Egypt’s Southern Navy fleet command was established to secure complete control over the theater of naval operations in the Red Sea area, Ahmed Eleiba writes in Ahram Online. “Sources say security arrangements in the Red Sea, in tandem with regional security ‎developments, required a stronger Egyptian naval presence along the Red Sea coast not only to ‎facilitate the management of maritime traffic but to strengthen Egypt’s deterrent capacities in the ‎face of the threats in the Red Sea region, especially in the vicinity of Bab Al-Mandeb given the ‎deterioration in the state of security of Yemen.‎” General Talaat Moussa, Chairman of the National Security Studies Department at the Higher ‎Nasser Military Academy, tells Eleiba, “The mission of the fleet … include securing the ‎eastern Egyptian coastline and ensuring the safety and stability of maritime traffic at Bab Al-‎Mandeb and navigation through the Suez Canal.” Moussa says the task has been made more urgent by “the ‎threats that Iran poses via the Houthi movement, its proxy in Yemen.”