India has deployed two guided-missile destroyers off the coast of Aden as part of maritime security in the northern Arabian Sea. The US, on the other hand, has introduced a multinational naval force to protect merchant ships from Iran-backed Houthi militia in the Red Sea.
Although the government has not revealed anything about the matter, the Indian Navy warship INS Kochi is engaged in protecting the merchant shops from Somalian pirates at the mouth of Red Sea, a Hindustan Times report said.
India has sent another stealth guided missile destroyer INS Kolkata to boost the maritime security off the coast of Aden, which is a gateway between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
The US on Monday announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, which aims to protect sea borne business in the Red Sea from ballistic missile and drone attacks launched by the Shia Houthi groups in Yemen. The multinational coalition includes, UK, Bahrain, France, Norway and other countries.
With the help of terror outfits like Al Qaeda, Islamic State (IS) and the Ansar Al-Sharia, the Iran-backed Houthi militia is fighting the Yemeni government, and has taken on the role of a state actor with a weaponry of ballistic missile, helicopters and fire missiles, the HT reported.
The Houthi militia — based in southern Yemen, near Bab el-Mandab Red Sea choke-point — is taking on commercial ships as part of its plan to pressurise the international community to cease Israeli military operations in Gaza.
As the Houthi militia is aiming at merchant vessels in the Red Sea, the Islamist Somalian pirates are adding to the problem by taking control of merchant tankers for ransom money.
The Somalian pirates have currently hijacked the Maltese vessel MV Ruen and moved it to Mogadishu.
With the sea lanes of communication being under threat, there could be serious consequences on global trade. This is in the backdrop of China limiting the navigation freedom in South China Sea on one end of Indo-Pacific and Iranian proxies disrupting the Middle-East region.
The report noted that any big attack on merchant vessels by the Houthi militia, will lead to a critical impact on global oil flows through, followed by inflated crude oil prices, which will ultimately cause global misery. It is worth noting that as much as ten per cent of global oil imports pass via the Red Sea route every year.
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