first seizure of missile components and "advanced conventional munitions," it is not the first boarding and seizure operation. Interdiction operations to stop arms smuggling in the Horn of Africa are ongoing. In January 2023, the destroyer USS The Sullivans boarded a dhow and confiscated over 2,000 AK-47 rifles headed to Yemen. Seizures of illegal drugs are fairly frequent.

Since the beginning of 2023, ships operating with Combined Task Force 150, which patrols the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Oman and is comprised of personnel from 38 nations, have seized approximately $150 million worth of illegal narcotics.

In February 2023, for instance,  the USCGC John Scheuerman seized 1,350 kilograms of hashish, 276 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 23 kilograms of amphetamine pills on a fishing vessel in the Arabian Sea, which the Coast Guard estimated had a value of approximately $20 million. In January 2023, another U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the USCGC Emlen Tunnell, captured 4,000 kilograms of hashish and 512 kilograms of methamphetamines from a repurposed fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman, a seizure with an estimated value of $33 million. 

In 2021 and 2022, these drug seizures totaled approximately $1 billion in value. The maritime routes patrolled by CTC-150 are quite busy when it comes to smuggling not only drugs but also weapons and explosives material. Much of this illicit cargo is thought to originate in Iran, likely intended to support Houthi rebel groups in Yemen.

The SEALs were operating from the expeditionary mobile base USS Lewis B. Puller along the Somali coast with the mission of stopping the supply of advanced weapons to the Houthis. While supported by helicopters and drones, the SEALs used a small boat, probably the 11-meter Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boat, to board the dhow. This video shows small boat operations aboard the USS Lewis B. Puller.

During the operation, one SEAL slipped from the boarding ladder in moderate-to-high seas (eight-foot wave height). The video below is cued to a demonstration of the boarding-by-ladder evolution.

After removing the crew and contraband, the dhow was determined to be unsafe to operate and scuttled. The 14-man crew of the dhow will be handled "in accordance with international law." I'm not really sure what that means.

From what we know, it is impossible to tell if intelligence had flagged this ship as one hauling missile components or if the dhow fit the profile of a smuggler. That said, other interdiction operations have not involved SEALs and have originated from destroyers. The odds are that the Navy knew what it was looking for.