US-led offensive aims to quell Houthi threat in Red Sea

The US has launched a multination force to counter the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

PHOTO: Aerial view of a harbor of the Red Sea. Getty Images

The Yemen-based Houthi militant group has been carrying out repeated attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, especially in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait - a critical waterway for global maritime trade that runs between Djibouti and Yemen.

The US-led initiative - Operation Prosperity Guardian – intends to alleviate the escalating Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden under the Combined Task Force 153 (CTF-153), according to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law,” Austin said in a statement.

Bahrain-based CTF-153 is an existing combined maritime forces group, which is focused on Red Sea security. Since its inception last year, it has been commanded by US naval forces on three occasions and once by Egyptian forces.

The multination initiative includes the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.

The aim of the initiative is to make sure that ships from all countries can freely navigate these areas and to promote regional security and prosperity.

Prior to this initiative, the US, UK and French navies have retaliated to these attacks. The US has three destroyers ships near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, alongside one destroyer from the UK and a frigate from France, according to the United States Naval Institute’s (USNI) press wing.

The US moved its aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen over the weekend. A US missile destroyer was also spotted entering the Red Sea yesterday, USNI added.

Hit on commercial shipping

This has compelled several shipping companies to reroute their vessels and take the long route around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. Shipping giants including Evergreen, A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk), Hapag-Lloyd, HMM and CMA CGM have announced route changes to avoid the Houthi airstrikes and drone attacks in the Red Sea.

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has said that it would avoid the Red Sea after one of its vessels was attacked by Houthi militants on Friday.

Meanwhile, oil supermajor BP has also temporarily suspended shipping operations in the region due to these attacks.

If enough ships take this longer route it could put upward pressure on global goods and commodity prices.

By Tuhin Roy

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