What to Know About the U.S. Coalition Force in the Red Sea

On December 13, 2023, cargo ships were spotted in the Mediterranean Sea at Israel's Haifa commercial maritime port. Yemen's Houthis, who support the Palestinians in Gaza, have issued a warning: regardless of nationality, they will attack cargo ships navigating the Red Sea that are destined for Israeli ports.

To monitor the Red Sea and stop the Houthi Rebels, who hold some territory in northwest Yemen, from attacking cargo ships, the United States has formed a coalition force consisting of ten countries.

Since the start of the conflict in Gaza, the Houthis have vowed to support the Palestinian cause and have attacked any ship they thought was docking in Israel. As a result, insurance costs for ships traveling through the Red Sea have skyrocketed, seriously impairing international trade.

The countries of Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the Seychelles, and the United Kingdom will be part of the alliance, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian. Since 2014, the Houthis have been at war with the Yemeni government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, with the goal of taking over all of Yemen.

During a virtual discussion with ministers from coalition countries on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated, "These reckless Houthi attacks are a serious international problem and they demand a firm international response."

In response, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, wrote on X that "we will not abandon our moral and humanitarian position, no matter the sacrifices it costs us. America's announcement of the establishment of the Coalition of Shame will not prevent us from continuing our military operations."

In order to escape the violence, several of the biggest shipping firms in the world, including MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, and Maersk, have chosen to sail around the African Cape of Good Hope on different routes.

According to experts, the US-led alliance will probably lessen the Houthi threat—at least initially.

The coalition's member nations have the defense capabilities to stop Houthi missiles, according to Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute who specializes in marine warfare. However, the expenses of maintaining such a program would complicate matters further. Two American warships, the USS Carney and USS Mason, are already stationed in the Red Sea; on Saturday, they successfully stopped 14 drone strikes.

"I think there is definitely credible capability there to intercept Houthi drones, and we've seen that in how the USS Carney has been able to operate over the last few weeks," Kaushal says. According to Kaushal, the threat's intensity should lessen in the upcoming weeks as the alliance deploys more warships to the region. He does, however, provide a warning that this tactic might not be long-term viable.

"I believe that the ability to restock is in doubt, especially with regard to air defense interceptors because vertical launch systems cannot be restocked at sea," Kaushal says. The ship must dock in an ally nation and restock in order for these systems to be restocked. In the long run, this could become expensive and time-consuming.

Kaushal states that if the scenario continues, it is possible that the United States and other coalition members will choose to attack the Houthi launch infrastructure, much as they did in 2016 when the Houthis fired a cruise missile built in China at a U.S. ship. In response, the United States launched Tomahawk cruise missiles in the direction of the radar locations that were thought to be the missile launch sites.

"The question is whether the allies will find something similar more appealing when they consider the expense of having to invest in fairly expensive defensive capabilities," adds Kaushal.