Denmark Announces Deploying Navy Frigates To US-Led Red Sea Force (image: X @DanishMFA)
Foreign Ministry of Denmark announced the Danish government’s decision to send “frigate to Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea & Gulf of Aden”, and the US Central Command “welcomes” the Royal Danish Navy frigates. Danish government will send the frigates next month.
USCENTCOM welcomes the Danish government’s announcement of sending a Royal Danish Navy frigate to support Operation Prosperity Guardian. https://t.co/DgpqKvHv5e
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 29, 2023
On December 19, Washington declared to patrol the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to safeguard the commercial shipping from the attack of Houthis. Troels Lund Poulsen, Defense Minister of Denmark said in a statement that the country is concerned about the continuing “unprovoked attacks against civilian shipping” in the Red Sea. Denmark will submit a resolution in its Parliament on January, seeking to contribute to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, and the frigate can be deployed by the end of January.
Because of the threats of potential attacks from Houthis, many cargo ships are stranded in the Djibouti port, an entrance to the Red Sea and one of the important transit ports. According to reports, more than 20,000 ships were passing through the Red Sea each year, constituting 30 per cent of the world’s container volume. This includes the passage of oil, gas and many other trades each day. In the last week, due to the attacks from the Houthis, more than 300 vessels have detoured around Africa, taking 6000 extra nautical miles and causing an additional 12 days of transit time. With the increased transit time and the congestion in other ports, the cost of shipping has significantly increased.
The US-led coalition now have more than 20 countries, to ensure the free flow of the commercial shipping worth billions of dollars through the Red Sea amidst attacks from the Yemeni militant group who declared to keep on attacking any commercial shipping to Israel, in solidarity with Palestinians. The Iran-aligned armed group announced they would not stop the attack the Israeli occupation force quit their genocidal bombing in Gaza and attacks against the Palestinians.
