More than 20 countries join coalition to protect Red Sea shipping

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that more than 20 countries had joined the US-led coalition to protect Red Sea ships from strikes by Yemen’s Huthi rebels.

The Iran-backed Huthis have routinely targeted vessels in the important commerce waterway, claiming to be acting in behalf of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is fighting the militant group Hamas.

“We’ve had over 20 nations now sign on to participate” in the coalition, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.

Ryder said the Huthis are “attacking the economic wellbeing and prosperity of nations around the world,” effectively becoming “bandits along the international highway that is the Red Sea.”

Coalition forces will “serve as a highway patrol of sorts, patrolling the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to respond to — and assist as necessary — commercial vessels that are transiting this vital international waterway,” he said, calling on the Huthis to cease their attacks.

According to an AFP calculation based on Israeli data, the latest phase of the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7 when the Palestinian militant group carried out a shocking cross-border strike that killed about 1,140 people in Israel.

Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, began a relentless bombardment of Gazan targets, combined with a ground assault, which Gaza’s Hamas rulers alleged on Wednesday had killed at least 20,000 people.

These murders sparked widespread outrage throughout the Middle East and fueled attacks by armed groups in the region, particularly the Huthi attacks on Red Sea ships.

The US declared the multinational Red Sea alliance on Monday, but the Huthis threatened two days later that if attacked, they would strike back.