Iranian Frigate Enters Red Sea, Escalating Risk of Conflict Spread in Middle East

Already since October, when Israel launched an ambitious retaliatory operation against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, there were concerns about the conflict spreading to other parts of the region, where Israel’s ally the United States and Iran, which supports Hamas, would also be involved. Now that an Iranian naval frigate has also crossed the Babelmandeb Strait and entered the Red Sea, where Western forces are already present, the risk of escalation has increased.

Shortly after the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel in early October, the US-led Western coalition sent its naval forces to the Red Sea as a deterrence mechanism to make other countries in the region feel that the US is close and ready to come to Israel’s aid. However, this has not stopped Iranian-backed armed groups from attacking commercial ships owned by Western companies plying the Red Sea. The Houthi militias, which control most of Yemen, announced in October that they were ready “to go in hundreds and thousands to help the Palestinian people and fight the enemy.”

In the first month, missiles and drones trying to hit commercial ships “linked to Israel” were intercepted by US and Israeli defense mechanisms, but on November 19, the Houthis took a helicopter from the Galaxy Leader, a ship operated by the Japanese company “Nippon Yusen” (NYK), which was on its way from Turkey to India, and kidnapped all 25 crew members, none of whom were affiliated with Israel.

2024-01-03 22:01:00
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