The US Secretary of Defense announced on Monday the formation of a 10-nation alliance in the Red Sea to deal with repeated attacks by Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels against ships they say are “connected” to Israel.

In addition to the USA, Lloyd Austin clarified, according to a press release published by his services at the Pentagon, that this alliance includes France, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the Seychelles.

“The recent escalation of irresponsible Houthi attacks from Yemeni territory threatens the free flow of trade, endangers the lives of innocent seafarers and violates international law,” he underlined.

“That is why today I am announcing the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian,” added the US Secretary of Defense.

During a visit to Israel, Lloyd Austin earlier demanded that Iran end what it says is “support” for Houthi operations against merchant ships, following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is not among the states mentioned by the Pentagon chief when he announced this Red Sea alliance.

In 2019, Washington announced the formation of a naval coalition to protect navigation in the waters of the Gulf, following a series of attacks that the US attributed to Iran, which however denied any responsibility.

Suspension of crossings

Earlier yesterday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for new attacks in the Red Sea targeting two merchant ships they said were “connected” to Israel.

The Houthis announced that they had “conducted a military operation against two ships associated with the Zionist entity” using naval drones, naming the ships they targeted as the M/T Swan Atlantic and MSC Clara.

The owner of the Norwegian tanker M/T Swan Atlantic acknowledged that the vessel was hit by an “unknown object”. “Fortunately, the crew members, who are all Indian nationals, were not injured and, according to reports, the vessel suffered limited damage,” Norwegian shipping company Inventor Chemical Tankers said in a statement.

For now, shipping giants prefer to avoid crossing the strategically important Bab al-Madeb strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa and through which 40% of world trade passes.

Following the example of many shipping companies, British hydrocarbons giant BP and Taiwan’s shipping giant Evergreen announced that they were suspending all routes through the Red Sea because of the repeated attacks.

Late last week, Denmark’s Maersk, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, France’s CMA CGM and Italy’s MSC MSC announced that their ships would no longer sail in the Red Sea “until further notice” until the passage is “safe”. .

The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, ruled yesterday Sunday that these attacks “cannot remain unanswered”.

“Nothing to do with Israel”

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have warned they will now target any ship passing off the country’s coast if it has ties to Israel, in retaliation for the Jewish state’s war against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. .

Houthi missiles and UAVs have been shot down by warships patrolling the sea area recently.

The Red Sea is characterized as the “highway of the sea”, as it connects the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean, in other words Europe with Asia. About 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year, the entry and exit point for vessels passing through the Red Sea.

“The ship has nothing to do with Israel, in terms of its owner (Norwegian company), its management (Singaporean company), and its cargo,” the owner of the M/T Swan emphasized Atlantic, clarifying that the tanker’s route was intended to transport goods from metropolitan France to Réunion. The tanker is now under the protection of the US Navy.

When not going through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, ships are forced to circumnavigate Africa, passing through the Cape of Good Hope, which makes travel much more expensive.

For the Rotterdam-Singapore connection, this detour lengthens the journey by 40%, from about 8,400 nautical miles (15,550 km) to 11,720 miles (21,700 km), according to S&P Global.

Several ships, notably from shipping companies Maersk and MSC, are already following this route in recent days, according to the same source.