Bangladesh has joined a Saudi-led maritime defense coalition amid rising tensions in West Asia, which are putting some of the world’s busiest shipping routes via the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden at risk.
The coalition has 14 founding members: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somalia.
Saudi Arabia will lead the coalition and host its headquarters. Its planned activities include intelligence sharing, joint planning, and coordinated maritime operations. However, its charter, command system and rules of engagement have not yet been made public.
The initiative followed attacks on Saudi-linked shipping and a naval blockade announced by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement on July 20. The threat became more serious after disruption in the Strait of Hormuz pushed Saudi Arabia to move more oil through Yanbu, its main port on the Red Sea.
This placed greater pressure on the route through Bab el-Mandeb. Saudi Arabia now faces risks around both of the main waterways used to move energy supplies from the Arabian Peninsula.
