Statement from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
On Ensuring Freedom of Navigation in the Red Sea
Defense.org & Steven Starr

WASHINGTON (December 18, 2023) — The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law. The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade.

Countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters.

This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore, today I am announcing the establishment of “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.

Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity.

US Begins Operation Genocide Guardian
— Moving towards Armageddon
Steven Starr

(December 21, 2023) — The poorest Arab country in the world, Yemen, is the only Arab nation that has chosen to take action against the mass murder now being conducted by Israel and its partner, the US.

Yemen has initiated a naval blockade against Israeli ships and any ships moving to support Israeli forces in Palestine.  This is the statement issued by the leader of the Houthis in Yemen regarding the nature of the blockade:

• Shipping lines are safe for all ships, except for ships linked to the Israeli enemy entity, or heading to the ports of occupied Palestine
• Our people are militarily moving in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea to prevent the movement of Israeli ships and ships associated with Israel, delivering supplies to the Israelis.

Rather than stopping the flow of American bombs and munitions to Israel, which would quickly end Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians of Gaza, the US instead continues to aid and abet this ethnic cleansing.

The US has formed a naval flotilla in the Red Sea, which will soon act to strike Yemen forces that attempt to interdict Israeli shipping. The US says it is doing this because Yemen “violates international law”, yet the US is taking this action to support the genocidal violations of international law now being conducted by Israel in Gaza.

The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has named this “Operation Prosperity Guardian” — a more accurate name would be “Operation Genocide Guardian”.

The leader of the Houthis has also stated:

• We consider the American step, along with some countries, to form a multinational coalition under the guise of protecting trade in the Red Sea, a hostile step aimed at protecting Israel. 
• Any American military action against our country will be responded by us, and we will make American battleships, interests, and navigation a target for our missiles, drones, and military operations.

Yemen has already conducted a general mobilization of its military forces, and Yemen is fully supported by Iran. Should US naval forces attack Yemen or Yemen military forces, it is quite likely that Yemen will sink US naval vessels in the Red Sea. This surely would result in massive US retaliation against Yemen that would quickly escalate into a much wider war, quite possibly involving Iran.

A war against Iran is the war that the US neocons have long aspired to.  Yet I suspect this will be a war that the US is about to blunder into, not by design, but through arrogance, stupidity, and an overtly evil foreign policy, which is blindly following Israel into the long-foretold Armageddon.

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