(Sanaa) Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Tuesday they would not stop attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, despite the United States announcing the creation of a new maritime protection force.
“Even if America mobilizes the entire world, our military operations will not stop […] whatever sacrifices it costs us,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, said on the X social network.
He added that these attacks would only stop “if Israel stops its crimes and food, medicine and fuel reach the besieged population” of the Gaza Strip.
Bukhaiti was responding to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement on Monday of a ten-nation coalition to stop Houthi missile and drone attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea .
The main spokesperson for the Houthis, Mohammed Abdelsalam, agreed, affirming on X that the Yemeni rebels were acting in “solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the blockade of (the) Gaza Strip”.
“This is neither a show of force nor a challenge to anyone,” he assured, adding that “the alliance formed is intended to protect Israel.”
“The people of the region have the right to support the Palestinian people […] just like America which has assumed the right to support Israel,” he said.
Alliance of ten countries
“The recent escalation of reckless Houthi attacks from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers the lives of innocent sailors and contravenes international law,” the Pentagon chief said Monday.
“That is why today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian,” he added. This alliance includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, Mr. Austin said.
This coalition organized its first videoconference, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces told AFP on Tuesday. The meeting took place “this morning, at service level”, indicated the ministry without specifying the number of representatives or the conclusions of the discussions.
A spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces also indicated that France had not at this stage planned to send additional resources to the region. The multi-mission frigate (FREMM) Languedoc “is already on site and it is an associated means”, he specified.
Yemen’s rebels have launched a series of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, in response to Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, they claimed responsibility for attacking two ships in the Red Sea.
Redirected ships
Maritime transport giants have deserted the entry or exit point of the Red Sea, the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, and through which 40% of world trade passes.
Among these giants, the Danish Maersk indicated on Tuesday that “after closely monitoring the evolution of the situation”, it decided for security reasons that all ships paused and which had to cross the Red Sea would now be redirected around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.
The company estimated the number of its vessels affected at 20, half of which were waiting east of the Gulf of Aden and the rest south of Suez in the Red Sea or north of Suez in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Red Sea is a “sea highway” connecting the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and therefore Europe to Asia. Around 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year, another gateway for ships passing through the Red Sea.