New naval coalition a ‘highway patrol’ to thwart Houthi ‘bandits’ in Red Sea, Pentagon says
The Defense Department described Yemen’s Houthi rebels as “bandits” preying on service provider ships passing by way of the “international highway” that’s the Red Sea. That makes the brand new U.S.-organized Operation Prosperity Guardian multinational process power a maritime freeway patrol charged with holding the peace within the area, a Pentagon spokesman mentioned Thursday.
The Iran-backed Houthis started launching drones and missiles at service provider ships passing by way of the Bab al-Mandab Strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden after Hamas launched its October 7 assault on Israel. More than 20 nations have now signed on to take part within the mission, Defense Department officers mentioned.
“This is an international problem that requires an international response. We will continue to work with this ‘coalition of the willing’ and all countries will be able to contribute what they feel that they can,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman informed reporters. “In some cases, that will include vessels [and] in other cases, it could include staff or other types of support.”
Operation Prosperity Guardian will fall below Combined Maritime Forces, a global naval coalition based mostly in Bahrain below the command of the U.S. fifth Fleet.
“The Houthis aren’t attacking just one country. They’re attacking the economic well-being and prosperity of nations around the world,” Gen. Ryder mentioned. “This is a defensive coalition that is there to help reassure global shipping and mariners as they transit the straits.”
Several main delivery firms and oil companies have suspended journey by way of the Red Sea after greater than a dozen civilian ships got here below assault because the begin of the Israel-Hamas battle. Houthi officers say their marketing campaign is a present of help for the Palestinian trigger within the combating.
Pentagon officers declined to elaborate on the technique and ways Operation Prosperity Guardian will make use of to counter the Houthi assaults on service provider ships. The forces will cowl an space of about 450 miles, the space from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
“We’re going to continue to work with the international community to safeguard those vessels that are transiting those waterways,” Gen. Ryder mentioned. “I would hope that the Houthis would understand the pressure that they are going to bring onto themselves if they don’t stop these attacks.”
