The conflict between Israel and Hamas has been going on for 75 days, Israeli ground operations in the Gaza Strip are still ongoing, and air raid sirens inside Israel have not stopped. At the same time, 2,000 kilometers away from the Gulf of Aden, Israel finds itself blocked beyond the Red Sea by the Yemeni Houthis. The US-led navies of many countries launched the "Prosperity Guardian" escort operation in the Red Sea, which has escalated the Palestinian-Israeli conflict into a regional crisis. Why is the West taking action against the Houthis?The outside world may have overlooked a set of data: Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and the war in Ukraine have led to a shortage of natural gas in Europe, with European gas up 12%, UK gas up 10%, and oil up 4% in the last 2 days. The West is already seriously overdrawn, and if international energy **continues**, whether it is the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the impact and consumption of the West will only increase.
On the contrary, the tension in the Middle East, and the increase in EU oil and even natural gas imports from the Middle East, are good for Russia. This means that it will be increasingly difficult for the West to enforce the ceiling set by the Russian energy **, which will only harm itself. The West is now only sanctioning Russia's energy instead of a total ban, the gas pipeline between Germany and Russia has been working, and international energy has hit the EU directly and has also had a direct impact on Russia. As a result, the West, led by the United States, began to move on the Houthis in order to reduce the cost pressures of the two wars. "Now, the U.S.-led Prosperity Guardian escort operation appears to be only aimed at strengthening the escort, but there are fears that the United States may launch a new war to consolidate its international position, especially to demonstrate its ability to dominate regional affairs.
Operation Prosperity Guardian is led by Joint Task Force 153 of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, and in addition to the United States, the British, Bahrain, Canadian, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Seychelles, and Spanish navies have also announced their participation in the operation. At present, the U.S. Navy has deployed three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Carney (DDG-64), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), while the British Royal Navy's Type 45 guided-missile destroyer USS Diamond (D34) and the French Navy's FREMM missile frigate USS Languedoc (653) have also joined the formation. The Italian Navy's multi-mission frigate Virginio Fassen (F-591) has also set sail for the Red Sea.
In addition to a number of guided missile destroyers and frigates, the U.S. Navy's USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) carrier strike group has also traveled from the Persian Gulf to the vicinity of the Gulf of Aden. At the beginning of last month, the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Persian Gulf mission area, and at present, except for the support ship and the accompanying USS Florida (SSG-728) cruise missile nuclear submarine, the rest of the surface ships have been on their way to the Gulf of Aden with the USS Eisenhower. This strike group should be temporarily deployed in the Gulf of Aden-Red Sea area to intimidate and deter the Houthis. At present, the US-led 'escort fleet' is on standby in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Current developments suggest that if the Houthis continue to carry out sustained attacks on merchant ships transiting through Israel or heading to Israel, a maritime strike group led by the USS Eisenhower could launch a preemptive strike against Houthi drone and ballistic missile bases. In addition, the US Navy missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107), deployed in the Persian Gulf, will also take part in the operation. So why doesn't Israel send its own ** to the Gulf of Aden to escort ships, and the United States needs to personally lead the "Prosperity Guardian" operation?If Israel dares to send ** to the Red Sea, the Houthis' various drones and ballistic missiles will respond quickly. The Israeli Navy, which has less than 2,000 tons of state-of-the-art Saar-6-class frigates, can bully Allah on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, but if it swaggers in the Red Sea, the Houthis will dare to attack it.
Currently, three of the Israeli Navy's four Saar-6 class frigates are deployed on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and the other one is deployed in the Gulf of Aqaba in the Sinai Peninsula. Earlier, the Israeli ambassador to Russia revealed that Israel is ready to participate in Operation Guardian of Prosperity "in one way or another" if necessary. The Houthis have previously negotiated with Saudi Arabia and other countries on the situation in the Red Sea, and have made it conditional that the Houthis will stop their attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea as long as Israel allows unhindered humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. Following the announcement by the United States of the launch of Operation Guardian of Prosperity, the Houthis have held a new round of negotiations with representatives of relevant international parties under the mediation of Oman. The United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, which does not seem to be ending anytime soon. Recently, the United States even transferred the Italian Navy from the western to eastern part of the Mediterranean, suggesting that the duration of the operation could be comparable to that of Operation Iron Sword, which Israel is conducting in the Gaza Strip.
This means that Operation Prosperity Defenders is unlikely to end until the IDF has completely defeated Hamas. With the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea, the local conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has lasted for more than two months, has spread throughout the Middle East. After this local conflict escalated into a regional crisis, Israel seems to have ceased to be in focus. At the moment, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman have not expressed their support for Operation Prosperity Guardian, but they are likely to be forced to get involved. In the case of Israel, Iran's presence cannot be ignored either. Iran's cooperation with the Houthis has thrown the Red Sea region into chaos. The United States will inevitably take Iran into account when making decisions, which also means that the upcoming Christmas may not be ominous for the West.