Top officials of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs are looking at West Asia with real fear, as one incident after another is taking place in Palestine, the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Suez Canal region. These incidents truly form real cause for concern for the South Asian nation.
The Houthi Movement, a Shia Islamist political and military organisation that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s, recently started creating troubles in this region by launching missile attacks on commercial ships. Earlier, the COVID-19 Pandemic had created major disruptions in maritime trade. In the post-COVID period, the political turmoil in West Asia continues to jeopardise trade exchanges between Asia and Europe by sea. Although the turmoil affects a number of Asian countries, India suffers the most because it is the largest trader that uses this maritime route.
The Indian Navy deserves special credit for its recent success in anti-piracy operations, as it rescued 19 Pakistani nationals from Somali pirates after their ship was hijacked off the east coast of Somalia in the last week of January. In spite of the Indian Navy's success, defence experts believe that the time to feel safe about the movement of commercial, as well as cargo, ships is still a far cry.
There are two major issues… security-related problems and an increase in prices of crude oil. Any crisis in West Asia has a direct impact on the global crude oil market. The ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas Movement has made Islamist militants more aggressive in neighbouring regions. The US has started building a maritime axis in order to get rid of the Red Sea crisis, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed the issue with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu. Meanwhile, major shipping companies have decided to use the Cape of Good Hope route, instead of Red Sea, for safe transportation of goods.
Unfortunately, the way to avoid financial loss has not yet been found. It may be noted that the Houthis have not directly hit any US ship so far. Hence, the US is yet to retaliate against Yemen directly. However, the way the Houthis are indiscriminately attacking commercial ships, the situation may get out of control in the near future.
The recent killing of several US soldiers in an apparent Iranian drone strike on the Jordanian border disturbed Washington DC. Iran, however, denied responsibility for the attack. A senior spokesperson of the Government of Iran has said the US can be rest assured that various Islamic militant groups are ready to launch drone strikes on US military bases in West Asia and they are not waiting for a green signal from Tehran. According to the spokesperson, the Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip have prompted these outfits to make such a decision.
It is difficult to predict whether Israel and its all-weather friend the US are aware of this dire situation. This is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a much bigger one. The global community is going to experience a major economic stalemate, if there is no immediate ceasefire and peace-building efforts in Gaza.
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