The US and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced early Tuesday in Bahrain.
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The seriousness of the attacks, several of which have damaged the vessels, has led multiple shipping companies to order their ships to hold in place and not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the security situation can be addressed.
The US military's Central Command reported two more of the attacks on commercial vessels Monday. A strike by an attack drone and ballistic missile hit a tanker off Yemen, at roughly the same time a cargo ship reported an explosive detonating in the water near them, the military said.
"This is an international challenge that demands collective action," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement released just after midnight in Bahrain. "Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative."
The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain will join the US in the new mission, Austin announced. Some of the countries will conduct joint patrols while others provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Video: IDF attacks in Gaza / Credit: Arab social media
Several other countries have also agreed to be involved in the operation but prefer not to be publicly named, a defense official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss additional details of the new mission that have not been publicly announced.
The mission will be coordinated by the already existing Combined Task Force 153, which was set up in April 2022 to improve maritime security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Aden. There have been 39 member nations in CTF 153, but officials were working to determine which of them would participate in this latest effort.
A spokesman for Yemen's Houthis said on Saturday the group is engaging in Oman-mediated talks with "international parties" over its ongoing "operations" in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
Mohamed Abdel-Salam, the spokesman, reiterated that the Houthis will continue to target Israeli vessels or ships heading to Israel until the "aggression and siege" on Gaza end.
The Iranian-backed Houthi movement has been attacking vessels in response to the Gaza war.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Al Jazeera on Monday that his group will be able to confront any coalition formed by the United States that could deploy to the Red Sea.
Al-Bukhaiti also told Al Jazeera that the US offered not to obstruct efforts toward a lasting peace in Yemen in exchange for Houthis halting their military operations in the Red Sea, and "we categorically reject this," he said.
"There is indirect contact from countries, including the US to stop our operations," he added.
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