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The United Kingdom has deployed a naval destroyer to the Red Sea as part of a coalition to counter attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on commercial vessels sailing through a major trade chokepoint, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Tuesday.
The HMS Diamond has already been active in the area to bolster efforts to protect merchant vessels, but will now formally join the United States-led Operation Prosperity Guardian aimed at safeguarding navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a critical shipping lane for oil and container traffic.
More than a tenth of global maritime trade passes through those waters with more than 23,000 sailings a year through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, according to the British government.
Over the weekend, HMS Diamond shot down a drone with a Sea Viper anti-aircraft missile as attacks on merchant vessels ramp up. At present, three U.S. destroyers are in the region alongside a French warship, the Ministry of Defence said.
“These illegal attacks are an unacceptable threat to the global economy, undermining regional security and are threatening to drive up fuel prices,” Shapps said, following a video conference Tuesday with ministers from 20 other countries to discuss the attacks.
Operation Prosperity Guardian includes Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain, alongside the U.K. and the U.S.
“This is an international problem that requires an international solution,” Shapps said.
