Disruption of EU Red Sea operations

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, the mission of the Union Europe “Aspides” was launched a while ago to protect commercial ships in the Red Sea against Yemeni attacks, but now there is a risk of shortages and problems to continue and complete this operation.

According to media reports, after the departure of the German ship “Hessen”, the European Union’s “Aspid” mission in the Red Sea is at risk of shortages and bottlenecks in the protection of commercial ships in the Red Sea. According to “Spiegel” weekly, the Greek commander of this mission, Vassilios Gryparis, warned in a secret meeting in Brussels last week that the operation will have only three frigates available for the coming months.

Griparis warned that with this number of ships, it will no longer be able to carry out the mission of protecting ships from attacks from Yemen. He emphasized that in particular, it can only escort a maximum of four commercial ships daily through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on the coast of Yemen. This commander demanded in front of the diplomats of the EU member states that he needs at least 10 warships and air support from a drone or a sea patrol plane to carry out this mission.

according to the weekly report. “Spiegel”, Gryparis discussed the mission of the European Union in the Red Sea in this meeting. Based on this, deployed warships have escorted 96 commercial vessels through the Red Sea since mid-February, neutralizing 12 drones and one missile fired by the Yemenis. This commander warned that the risk of attacks from Yemen is still acute. On April 29, the Yemenis for the first time managed to overcome the air defense of this mission with a mass of drones and damage a commercial ship.

European diplomats also They discussed the expansion of this mission of the European Union. Germany has proposed that EU warships be used in the Red Sea in the future to prevent arms smuggling to Yemen. The EU mission does not have enough warships to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea.

However, the operation’s commander is unlikely to receive additional vessels. Despite the commander’s urgent request, only Belgium and the Netherlands have so far said they may deploy warships to protect merchant ships in the coming months.

Navy The United States recently announced the withdrawal of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the destroyer USS Gravely from the Red Sea to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Kurd: The US warship has left the US Central Command area without an attack aircraft carrier or amphibious group for the first time since October.

The withdrawal of these US warships It has been announced following the continuation of Yemeni armed forces’ operations against ships associated with the Zionist regime.

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