Djibouti steps up coast guard patrols amidst the Red sea crisis

The narrow Bab al-Mandab strait is all that separates Djibouti from Yemen, from where the Houthi fighters have launched a series of attacks on Israeli-linked ships since November.

Djibouti has intensified coast guard patrols along its strategic waterways as the Red Sea crisis unfolds.

"When you're securing something, not only the sea, and something happens, you need to increase the time before which is coming, and which is currently going on," Colonel Wais Omar Bogoreh, Djibouti Coast Guard Commander  says.

"That's why we increase our capabilities, we increase how to secure the area more than before according to the situation currently going on in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab.

Djibouti has achieved economic growth during the past decade and the ongoing crisis could negatively impact the coastal nation.

The country hosts several foreign military bases, but it is not part of a U.S.-led coalition that has launched airstrikes against the Houthi group.

"We have a lot of friends of several countries working on the sea. And some of them have been [stationed] in isolation on the coast. We are working closely, we will collaborate and coordinate all the missions related to the security [...]," Cl Bogoreh says.

The Houthis who control southwest Yemen, say their attacks are aimed at ships with links to Israel and they to continue attacking targets until Israel’s deadly war on Gaza stops.