As well they should. If the French national flag carrier, CMA CGM, has three or four ships making the trip from Singapore to Marseille (HQ and home town) and one was attacked while the French Navy was escorting a Maersk or COSCO ship there would be (and should be) hell to pay. I would expect at minimum a captain and maybe an admiral or two would be fired. Or maybe take a page from Voltaire:
"...in this country it is found good, from time to time, to kill one Admiral to encourage the others."
From Reuters via gCapain, January 11:
French naval forces are accompanying ships with French interests through the Red Sea region, the country’s top naval commander in the area said on Thursday, adding that Paris’ current mandate did not include striking Houthi rebels directly.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters, Rear-Admiral Emmanuel Slaars, joint commander of French forces in the region, said France was working closely with the US-led Prosperity Guardian mission in the area by exchanging information and carrying out patrols, but said command of French forces remained entirely under Paris’ control.
“The French operation consists of on the one hand patrolling the maritime zones where the Houthis operate to stop them,” Slaars said. “These patrols are in coordination with the Prosperity Guardian operation,” he said.
“On the other hand, we regularly escort French-flagged ships or with French interests in the Red Sea. We accompany them all along their crossing.”....
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