Response to Houthis attacks suspect
TTN:
US-Led Coalition To Defend Shipping Against Houthi Attacks Doesn’t Hold Water, Experts Say
A U.S.-led coalition to deter the Houthi rebels based in Yemen from continuing to strike commercial vessels and largely shut down trade through a crucial waterway has left experts perplexed and doubtful the coalition will succeed.
The Iran-backed rebel group that controls parts of Yemen launched so many missile attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea — and sent U.S. warships scrambling to their rescue — that major companies ordered their ships to stop transit through one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Aimed at safeguarding maritime security, Operation Prosperity Guardian announced on Monday merely deploys a smokescreen over the Biden administration’s unwillingness to address the roots of the threat, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“I think it will be irrelevant — it won’t change the realities in the region nor will it stop future attacks. It may better coordinate limited humanitarian response to ships in distress after an attack or during an attempted hijacking,” Brent Sadler, the senior research fellow for naval warfare at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF.
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The ISW reports:
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Iranian state media claimed that the US-led Red Sea security coalition, Operation Prosperity Guardian, is collapsing.[10] An Iranian state Arabic-language media outlet claimed that France, Spain, and Italy’s decision to operate outside of Operation Prosperity Guardian was evidence that they and other countries in the coalition are unwilling to be the "aggressor” in the Red Sea to protect Israeli economic interests.[11] The outlet reiterated the Houthi’s false claim that its fighters only target ships en route to Israel. Recent Houthi attacks have targeted many commercial ships not traveling to Israel. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian on December 18 as a multinational security force to address security challenges in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following Houthi attacks threatening freedom of navigation.[12] Austin reported that the coalition is composed of the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.[13] Italy and France released separate statements announcing that their forces would operate independently in the Red Sea to secure freedom of navigation and would not operate under Operation Prosperity Guardian.[14] Spanish officials said separately that their forces would only operate under a NATO- or EU-led operations.[15]
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I suspect one of the major problems with the response to Irnaian and Houthis aggression is it mostly defensive in nature. Rather than mainly using expensive missile defense equipment they should attack the Houthis in Yemen and also attack Iranian support operations. Iran is the main provocateur in the region and it should pay a price for its aggression.
See also:
And:
US intelligence suggests Iran involved in planning attacks in Red Sea
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