More than 20 countries are signing up to the coalition proposed by the US to protect the Red Sea from terrorist attacks.
The militant Islamist Houthi movement in Yemen has attacked merchant ships and warships in recent weeks, saying the attacks are in solidarity with terror-branded Hamas’s war on Israel.
Many of the world’s largest shipping lines have suspended all traffic in the important waterway because of the attacks.
The Iranian-backed Houthi movement attacks with drones and rockets, but has also boarded and hijacked merchant ships.
– We now have over 20 countries that have signed up to be part of the coalition, says Major General Pat Ryder, spokesperson at the US Defense Headquarters Pentagon
The protection force will act as “a kind of highway police” patrolling the waterways and hunting the Red Sea bandits, says Ryder.