Posted on 04/13/2022 5:44:50 PM PDT by EBH
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy said Wednesday it will begin a new task force with allied countries to patrol the Red Sea after a series of attacks attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels in a waterway that's essential to global trade.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who oversees the Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet, declined four times to directly name the Iran-backed Houthis in his remarks to journalists announcing the task force. However, the Houthis have launched explosive-laden drone boats and mines into the waters of the Red Sea, which runs from Egypt's Suez Canal in the north, down through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the south that separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
“In a macro sense, this region literally and figuratively fuels the world,” Cooper said. “The area is so vast that we just can't do it alone so we're going to be at our best when we partner."
The Combined Maritime Forces command, a 34-nation organization which Cooper oversees from a base in Bahrain, already has three task forces that handle piracy and security issues both inside and outside of the Persian Gulf.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Are they aware of the Moskva?
When has the Middle East not been a problem?
Let the UAE and Saudi Arabia spend their money and blood on it, and not us.
The US needs to stop being Uncle Sucker.
Stay out of this dog fight.
Drill, drill, drill in the USA.
I think we should just sink every boat we find out there for practice.
I wonder why the USN is involved in this.
Red Sea transport is going to/from the Med via the Suez and the US has very little commerce on that route.
This looks like a European problem.
Oil is a global commodity. Supply issues in the Mid East can affect the price of it everywhere.
Perfumed prince, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, oversees the Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet.
Since the Biden administration supports Iran, is one of our “allies” actually Iran?
If things get hot in the Pacific, or we lose one important route, other less used trade routes may change abruptly in importance.
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