United States Allies’ Are Hesitant to Form Coalition to Fight Houthis
Jose Nino
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Although the United States has made efforts to forge a coalition to stop Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, many US allies are hesitant to take part in the task force that’s been forged, which is officially known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, per a Reuters report on December 28, 2023.
The Defense Department asserted that 20 countries are participating in the operation, but the US has only announced 12 participating in this operation. “We’ll allow other countries, defer to them to talk about their participation,” Defense Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said to reporters.
Moreover, several of the countries the US announced were members of the coalition have published statements distancing themselves from it. Following the US’s announcement of the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian and its announcement that Spain was a member of this coalition, Spanish authorities instantly denied Spain’s involvement. The Spanish Defense Ministry stated it “will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation.”
Italy, which was also listed as a coalition partner in the US announcement, stated it would deploy a frigate to defend Italian shipping interests but clarified the deployment was not part of the operation led by the American government.
Bahrain was the sole Arab country that the US announced was part of the operation.
The Houthis launched the attacks against Israel-connected shipping owing to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and stated they won’t stop until the assault is finished. Countries are getting cold feet in participating in the US-led coalition due to how they don’t want to appear to be supporting Israel’s brutal military campaign, which has brought about the deaths of over 21,000 Palestinians.
On December 28, the US government announced a new round of sanctions singling out a financial network allegedly connected to the Houthis over the attacks launched in the Red Sea.
This Houthi chapter in the US’s interventionist story is just a shitshow waiting to pop off. The US is clearly overstretched on an imperial scale.
Its imperialist ventures are clearly unsustainable and will result in its total implosion abroad. It will ultimately take rational, realist minds for a genuine course correction to take place.
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