Greece, the world’s biggest owning nation of oceangoing vessels, is joining the US-led naval coalition to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
The country is sending a frigate to the region as part of ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ — a US initiative launched on 18 December — Greek defence minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday.
“Greece has a primordial interest to maintain freedom of navigation and protect seafarers' lives,” Dendias said in televised statement.
The Houthis have attacked about a dozen commercial vessels crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since last month, as a means to pressure Israel and its backers to stop the war in Gaza.
No Greek-controlled vessels have been attacked so far.
The Houthis claim to be targeting Israeli-linked ships only but their attacks look increasingly arbitrary lately, causing the world’s biggest container liners to entirely suspend ship traffic through the region in a move that has thrown shipping markets into disarray.
Greek shipping companies have been less vocal about diverting ships from the region than their peers from northern Europe. Some Greek owners known to be risk-averse, like US-listed Safe Bulkers, have been in touch with charterers to avoid transiting the Red Sea for the next few weeks until the security situation improves.
A senior manager of a private Greek company that sent a ship through the Gulf of Aden earlier this week under the protection of a US war ship, expressed hopes that the 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' will bear fruit.
“The sheer military might that's being assembled down there should do the job,” the manager said.
'Don't get involved'
Apart from Greece, another nine nations have said they will join ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’, so far: the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels warned these countries on Wednesday to stay away from the region.
“Don’t get involved … don’t risk the security of your maritime ships,” Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said during a televised speech.
The Houthi leader also said that his group, which controls large swathes of Yemen, is not impressed by the international naval force approaching its shores.
“This will not deter us in any way from our firm stance,” Al-Houthi said, adding that the US move is “turning the Red Sea into a war zone” and that the Houthis “are not the kind of people who are afraid of war”.
Dendias said in his comments on Thursday that the Greek frigate off Yemen will have the means to protect itself.
