Egypt Intends to Form a New Coalition to Protect Shipping Lanes in Red Sea

Two Yemeni and Gulf officials told Sheba Intelligence that Egypt intends to form a new coalition to protect shipping lanes in the Red Sea with the support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the membership of the countries overlooking the Red Sea and the Gulf states, except for Sudan temporarily due to war conditions, and Bahrain due to its membership in the American naval coalition.

The sources pointed out that Egyptian intelligence informed Yemen's Houthi group of Cairo's intention to form an independent coalition, which is not affiliated with the American coalition and will not be part of it in any attacks on the Houthi group, and the goal of the Egypt-led coalition is only to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea .

The sources told Sheba Intelligence that Cairo has begun negotiations with Jordan, Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, the Sultanate of Oman, the Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait, in addition to its supporter, Saudi Arabia. According to the sources, China is expected to be included in the coalition that will deploy surveillance and escort patrols for commercial ships crossing the southern Red Sea.

The Yemeni official confirms that the coalition which is expected to be formed is not concerned with any confrontation with the Houthis, but it "can respond if the Houthis target commercial ships based on strict rules".

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The proposed coalition faces difficulties in light of the existence of the U.S.-led coalition, which was announced earlier this month. China's presence will pose a problem for the relations of the proposed coalition countries with the United States.

The United States announced its naval coalition, which included no country overlooking the Red Sea. The Egyptians rejected the White House's request to join this coalition.

Information indicates that on November 19, the Houthis sent a message of reassurance to Cairo regarding the security of navigation in the Red Sea through a communication channel with Egyptian intelligence, stressing that their attacks in the Red Sea do not target the Suez Canal and they only intend to hit Israeli ships. The Houthi group also reassured many countries in the region, including some Gulf countries and Jordan.

The information also says that the Houthis have been communicating regularly with Egyptian intelligence via a communication channel since 2020, but it was activated at a higher level following the Houthis' seizure of the Israeli-linked ship Galaxy Leader on November 19 off Al-Hudaydah.