The war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas is increasingly having an impact on international shipping: After attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, several shipping companies announced at the weekend that they would no longer sail through the area, which is important for trade. The US Military Middle East Command (Centcom) reported on Saturday that a US warship in the Red Sea intercepted 14 attack drones that were fired from Yemen. According to the Ministry of Defense in London, the British destroyer “HMS Diamond” also fended off a drone.
The more than a dozen drones were shot down by the destroyer “USS Carney” without there being any reports of damage to ships or injuries, Centcom said on the online service X (formerly Twitter). They were fired from areas in Yemen controlled by the Shiite Houthi militias, it said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had previously stated that he had discussed the attacks in the Red Sea with his British colleague Grant Shapps. On the online service X, Austin described it as “irresponsible and illegal” and “an international problem that needs to be addressed.”
Austin announced a trip to the Middle East on Saturday with stops in Israel, Bahrain and Qatar. Austin’s visit to Bahrain will focus on “US efforts to build multilateral coalitions to respond to maritime aggression that threatens shipping and the global economy,” the Pentagon said.
In Israel, Austin will meet with senior military officials to discuss “the next steps in the conflict after a possible end to ground operations and high-intensity air strikes,” said a senior US Department of Defense official.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia has repeatedly fired drones and rockets at Israel and attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels are threatening to attack any ship heading to Israel unless food and medicine are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
The Red Sea is an important route for international trade: thousands of ships pass through the strait every year between Yemen, on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa.
Because of the ongoing attacks, two other shipping companies, the Italian-Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the French CMA CGM, announced on Saturday that they no longer wanted to sail through the strait. On Friday, the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and the Danish shipping company Maersk announced that they would initially suspend their trips through the Red Sea. A container ship belonging to the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd had previously come under fire.
The Association of German Shipowners (VDR) called for an international military alliance to protect civilian shipping in the Red Sea – with the involvement of the Bundeswehr. The USA, France and England are already present in the region with military ships, said association president Martin Kröger on Bayerischer Rundfunk. “In this respect, we are very much in favor of establishing a maritime alliance to protect maritime traffic in the region.”
