The United States allies are reluctant to participate in the U.S.-led Red Sea task force to counter Houthi rebel attacks against commercial shipping vessels.
“While the U.S. is trying to put on a united front to prevent Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, many U.S. allies are reluctant to participate in the task force that’s been formed, formally known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The Pentagon claims 20 countries are participating in the operation, but the U.S. has only announced 12. ‘We’ll allow other countries, defer to them to talk about their participation’, Pentagon spokesman Brig. General Pat Ryder told reporters last week.
Even some of the countries the U.S. said were members of the coalition have issued statements distancing themselves from it. After the U.S. announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian and said Spain was a participant, Madrid denied its involvement. The Spanish Defense Ministry said it ‘will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation’.
Italy, which was also included in the U.S. announcement, said it would send a frigate to protect Italian shipping interests but made clear the deployment was not part of the U.S.-led operation.
Notably absent from the coalition is Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has backed Riyadh in a war against the Houthis since 2015, but Saudi Arabia is now seeking peace and fears its involvement could provoke Houthi attacks on its oil infrastructure. Bahrain is the only Arab country that the U.S. said was part of the operation.
The Houthis started the attacks against Israel-linked shipping due to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza and said they won’t stop until the siege ends. Countries are likely reluctant to participate in the U.S.-led coalition because they don’t want to appear to be supporting the Israeli massacre, which has killed over 21,000 Palestinians.
On Thursday, the U.S. announced new sanctions targeting a financial network allegedly tied to the Houthis over the attacks in the Red Sea. There’s no sign the Houthis will back down in the face of U.S. sanctions or other actions”. -Dave DeCamp, Antiwar
The reluctance of some U.S. allies to link themselves to the maritime task force likely stems from fear that participating countries may become subject to Houthi retaliation.