US-led Forces to Patrol the Red Sea
There’s a growing list of major shipping and container companies which have paralyzed transit through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea as Israel confronts attack from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen and Iran:
Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company
France’s CMA CGM
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd
Belgium’s Euronav
oil giant BP
Denmark’s A.P Moller-Maersk
Taiwan shipping firm Evergreen
Norway-based Frontline
This resulted in a US-led force, including the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain to fight the Houthis in the Red Sea.
Reuters • December 19, 2023 // Sputnik International
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Several countries have agreed to jointly carry out patrols in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to try to safeguard commercial shipping against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
The Iran-aligned group says the aim of its missile and drone attacks is to support the Palestinians as Israel and Hamas wage war in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Al Jazeera that his group will be able to confront any coalition formed by the United States that could deploy to the Red Sea.
Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s headquarters in the Middle East, said participating countries led by the United States include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
“This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative,” Austin said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Several other countries have also agreed to be involved in the operation but prefer not to be publicly named, a defense official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss additional details of the new mission that have not been publicly announced.
The mission will be coordinated by the already existing Combined Task Force 153, which was set up in April 2022 to improve maritime security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. There have been 39 member nations in CTF 153, but officials were working to determine which of them would participate in this latest effort.
In a letter to council members obtained Monday by The Associated Press, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Houthi attacks targeting commercial vessels legally transiting the international waterways continue to threaten “navigational rights and freedoms, international maritime security, and international commerce.”
The 15 council members discussed the Houthi threat behind closed doors Monday but took no immediate action.
The Houthis said earlier Monday they had attacked two “Israeli-linked” vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza, as more companies halt transit through the troubled but vital waterway.
In a statement, the Houthis said they had carried out a “military operation against two ships linked to the Zionist entity” using naval drones. They vowed to “continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports… from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas” until more food and medicine is allowed into Gaza.
Three US warships — the USS Carney, the USS Stethem and the USS Mason, all Navy destroyers — have been moving through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait daily to help deter and respond to attacks from the Houthis.
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