The operation to pacify the Houthis was launched by a multinational coalition led by the United States. This was done in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the southern Red Sea. However, despite all the coalition’s efforts, the operation failed: the Houthis’ unpredictable actions could not be prevented.
This is according to an article in The Telegraph.
The main aim of the operation was to deter the Houthis from further attacks and reassure shipping companies that had become wary of sending ships into the Red Sea and avoiding it along the long route around the Cape of Good Hope.
But this did not stop the Houthis: they continued to fire on ships, Iranian grain carriers and Russian ships of the oil “shadow fleet.” This led to Operation Poseidon Archer, which began in January 2024 and involved US and British counterattacks on Houthi targets. But these attempts also failed.
The Houthis attacked with drones and missiles and later with ballistic weapons. In April 2024, a ground-based drone was used for the first time and since then the use of this method has been steadily increasing. Recently, the Houthis have begun to accompany their attacks with small arms fire from speedboats. The number of attacks has increased in recent weeks, exceeding the average of 2.5 attacks per week.
The latest Houthi victim was the Greek oil tanker Sounion, which the Houthis attacked four times. And although the French warship Aspides destroyed the surface drone, this did not save the tanker from a second fire on August 23. The situation with the ship is on the brink of disaster.
“If it were attacked again or ran aground, 150,000 tons of oil would be the fifth-largest oil spill in history. It would be like the Exxon Valdez multiplied by four,” the authors of the article write.
It is no surprise that the EU ship came to the rescue. Despite the EU’s meager naval resources, they are the only ones present there so far. There are no Guardian of Prosperity ships within a 500-mile radius. In May, when the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower was present, the US had 12 warships stationed providing a combination of missile pickets and escorts. Now there are none.
“From the UK’s perspective, the reason is simple: we don’t have enough ships, or rather, we don’t have enough operational ships. In the US, it’s more complicated because they have ships, but they simply decided not to send any… The US Navy announced that it might have to ground 17 auxiliary support ships due to crewing issues,” the authors write.
For the first time in many years, there are no aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific, but the United States intends not to send its ships there, having apparently abandoned Operation Prosperity Guardian.
The United States also does not want to intensify relations with Iran, which sponsors the Houthis. The shipping market has adapted by sending ships around the Cape of Good Hope, but this will have environmental consequences in the future.
Earlier, Kursor reported that the Houthis announced operations against ships that they say violated the ban on entering Israeli ports.
