Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Indian Navy continues to deploy three warships to escort merchant vessels through the region’s two critical maritime choke points — the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.Indian naval ships have maintained a continuous presence in the Gulf of Aden, near the Bab el-Mandeb, since 2008. Warships have also been deployed in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz since 2019 under Operation Sankalp.The Navy’s Western Naval Command on Monday posted on X about its ongoing escort operations and shared photographs of INS Trishul and INS Aditya accompanying crude oil tankers MT Compass and MT Thalatta. According to the post, the vessels were “escorted to safely transit the high-risk area through Bab el-Mandeb” on August 9 and 10.Sources said three Indian warships were currently deployed in the region. The deployment remains flexible and can be scaled up depending on operational requirements. As recently as two months ago, the Navy had six warships deployed in the area.Initially launched to protect Indian-flagged commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Operation Sankalp has evolved into a broader maritime security mission covering the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and waters off the east coast of Somalia. Its mandate now includes anti-piracy, anti-drone and wider maritime security operations.Indian naval assets provide real-time escort services to commercial shipping, conduct vessel-boarding operations and respond to potential maritime threats.The warships are supported by real-time surveillance from the Navy’s fleet of Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft and high altitude, long-endurance Sea Guardian drones, which provide persistent maritime domain awareness.Specialised units such as Marine Commandos (MARCOS) remain embarked on deployed warships, ready to undertake rapid-response boarding operations, hostage rescue missions and anti-piracy interventions.