MANAMA, Bahrain — Amid shuttle meetings with Gulf leaders on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to pitch a new American-led maritime security mission designed to ward off attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Having spent much of his tenure managing withdrawals of US forces from the Middle East, Austin once again found himself inviting US-friendly nations to chip in — this time, in a bid to contain the fallout from Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.
Austin convened with top defense officials from some 43 countries via virtual feed during a stop at the US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain on Tuesday.
The US-led mission, dubbed Prosperity Guardian, comes as missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis against commercial cargo vessels around the Bab el-Mandeb strait have caused some of the world’s largest shipping carriers to steer clear of the key economic waterway, threatening to dent the global economy.
