The United States on Monday launched a multinational naval task force to counter Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Observers quickly noticed that only one of her countries in the Middle East was featured. It’s Bahrain.
Ten countries were officially announced as participating countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain, and Bahrain. They will share maritime information in the area and conduct joint patrols.
The naval group will be coordinated by Joint Task Force 153 (CTF-153), a US-led initiative established last April to provide maritime security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. become.
Yemen’s Houthis have carried out several attacks in recent weeks targeting ships they say are linked to Israel.
The Houthis said they would continue to target Israeli-linked vessels “until Israeli aggression against our loyal compatriots in the Gaza Strip ceases.”
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Last month, they seized the cargo ship Galaxy Leader, currently docked in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. Many shipping giants, including Evergreen and BP, have diverted from the Red Sea due to fears of Houthi attacks.
A U.S. defense official told The Associated Press that other countries have agreed to join the U.S.-led task force, but asked not to be named. The non-participation of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in particular has raised eyebrows.
For Riyadh, recent efforts to get closer to the Houthis and their close ally Iran likely played a role.
“Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a difficult political process with the Houthis for months with the aim of negotiating terms for defeat in Yemen and withdrawal from the war,” said Thomas Juneau, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa. He told Middle News. East Eye.
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, intervened on behalf of the Yemeni government to repel the Houthis who had taken control of the capital, Sanaa. Eight years later, both warring sides are now meeting in public to discuss peace.
Juneau said an escalation of the situation in the Red Sea, with Saudi Arabia actively contributing to the anti-Houthi coalition, could expose the country to further Houthi attacks.
“This is going to be very damaging to the following people.” [Saudi] “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has put a lot of effort into moving his country’s foreign policy away from its more confrontational stance,” Juneau said.
The UAE, which has been under attack by the Houthis in recent years, has similar concerns.
“The United States certainly does not have the same freedom to act in the Gulf as it did before the war in Gaza.”
– Andreas Krieg, scholar
“We have seen in the past that the Houthis have the ability to attack the UAE directly,” Andreas Krieg, assistant professor of defense at King’s College London, told MEE. “This is a major security concern in Abu Dhabi at this time.”
Eleonora Aldemani, a senior associate researcher at the Italian Institute of International Politics, believes Arab and Gulf states will take a “wait-and-see approach”.
He noted that the new task force falls under the umbrella of CTF-153 and includes most of the U.S. allies in the region.
Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, and even Yemen (under an internationally recognized government) are among the 39 members of the Joint Maritime Force.
“No one wants to come under attack by the Houthis or other Iranian-backed groups, so perhaps they are choosing to keep a low profile and perhaps only providing intelligence support to the operation. “Yes,” Aldemani told MEE.
“Bahrain is the most anti-Iranian Gulf country.”
For Bahrain, close naval cooperation with the United States likely contributed to its willingness to engage publicly.
Aldemani pointed out that Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Arabian Sea. He added that Manama is collaborating with the US Navy on newly introduced unmanned systems and artificial intelligence, and that the two countries signed a security and defense agreement earlier this year.
Israeli-Palestinian war: Western officials privately warn that Houthi attacks on shipping lanes will continue
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Bahrain’s limited involvement in Yemen’s civil war, compared with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, may also have been a factor.
“Given its small size, its contribution to the new maritime task force will likely be minor,” Juneau said. “By joining the special committee, we will be much less exposed to Houthi retaliation.”
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy announced on Wednesday that Bahrain’s main opposition activist Ebrahim Sharif was arrested after criticizing Bahrain’s participation in the special committee in a social media post about X.
Unlike Riyadh, Bahrain still does not have diplomatic relations with Iran. Manama and Riyadh both severed ties with Tehran in 2016, but Saudi Arabia formally restored relations in March.
“Bahrain…is the most anti-Iranian country in the GCC,” Krieg said. “They have always asserted themselves very strongly against Iranian interests.”
Following Tehran’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, Iran has even floated the idea of a naval alliance with the Gulf state. The likelihood of such a move remains highly unlikely, especially since the Houthi escalation in the region’s waters.
“Iran will definitely propose this idea from time to time, but objectively it’s not a serious plan,” Juneau said. “Saudi Arabia and Iran remain bitter rivals, even though tensions have eased very slowly in recent months.”
US loses legitimacy with support for Israel
Apart from concerns about a breakdown in relations with Yemen’s de facto rulers in Sanaa, regional countries will also be wary of appearing to oppose Palestinian acts of solidarity.
“They don’t want to be seen as antagonizing the Houthis and supporting the Israeli war effort,” Krieg said. “Public opinion in the Gulf region has become extremely hostile to Israel and Western countries, especially the United States,’s support for Israel.”
“The Saudi crown prince is putting a lot of effort into moving his country’s foreign policy away from a more confrontational posture.”
– Thomas Juneau, Analyst
For Krieg, the lack of public participation from Arab countries is more of a legitimacy concern for Washington than the effectiveness of the task force’s operations.
“Public opinion in the Gulf region has become extremely hostile to Israel and Western countries, especially the United States,’s support for Israel.”
“Gulf countries will reconsider on what occasions and how they integrate with the United States. So there will be a lot more choice and choice,” he said.
“The United States certainly does not have the same freedom to act in the Gulf as it did before the war in Gaza.”
This is not the first sign of naval dissatisfaction with the U.S. government in the region. In May, the UAE announced it would no longer participate in the US-led operation to protect Gulf shipping. It was believed that America’s inaction in response to Iran’s seizure of the tanker was the cause.
Juneau said that for the new task force to be effective, the United States would need to “take dynamic action and directly attack Houthi assets.”
“Doing so at a time of very high tensions in the region risks escalating the situation that the United States and its partners most want to avoid,” he added.