The US-backed military operation to protect ships sailing through the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, allies of Iran, has raised unexpected tensions between Madrid and Washington. The Spanish government was dissatisfied when the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, last Monday, without prior notice, listed Spain among the ten countries that would take part in Operation Guardian of Prosperity commanded by the United States. The government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, had to publicly deny this and assured that Spain would not participate “unilaterally” in the coalition, although the Ministry of Defense clarified that it could do so “within the framework of NATO or the European Union.” .
The path appeared to be clear the next day when it was agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the European Political and Security Committee (CPS) at ambassadorial level that the EU would take part in surveillance in the Red Sea as part of Operation Atalanta, which has been dedicated since 2008 the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean. EU High Commissioner Josep Borrell announced the decision and assured that the exchange of information with the USA would be intensified and the European naval presence would be strengthened with additional resources. “This shows the EU’s role as a provider of maritime security. We accompany our words with actions,” he concluded. However, according to El Confidencial, Spain vetoed the change in Operation Atalanta's mandate to include shipping safety in the Red Sea in a technical meeting the next day.
The decision caused surprise in diplomatic circles as the Spanish government has not made a public statement. According to diplomatic sources, this sudden turn of events was the reason for the conversation that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, had on Friday with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the first after his re-election. Although La Moncloa did not refer to the issue in his statement, the White House assured that both leaders highlighted the need not to expand the Gaza conflict to the entire region and “the ongoing Houthi attacks on ships See”. “Rojo”, obliging to maintain cooperation between their respective countries.
The same Friday, after meeting with Pedro Sánchez in Congress, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, announced that he had informed him that “the Spanish decision at the moment is not to intervene; or at least not to intervene in the conditions demanded by the United States.” On Thursday, the second vice president of the government, Yolanda Díaz, in statements to SER, criticized the international community's speed in protecting commercial interests in the Red Sea and its passivity in defending the civilian population in the Gaza Strip as “enormously hypocritical”. The Houthis claim that they only attack ships bound for Israel, but in practice they have targeted any ship that has passed through Israeli ports or that they claim to have ties to that country, endangering shipping on a route, About 10% of the Houthis carry global trade through them.
Spain plays a fundamental role in Operation Atalanta, as its headquarters is at the Rota base (Cádiz) and its manager is the Spanish Vice Admiral Ignacio Villanueva Sánchez. In addition, the Spanish frigate Victoria is currently the only ship that the European operation has, following the withdrawal of the Italian frigate. It does not even have a maritime patrol aircraft as its deployment in the region depends on the monsoon season.
Military sources indicate that with the means that Operation Atalanta now has at its disposal, it is impossible to take on new tasks, especially because after three years of inactivity there has been a reactivation of attacks by Somali pirates with two hijackings (an Iranian fishery ) ship and a Bulgarian freighter) arrived in the last few weeks. Yes, that would be possible, they clarify, if their resources were significantly increased and an operational plan was approved. Due to the narrow width of the Red Sea, the response time to an attack from the Yemeni coast is very short, so escort forces must sail close to the protected ships and always within range of their weapons. The drones that have been used to carry out most of the attacks are slow, but they raise the dilemma of whether it is worth spending expensive missiles to shoot them down. Furthermore, from a political perspective, a conflict with the Houthis is a proxy conflict with Iran.
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The Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that more than 20 countries had joined Operation Prosperity Guardian, but did not name names this time. Currently, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Greece have announced the deployment of ships or have already deployed them to the region. After the September 11 attacks, Washington resorted to reactivating the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), an alliance of 39 navies created in 2001 to protect maritime security. The CMF, which includes Spain, is coordinated by the vice admiral of the United States Central Naval Command based in Bahrain, with a British commodore as deputy.
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