France,
Spain, and Italy have formally withdrawn from a Red Sea maritime task force led
by the United States and entrusted with safeguarding Israeli-owned and
Israel-bound commerce ships in transit.
The three states have made it clear that they
are not going to collaborate with the US and will instead work under the
auspices of global organizations such as the UN, NATO, or the EU.
It simply stated that French leadership of its
ships would remain; it made no mention of sending extra naval forces.
In a statement, the French Defense Ministry said that it backed efforts to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and surrounding area, adding that it already operated in the region
The Italian Defense Ministry also said that, in
response to certain demands from Italian ship owners, it will deploy the naval
frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea to defend its interests as a nation.
It asserted that this was a part of its ongoing
operations and not a part of the naval alliance in the waterway commanded by
the US.
Furthermore, Spain's Defense Ministry said that
it will only take part in actions organized by the EU or missions headed by
NATO.
More than 20 nations have currently committed to
participating in the US-led Operation Success Guardian, a marine operation in
the Red Ocean, according to a Pentagon statement on Thursday.
According to Pentagon commander Lloyd Austin,
the alliance, which includes Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands,
Norway, the Seychelles, Spain, and the United Kingdom, formed on Tuesday.
Later that day, Austin said that Greece and
Australia had joined the organization, bringing the total to 20, but that at least
eight countries had declined to be officially identified.
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