On the 18th, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of a multinational coalition to carry out joint patrols in the Red Sea with 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada and France, to protect ships on this important trade route.
The crux of the situation in the Red Sea lies in the fact that at the moment of fierce fighting in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israel has refused to cease fire and has refused to allow a large amount of humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, only allowing a small amount of aid to enter the Gaza Strip. This has caused great resentment among Yemen's Houthis, who have previously tried to fire on Israel itself to deter Israel, but the Houthis have been stopped by US forces. Later, the Houthis went to the Red Sea, and as long as there were ships related to Israel, the Houthis would intervene and detain them.
Faced with such a situation, the United States, Israel's biggest supporter, sent warships to patrol the Red Sea. However, it has proved that even the US military cannot deter the Houthis. Although the Houthis are no match for the U.S. military with strong ships and artillery, the Houthis have fought a "guerrilla war" with the U.S. military, and when the U.S. military comes, it runs, and when the U.S. military leaves, it comes again, and even sometimes, the Houthis will launch drones or missiles at U.S. warships, making the U.S. military unable to guard against it.
Based on this, it is not surprising why the United States wants to form a ten-nation coalition and set up a "multinational fleet" to deal with the Houthis in Yemen.
So will the Houthis be afraid? On the 19th, the Houthis responded unequivocally and are capable of countering any coalition action formed by the United States and possibly deployed in the Red Sea. In fact, on the day of Austin's speech, that is, on 18 July, the Norwegian Inwinter Chemical Carrier Company revealed that the company's "Swan Atlantic" chemical carrier was attacked in the Red Sea on that day. As soon as the US side spoke, the Norwegian ship was attacked, and it is clear that the Houthis will do what they say and will never back down!
In fact, the key to this point is not how powerful the Houthis are; after all, if the US military really wants to take action against the Houthis, it will be very difficult for the Houthis to win, and even if the Houthis can fly US military "kites" in the Red Sea, the US military will be able to directly attack the Houthi strongholds in Yemen, right? Therefore, the key to the Houthis' lack of fear of the US military is not in the level of strength, but in other aspects.
Who is behind the Houthis? It is the "Arc of Resistance", also known as the "Shiite Arc", and the backbone of it is Iran. At present, the most worrying thing for the United States around the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is that Iran may get involved. Because Iran is not only against Israel, but also the "arc of resistance" it supports can spread throughout the Middle East, including Hamas, which is fighting fiercely with Israel, as well as the Houthis, Allah in Lebanon, and some armed forces in Syria and Iraq, etc., all of which have close relations with Iran, and Iran has also said that although it does not want the Palestinian-Israeli situation to escalate or expand, if Israel does not restrain its actions, then the Middle East situation will escalate or expand sooner or later. The implication is that it does not want to make a move, and Israel does not care about itself, and Iran still has to do it if necessary.
In fact, before Austin made a statement about forming a "multinational fleet", he had threatened to attack the Houthis, as we just mentioned, even if the US military has no way to take the Houthis in the Red Sea, it can still strike at the Houthi strongholds in Yemen, and the Houthis have indeed attacked the US military. According to the temper of the US military in the past, I am afraid that it would have taken action a long time ago, but why did it just say that it was going to strike at it this time, and then it turned around and set up a "multinational fleet" to only cruise the Red Sea? To put it bluntly, it was because it was afraid of provoking Iran to take greater action against Israel, and the United States would be even more anxious at that time, so this time the United States would rather swallow its anger and only seek to cruise the Red Sea than to take action against the Houthis.
To put it bluntly, what the United States is really afraid of is actually Iran. After all, the Houthis are easy to deal with, Iran is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and the US military fought enough in Afghanistan in the past, and it took 20 years to get out. And even if it wins the war, Iran will probably cost the United States and Israel dearly. This is a matter of its Middle East strategy, and the United States will not easily let go.
Of course, despite this, such actions by the United States still pose a risk of expansion in the Middle East battlefield, and the Red Sea has become a "second theater of operations." If the United States really wants peace in the Middle East, it should still restrain Israel, otherwise, even if the United States can hold on to all kinds of armed forces in the Middle East, how can it withstand the wrath of the international community?