[sparrc]

They're free to patrol the waters in the South Red Sea though. Doesn't Egypt have a navy? To me this situation seems like it would warrant sending nearly their entire fleet to the South Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

[mikeyouse]

The danger isn't primarily from other ships that the Egyptian Navy could chase off but from land-based cruise missiles launched by the Houthis. The US Navy's most advanced weapons systems can intercept most of the missiles but not all of them, and at some considerable degree of risk to the US vessels.

The only military option to stop the attacks are drone / bomber incursions into Yemen which of course Egypt has no interest in doing since it could turn into a full hot war pretty easily.

[throwaway48r7r]

The US interceptor missiles are something like 3 million dollars each. The Houthis drones are closer to 20 thousand. Eventually they will win on economic grounds.

[f6v]

> The only military option to stop the attacks are drone / bomber incursions into Yemen

After they withstood years of war with Saudis? Those sandal-and-skirt guys are much tougher than people think.

[jopsen]

> ...bomber incursions into Yemen which of course Egypt has no interest in doing since it could turn into a full hot war pretty easily.

How would the Houthis respond?

Much less, what do they have that can possibly hit Egypt.

That said, bombing might not do the trick. Just create more suffering in Yemen.

[JumpCrisscross]

> which of course Egypt has no interest in doing

Because someone else will do it for them. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and everyone based on Djibouti have a joint interest in keeping the Bab al-Mandab strait traversable.

[golergka]

> The US Navy's most advanced weapons systems can intercept most of the missiles but not all of them, and at some considerable degree of risk to the US vessels.

Aren't Egyptian Navy vessels much cheaper than american? They can just zerg rush and eat the damage. I don't think that Houthi have a lot of cruise missiles piled up.

[LargeTomato]

Good questions!

Egypt doesn't have the advanced anti missile cruisers. Egypt has a massive tank force.

There is already a multi national naval fleet in the Red Sea patrolling the waters. Mostly US but also UK and some others.

Edit

There's more :) Egypt can't counter the missiles better than the US can, but it could certainly get pulled into a larger conflict if it started deploying military assets outside it's borders. They can't really make their situation better but they can definitely make it worse.

[scythe]

The Egyptian government is a dictatorship holding together a powder keg. The military coup of 2013 overthrew a Muslim Brotherhood government and was followed by the election of 2014 which produced the very believable and realistic result of 96% of the vote for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (he was reëlected with 97% in 2018 and 90% in 2023). A military mobilization of Egypt would jeopardize the minimal existing political infrastructure in the country and, arguably, play into the hands of the Houthis themselves, who are no friends of regional stability.

[Terr_]

> [Egypt is] free to patrol the waters

Putting patrol-boats out there may deter boarding by Somalia-style pirates, but in this case the risk comes from various missiles and bomb-drones launched from the shore [0]. Even if the the defender has a few fancy anti-missile warships, the attacker could choose the least-covered target from a constant stream of (big, slow) cargo-ships through a ~300km route. [1]

[0] https://www.mei.edu/publications/houthis-red-sea-missile-and...

[1] https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/map-houthi-shipping-vessel-...

[jessepasley]

Israel has a navy, and is curiously missing from 'Operation Prosperity Guardian'

[meepmorp]

Israel’s navy is geared towards patrolling their territorial waters. They’re not really set up for expeditionary operations like suppressing shipping attacks hundreds of miles from home.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

Israel can potentially benefit from the situation, as a land route Bahrain -> Haifa port is currently being considered as an alternative to Suez Channel.

[zilti]

I suspect after the ground invasion in Gaza and the attacks at Lebanon, the Israeli public would be even less pleased at a "third front"

[partiallypro]

It's fairly obvious at this point that the only way to stop it is to bomb targets in Yemen...which isn't going to be politically popular. The US is even struggling to put together a coalition to secure the water ways.

[namaria]

It's quite painless to allocate the limited resources of others isn't it?

[maxglute]

They also can't afford to potentially embarrass themselves militarily with much more existential grand renaissance dam drama unfolding in the background.

[Axsuul]

Not many navys can project force that far due to logistics.