(Bloomberg) — U. S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the creation of a new maritime task force to protect ships crossing the Red Sea from attacks by Houthi militants.
“The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners and violates international law,” Austin said in a statement Monday. “This is an international challenge that demands collective action.”
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Austin said the countries involved in the new task force, dubbed Operation Guardian of Prosperity, include the United States, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. It will be controlled under the auspices of a pre-existing organization in the region, the Combined Maritime Forces, and under the direction of its Task Force 153, which focuses on the Red Sea.
The attacks on the Red Sea, which accounts for about 12% of the world’s industry as a key waterway for goods and energy, have emerged as a new risk to global chains and an extension of hostilities to the Gaza Strip, where Israel is committed to eliminating. The U. S. says the Houthis are also acting as proxies for Iran.
Austin, speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv with his Israeli counterpart earlier in the day, said he would convene a virtual ministerial meeting on Tuesday to discuss tactics to protect ships in the Red Sea. The United States has been consulting with its Gulf allies on conceivable military action against the Houthis in reaction to their increasingly brazen attacks.
The Houthis have claimed responsibility for repeated attacks in the Red Sea on advertising ships in recent days, incidents that the United States and its allies say are aimed at sparking a broader war in the Middle East. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Houthi leader Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti said the organization had had indirect communications with the United States and other countries in Oman.
Al-Bukhaiti said one of the messages received through the Houthis was to offer to seek a non-violent end to the fighting in Yemen in exchange for preventing attacks in the Red Sea. He said the organization rejected the idea.
Oil costs rose on Monday after BP Plc said it was postponing all shipments through the Red Sea and Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA said it was diverting its ships from the region. Brent crude futures rose 3. 9% in London. The disruptions also affected the European herbal market. fuel market, with reference costs soaring up to 13% in Amsterdam. Liquefied vegetable fuel tankers travel between the Middle East and Europe via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
—With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs.
(Updates with the Houthis in the sixth paragraph. )
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