European Union countries have hammered out the details of the Aspides (Shields) military operation meant to ensure the security of commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the DPA news agency reported citing diplomatic sources.
According to the agency, the official decision to launch the operation will be adopted at a meeting of foreign ministers on February 19 in Brussels. The decision adopted on Thursday laid out how the operation will be conducted and the location of its headquarters, which will be set up in the Greek city of Larissa.
The EU's operational plan envisages sending European warships to the region to protect cargo ships from attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Hessen frigate will take part in the operation from the Bundeswehr, the ship left the port of Wilhelmshaven to the Red Sea region on February 8. It has approximately 250 military personnel on board.
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
The security situation in the Red Sea continues to deteriorate despite the West's actions against the Ansar Allah rebels, Bloomberg reported.
ReplyDelete"We’ve not seen the level of threat peak, to the contrary," AP Moller-Maersk Chief Executive Officer Vincent Clerc told Bloomberg.
"The amount or the range of weapons that are being used for these attacks is expanding and there is no clear line of sight to when and how the international community will be able to mobilize itself and guarantee safe passage for us," he added.
According to Norden Chief Executive Officer Jan Rinbo, the situation in the Red Sea has not been stabilized. "That really is unprecedented," he said. "I’ve not in my 29 years in shipping seen anything like this," Rinbo added.
According to the agency, one Japanese shipping company, Mitsui O. S. K. Lines, has already said it would change the routes of its ships for at least the next 2-3 months.
With the conflict in the Gaza Strip escalating, the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement announced that it would conduct strikes on Israeli territory and block pro-Israeli vessels from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceases its military operation in the Palestinian enclave. The Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since mid-November of last year.