United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announces the formation of a coalition against Houthis ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP 12/18/2023
The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, announced this Monday (18) the formation of a coalition of ten countries to combat the attacks by Houthi terrorists from Yemen in the Red Sea, carried out in response to the war in Gaza.
“Countries that want to defend the fundamental principle of freedom of navigation must come together to meet the challenge posed by this nonstate actor,” Austin said in a statement.
According to the American minister, this alliance will consist of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the Seychelles.
During a visit to Israel this Monday, Austin had already demanded that Iran “stop” its support “for attacks on merchant ships.”
Israel is not part of the coalition announced by Washington.
In 2019, the United States had already promoted a naval coalition to protect maritime trade in the Gulf region after Israeli authorities attributed a series of attacks to Tehran.
Houthi terrorists, backed by Iran, claimed responsibility this Monday (18) for two attacks on ships “connected to Israel” in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza, and several companies announced that they would exclude this important trade route For this reason, attacks should be avoided.
The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen's capital Sanaa and other areas of the country since 2014, said in a statement they had “carried out a military operation against two boats linked to the Zionist entity,” referring to Israel.
The terrorists said the Norwegian ship M/V Swan Atlantic, flying the Cayman Islands flag, and the Panamanianflagged MSC Clara were attacked after they refused to respond to their calls for contact.
About 40% of global trade passes through the Bab Al Mandab Strait, the corridor linking the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula where the Houthis have stepped up their attacks.
The Houthis have warned that they will attack any ship heading to Israeli ports and sailing off the coast of Yemen as a pressure measure in response to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
That threat prompted five shipping companies, including the world's two largest shipping companies, to announce last week that they would avoid the Red Sea, which connects the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean.
British oil major BP announced on Monday that it would suspend all deliveries via that route, news that led to a rise in oil prices. Taiwanese shipping giant Evergreen did the same.
Frontline, one of the world's largest oil tanker companies, said it was making changes to the routes of its ships and that it would “only accept new business” that may pass through South Africa's Cape of Good Hope. This route is much longer and uses more fuel.
The ItalianSwiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), France's CMA CGM, Germany's HapagLloyd, Belgium's Euronav and Denmark's AP MollerMaersk the latter responsible for 15% of global container transport put their operations in the red Pay a sea until further notice.
The attacks have become a “maritime security crisis” with “commercial and economic impacts in the region and beyond,” Torbjorn Soltvedt from the analysis center Verisk Maplecroft told AFP.
The M/V Swan Atlantic was hit by an “unidentified object” while sailing through the Red Sea on Monday, said its owner, Norwegian shipowner Inventor Chemical Tankers.
No crew, all Indian nationals, were injured and the boat suffered “limited damage,” the shipowner said in a statement.
“The ship has no connection with Israel,” said the ship’s owner, who reported that the ship was traveling from France to Reunion Island, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean.
On Saturday, an American destroyer in the Red Sea shot down 14 drones that had taken off from Houthicontrolled areas in Yemen, the US Army said.
The UK also claims one of its destroyers shot down a suspected attack drone in the zone.