“The ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are illegal, unacceptable and deeply destabilizing, and there is no legal justification for deliberate attacks on warships and civilian vessels.” These are the words of the joint statement with which the United States, Australia, Bahrain , Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their commitment to the Red Sea. A mission that also has a name for Washington: Prosperity Guardian, and which, in addition to some more or less foreseeable difficulties, also takes the form of a military operation aimed at containing a crisis that is disrupting trade on one of the most important routes in the world .
The Houthi threat
The challenge is complex because the Houthis, Yemen's Shiite militia, have proven to be a skilled and well-armed opponent. Yesterday, the US Central Command announced that two anti-ship ballistic missiles had been fired on the evening of January 2nd and that several ships had “reported that missiles fell in the surrounding waters”. And confirming the Houthis' desire to flex their muscles, a spokesman for the group, Yahya Saree, intervened the same day by claiming responsibility for the attack on the merchant ship “Cma Cgm Tage” and warning that “everyone American attack will not “remain unanswered”. A threat that refers to the recent US operation in the Red Sea, in which three boats belonging to the Yemeni armed forces were sunk by units of the US Navy, and which also shows how The Shiite militia feels strong and is capable of being a dangerous thorn in the side of world trade and also a valuable ally for Iran. In addition, Tehran, which is engaged in what analysts call a “shadow war” against Israel and the United States The United States has decided to send a clear message about the importance it attaches to the Red Sea.
The risks
In fact, the Iranian Navy has deployed the Alborz destroyer in these boiling waters: a message that serves not only to reinforce the Islamic Republic's image as a power capable of presenting itself on multiple fronts, but also to show the existing connection between its strategy and the Red Sea. A plan in which the Houthis are playing an increasingly important role and even received public praise from Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who spoke of a “big leap in quality”. The United States has long wondered what the best solution to this escalation might be. The media has shown that the White House is being pressured over a possible attack in Yemen that would deprive the Houthis of their launch sites and arsenals, but President Joe Biden appears unconvinced. The risk that the flames of the crisis will spread throughout the region is high, and for this reason Washington and its allies are showing caution but also determination. “We call for an immediate end to these illegal attacks and the release of the illegally seized vessels and crews,” the allied countries wrote in the note, and if the attacks do not stop, “the Houthis will assume responsibility for the consequences.”
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