Addressing Houthi Attacks on Red Sea Shipping

Addressing Houthi Attacks on Red Sea Shipping

Since early December, less than a month after the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants began to conduct almost daily drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels transiting the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Houthis have conducted over a hundred drone and ballistic missile attacks, targeting merchant vessels involving more than 35 different nations.

The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, while the Strait of Hormuz is a conduit between the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It is an important maritime transit route.

“The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“These attacks are reckless, dangerous and they violate international law. And so, we're taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat,” he said. “This is not just a U.S. issue, this is an international problem, and it deserves an international response.”

On December 18, Secretary Austin announced “the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.”

During a December 19 virtual meeting with top defense leaders of 43 countries and representatives from the European Union and NATO, Secretary Austin condemned the attacks on international shipping and global commerce as unprecedented and urged more nations to join the maritime efforts to counter them.

“Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to … jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity,” said Secretary Austin.

“The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation, and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade. Countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters.”