Canada Joins U.S. International Naval Flotilla in the Red Sea
Yemen blocks Israeli
merchant ship from its waters, December 11, 2023.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin formally announced on December 18 that the U.S. has established a naval flotilla to guarantee Israeli bound shipping has access to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Austin said, "Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity." The European Union has now announced it will also participate. According to Austin, the flotilla is in response to the Houthi of Yemen targeting merchant vessels headed to Israel.
Britain has committed a Type 45 destroyer equipped with air defence weapons to the force. French frigate Languedoc has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the southern area of the Red Sea since December 8. A spokesperson told the press that the Languedoc shot down two drones "coming from the direction of Yemen that appeared hostile on the second day of its patrol duty." Norway will contribute 10 officers, Canada three oficers and the Netherlands two officers, but no ships.
There is not and never was any threat to "freedom of navigation for all countries" or to regional security and prosperity. The only threat is to Israel bound shipping.
Yemen's firm
stand against U.S.-backed Israeli bombing and ground
operations massacring Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has had
significant impact. Reuters reports that no less than 12 major shipping
companies, including French shipping group CMA CGM, the Belgian oil
tanker firm Euronav,
the Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen, Norway's oil tanker
group Frontline, South Korean container shipper HMM, German container
shipping line Hapag Lloyd, Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk, Mediterranean
Shipping Company (MSC), Japan's Ocean Network Express, Orient Overseas
Container Line
(OOCL), Norway's Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine
Transport have either stopped transporting Israel bound cargo or are
re-routing shipments around Africa rather than the more direct Red Sea
routing.
Yemen is not alone in its anti-Israel shipping stand in solidarity with the Palestinians. On December 20, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the decision to impose the maritime ban on Israel-affiliated vessels -- singling out ZIM in particular, Israel's largest shipping firm. Ships on their way to Israel will also be barred from loading cargo at any port in the Southeast Asian nation with immediate effect, Anwar said in a statement. "The Malaysian government decided to block and disallow the Israeli-based shipping company ZIM from docking at any Malaysian port," Anwar said. The restrictions are a response "to Israel's actions that ignore basic humanitarian principles and violate international law through the ongoing massacre and brutality against Palestinians." Malaysia also decided to no longer accept ships using the Israeli flag to dock in the country and imposed a ban on any ship on its way to Israel from unloading cargo in Malaysian ports.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 33 - December 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53333.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca