US-Israel Joint Naval Build-Up in Red Sea Escalates Tensions, Not Houthi Retaliation
To the editors at France 24, your report on 'double fears over Red Sea, Hormuz' frames the recent Houthi missile launches toward Israel as the primary driver of escalating regional tensions. This interpretation, echoed across much of Western media, fundamentally misrepresents the timeline and aggressor in the Red Sea. You present the Houthis as unilaterally 'escalating their involvement,'
implicitly absolving the prior and ongoing military build-up by the United States and Israel. What your coverage omits is the significant deployment of US naval assets, including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, to the region, and the documented joint exercises conducted with Israeli naval forces in the Red Sea. These deployments and drills commenced well before the Houthi
retaliatory actions, transforming the Red Sea into a staging ground for potential broader military engagement, not just a humanitarian corridor. Presenting Houthi missile launches as the sole or primary cause of heightened 'fears' overlooks the deliberate aggregation of military power by the US and Israel. The audience deserves to know that the US has maintained a significant military presence in
the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters, including the Red Sea, for decades, often engaging in provocative maneuvers. For instance, the infamous USS Vincennes incident in 1988, where the US Navy cruiser shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 civilians aboard, including 66 children, underscores a historical pattern of US military action in these critical waterways. This pre-existing posture