 The U.S. begins a special military operation against the Houthis in the Red Sea. The U.S. announced a new maritime task force that will defend commercial ships from aggression in the Red Sea in an effort to thwart the Houthi rebel group, which has attacked merchant vessels and forced companies to suspend routes through the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Operation Prosperity Guardian will be a new security initiative involving several countries. The UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. The task force falls under the combined maritime forces, a multinational alliance tasked with defending the world's shipping lanes. Operation Prosperity Guardian will specifically be managed by Task Force 153, a component of the combined maritime forces that defends the Red Sea, the Bab El Mandeb, Strait, near Yemen and the Gulf of Aden. So we're taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat. Austin said, This is not just a U.S. issue, this is an international problem and it deserves an international response. Austin said he would also be convening a meeting with foreign leaders to discuss efforts to keep the Red Sea free from attacks. Since the Israel Hamas war broke out on October 7, the Iranian-backed Houthis have joined in with other militia groups across the Middle East in assaulting U.S. positions and assets. The Houthis have launched aggressive attacks on commercial ships as part of the fighting, including seizing a boat last month in a daring raid. The violence has scared off merchants with oil giant BP joining container shipping company MERSC in rerouting transit away from the Red Sea.