Under the cover of “Mare Liberum,” an American attempt to return to the maritime passages in Yemen

The US began a new attempt to return to using the maritime passages surrounding Yemen, this time under a new cover, which comes in the wake of its expulsion from the region with unprecedented humiliation in its history.

Exclusive – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

The US Central Command, headquartered in Bahrain, deployed three international joint task forces to participate in exercises in waters near Yemen, specifically the Gulf of Aden and the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait.

The exercises focus on activating surveillance using unmanned tools and coordinating operations to combat what the joint forces described as “unlawful acts” such as piracy.

The exercises, carried out by Joint Task Forces (150, 151, and 153), bear the slogan “Mare Liberum.”
“Mare Liberum” (Free Sea) is the foundational concept of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, established by the 17th-century Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. It defines the waters of the seas and oceans as a right for all nations, while keeping a distance of between 3 to 5 nautical miles as a zone specific to the coastal state.

Although Yemen never originally joined the convention, America’s decision to return to this agreement is further evidence of its attempt to exploit international agreements as a cover to secure its passage after decades of its control over the high seas, and it reveals an American conviction that it is impossible to restore its maritime influence in the most important corridors of the region militarily.

These are the first movements since the formation of the so-called “Combined Maritime Forces” several years ago, and their timing indicates that it is also an attempt to reassure ships to return to sailing in the region amidst ongoing fears of the resumption of Yemeni operations supporting Gaza, especially since the US ended its military presence in those important passages and the occupation’s escalating complaints about the failure of navigation to its ports to recover despite the cessation of the war.