Combined Maritime Forces combat attacks on shipping Off the Yemeni coast
UNIPATH STAFF
Following a spate of attacks against merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in June 2017 announced plans to increase its presence in the Gulf.
Recent attacks, many of which relied heavily on explosives and targeted oil tankers, highlighted the continued risks associated with transit through these waters. In June 2017, violent extremists fired rocket-propelled grenades at an oil tanker passing through the Bab el-Mandeb into the Red Sea, The National reported.
Though many of these attacks have been unsuccessful — no crew members were injured in the June attack, and the tanker sailed into the Red Sea — they demonstrate a new threat to the maritime community.
CMF recommended that all mariners sailing through the area register their ships with the Maritime Security Centre-Horn of Africa and with the United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations. Doing so allows military forces in the area to track vessels and respond to possible attacks.
“Maritime security will always require a team effort,” according to the CMF. “CMF looks forward to working closely with our regional military partners and the shipping industry to ensure the free flow of commerce. It will take all of us, working together, to be successful.”
The Gulf has also seen a number of pirate attacks in 2017, including the attempted hijacking in April of a merchant ship heading to Aden, The National reported. Just days before, pirates seized an Indian dhow headed to Somalia, and in March seized an oil tanker off the Somali coast.
In testimony before members of the U.S. Congress in March 2017, U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Joseph Votel described the growing threat to shipping. In particular, he highlighted attacks by coastal missiles, mines and explosive-laden boats along the Yemeni coast. “I am extraordinarily concerned about another contested maritime chokepoint in the region,” Gen. Votel said.
At their peak in 2011, pirates launched 237 attacks off the coast of Somalia, according to The National. But with the investment in a joint international effort to patrol shipping routes through the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of East Africa, this number dropped precipitously in subsequent years. Thanks to “coordinated vigilance,” piracy dropped to just 36 incidents a year in 2015 and 2016, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.