{"id":275696,"date":"2023-12-30T19:28:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-30T13:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=275696"},"modified":"2023-12-30T19:28:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T13:58:25","slug":"indian-navy-in-a-threatening-red-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indian-navy-in-a-threatening-red-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Navy in a threatening Red Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> This post has been created based on the article \u201cIndian Navy in a threatening Red Sea\u201d<\/strong> published in \u201cIndian Express\u201d<\/strong> on 30th<\/sup> December 2023.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic: <\/strong>GS Paper 2 International Relations \u2013 Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The article discusses the importance of shipping trade and why the Indian Ocean is more vulnerable to interventions by state and non-state actors. It also mentions the challenges in front of the Indian Navy in dealing with the Houthi threat in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The recent attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels have begun posing a serious threat to merchant ships in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

Why is shipping trade important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Shipping is the cheapest and most efficient method<\/strong> of transporting goods over long distances, forming the bedrock of the global economy.
\nFor instance, the waters of the Indian Ocean carry 80% of the world\u2019s oil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2) Trade warfare or waging war on seaborne commerce<\/strong> has historically been a favoured strategy to coerce an enemy by striking at the very roots of its security and prosperity.<\/p>\n

Why is shipping trade in the Indian Ocean more vulnerable?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Indian Ocean has a number of narrow passages<\/strong> called \u201cchoke points\u201d<\/strong>. These constrict shipping traffic into a narrow sea lane, making them vulnerable to interventions by states, pirates and terrorists. These include Malacca Strait, Hormuz Strait and Bab al Mandab Strait.<\/p>\n

It is at Bab al Mandab Strait <\/strong>where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched missile and drone attacks on US Navy units and merchant shipping.<\/p>\n

Indian Ocean Choke-Points. Source: Carnegie Endowment.<\/p>\n

What could be the reasons for this attack?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The underlying reasons for these attacks could be manifold:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Clash of Regional and Global Powers: <\/strong>The conflict between the Yemen Republic and the Houthis is seen as a Saudi Arabia-Iran proxy war, which has assumed wider multilateral dimensions.
    \nCountries like USA, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Sudan, Bahrain and organisations like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah either participate or support one or the other side.<\/li>\n
  2. Ideological Objectives: <\/strong>The Houthis have claimed that their aim for attacking shipping is to pressurise Israel to end its bombardment of Gaza, targeting only those ships which are in any way \u201clinked\u201d to Israel.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What has been the world\u2019s response?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The US, due to its deep ties to Israel, launched “Operation Prosperity Guardian\u201d<\/strong> with the aim of safeguarding Red Sea shipping.<\/p>\n

    However, it is being seen as provocatory against Iran, and hasn\u2019t received wider support by 3 important NATO countries \u2014 France, Italy and Spain.<\/p>\n

    India:<\/strong> India\u2019s deployment of 4-5 warships as a show of \u201cnaval presence\u201d reflects its status as a maritime power.<\/p>\n

    What will be challenges in front of the Indian Navy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    According to the author, the Indian Navy will be constrained by two factors:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Jurisdictional Issues:<\/strong> The state in which a ship is registered has the primary responsibility for maintaining security and law enforcement on ships in international waters. A warship of any other state wanting to board a merchant vessel in peacetime will need the consent of the flag state.<\/li>\n
    2. Drone Warfare:<\/strong> Navies are struggling to devise counter-measures to the evolving dangers of drone attacks.
      \nThe smaller, low-flying drones are hard to spot by radars and target. Soft-kill measures (jamming the drone\u2019s radio signals) or hard-kill\/kinetic systems (missiles or rapid-firing guns) can be utilised.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      India must use its good relations with Iran, as well as with Israel, to urge moderation and restraint in order to restore peace in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

      Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Why is shipping trade in the Indian Ocean more vulnerable? What will be challenges in front of the Indian Navy while dealing with terrorism and piracy in ensuring maritime security?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Source: This post has been created based on the article \u201cIndian Navy in a threatening Red Sea\u201d published in \u201cIndian Express\u201d on 30th December 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 International Relations \u2013 Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India\u2019s interests. News: The article discusses the importance of shipping… Continue reading Indian Navy in a threatening Red Sea<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1235],"tags":[212,10500,239],"class_list":["post-275696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-international-relations","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","tag-international-relations","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":16,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1703974040},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}