EMEA News
US Announces 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' to Secure Red Sea Navigation
The US Department of Defense has announced an international taskforce aimed at securing freedom of navigation in the Red Sea after the recent attacks on commercial shipping.
The new multinational security initiative, Operation Prosperity Guardian, will work under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin said in a statement on the department's website on Monday.
"Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, 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," Austin said.
Several warships are already operating in the region, and more are set to arrive this week.
The operation is likely to start with naval escorts of commercial ships through the Baab al-Mandab at the entrance to the Red Sea. Attacks on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen from which missile strikes and drone attacks have been launched may follow, but the US and its allies have been reluctant to take this step in recent weeks over concerns of broadening the current conflict in the Middle East.
Several leading companies have announced in the past few days that they will stop traversing the Red Sea -- and thus the Suez Canal -- because of the risk to their crews and vessels. Forcing these ships into much longer voyages in Africa would result in a significant boost to bunker demand, as well as to greenhouse gas emissions from shipping.
