A few days ago, US State Department spokesman Miller expressed the hope that China can play a constructive role in preventing attacks on international shipping in the waters of the Red Sea.
The current situation in the Red Sea seems to be more heated than the Gaza region, the main battlefield of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, for no other reason, the war in Gaza has almost become a stalemate, in the absence of strong international forces to intervene, that is, Israel continues to attack the local military and civilians, the local casualties have reached about 20,000, the vast majority of them are civilians, but the United States is still trying to do everything possible to prevent international forces from intervening, so that the Israeli army can smoothly carry out atrocities.
Yemen's Houthi rebels are one of the few armed forces that have the ability to deter Israel in defiance of U.S. obstruction. The Houthis are members of the "Arc of Resistance" and are not part of a government's armed forces, but a local force that emerged from Yemen's civil war, and U.S. restrictions have no effect on them. Soon after the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis launched strikes on the Israeli mainland, but soon the US military began to take the initiative to intercept the missiles and rockets fired by the Houthis against Israel.
So the Houthis changed their tactics and ran to the Red Sea, picking out Israeli-related ships to launch attacks and detain them. Because the Red Sea is a busy international waterway connecting to the Mediterranean Sea, the Houthis' move has led to a number of world-renowned shipping companies announcing that they will no longer use this waterway, which has put heavy pressure on Israel's maritime transportation. But Israel is not a maritime power, and with its vast strategic resources focused on fighting in Gaza and Hamas, it is no longer in a position to respond to Houthi attacks.
At this time, it was the US military that worked tirelessly to escort the ships in question. However, the U.S. military has encountered three practical problems:
First, the Houthis deliberately fly US military "kites", and if you come, I will run, and if you go, I will come again. caused the U.S. military to run back and forth, and I don't know how much fuel was consumed, but in the end, it could not have a strong deterrent to the Houthis;
Second, the Houthis are well aware that the US military is afraid of the "Arc of Resistance" forces further intervening in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, so they dare not take too radical measures against themselves, so they dare to go all out with the US military, and even use drones and missiles to attack US warships;
Third, the US military intercepted the Houthi drone, which seems to be easy, but in fact it is a mess, a Houthi drone is only a few thousand dollars, and according to relevant reports, the US military ship-based missile has to consume $2.1 million to fire!
For these reasons, the U.S. military has been disgusted to help Israel deal with the Houthis in the Red Sea. Based on this, the United States once again staged its own good trick -- shaking people. The U.S. military, not to mention anything else, does have enough military allies, so it organized the "Prosperity Guardian" operation and invited many countries to send warships to join the Red Sea Fleet they formed to jointly target the Houthis.
According to the data given by the Pentagon on the 21st, more than 20 countries have agreed to participate in this new alliance led by the United States. In addition, it is also reported that warships of the United States, Britain, France, and other countries are also gathering in the southern part of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to prepare to launch joint patrols. However, don't look at the momentum of this move, but in fact, the Pentagon itself admits that at least eight countries participating in the operation have refused to disclose their identities, and the United States has several allies, in fact, they have declined its invitation.
Why? Because the Houthis have said that they will take action against the countries involved. All countries can clearly see that the United States is not seeking to defeat the Houthis in this "Guardian of Prosperity" operation, but only to ensure Israel's interests. In the end, in fact, it is to let the warships of various countries escort Israeli ships in the Red Sea throughout the whole process, and the Houthis are coming, and they can't be too fierce, after all, the United States really doesn't want to see the consequences of Iran's anger, and Israel can't bear it.
In the end, isn't this just letting all countries act as sandbags to bear the Houthi firepower instead of Israel? Who wants to do such a thankless task? Let us say that under such circumstances, it is enough to gather so many countries to give the United States face.
Moreover, in the long run, we are not optimistic about the actual effect of this "guardian of prosperity", first of all, there are very few Arab countries participating, and among the countries that have been disclosed, there should be only one Bahrain with less influence, and the rest are extraterritorial countries, which generally have a weak influence on the Arab world and will not deter the Houthis. Second, given the difficulty of the Houthis, the United States, as a traditional maritime power, has a hard time coping with it, let alone other countries. In the end, in fact, so many countries have joined in, more for the sake of the face of the United States, but these countries are willing to sell the face of the United States to come to the show, but they may not be interested in really targeting the Houthis for Israel, to put it bluntly, they just can't do their work.
After all, the Houthis have made it clear that if Israel refuses to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, then they will continue to operate. In other words, Israel stopped restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza, giving the civilian population a glimmer of life and the Houthis ceased.
Israel is unwilling to do such a simple thing, which is also required by the United Nations General Assembly, but it is not easy for so many countries to go to the Red Sea to clean up the mess it has made for Israel. Therefore, when the United States invited other countries to join the "Prosperity Guardian" operation, some of the closest allies of the United States chose to refuse, such as Australia, which only asked it to send one warship, but it did not do so.
Therefore, let's not look at the current US shake people, more than 20 warships are on standby in the Red Sea, US, British, and French warships are gathered in the Gulf of Aden, and the United States also claims that many countries have joined the "anti-Houthi" coalition; in fact, the United States itself is not optimistic about the effect of this operation, otherwise how can it shout at China this time? It is just trying to force China to choose a side and provide help to it, which will also affect China's relations with Iran. China has long understood that the root cause of the Red Sea situation is Israel's atrocities, and it will not fall for the United States.