Al Bilad newspaper To repel Al-Houthi, the European Union is considering doubling its fleet in the Red Sea – 2024-06-22 14:29:58

Months after the European Union launched the “ASPEDS” mission to protect ships in the Red Sea, with attacks on cargo ships escalating, the head of that mission, Admiral Vassilios Greparis, saw that the Europeans should more than double the size of those naval forces.

Greparis said: “We do not have enough assets, especially since the area that must be covered is wide,” according to what Bloomberg reported on Friday.

He also added that he urged EU member states to provide more assets.

Assisted 164 ships

In addition, he confirmed at the same time that four European Union ships had carried out patrols in the waters near Yemen since last February, and had provided close assistance to 164 ships.

He also pointed out that those ships also intercepted more than 12 marches, and neutralized four anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Last April, this European fleet confirmed that all Houthi attacks had failed in its areas of movement at sea.

In addition to “Speeds” operating in this internationally important sea lane, another American-British mission under the name “Prosperity Guardian” was launched before it, in order to protect cargo ships from Houthi attacks.

Since last November, the Yemeni Houthi group has launched more than 150 attacks on commercial ships, claiming that they were heading to Israel.

The Houthis also vowed to expand their attacks to the Mediterranean Sea as well, under the pretext of supporting the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since the seventh of last October.

These attacks have already prompted commercial companies to switch to a longer and more expensive route around Africa.

It also led to the sinking of a cargo ship named “Rubimar”, which was loaded with dangerous materials, and severely damaged two other ships recently as well. One of the attacks also resulted in the death of 3 sailors as a result of a missile attack on the ship True Confidence, which was flying the Barbados flag and was operated by Greece.

In addition, these attacks fueled fears that the war between Israel and Hamas would destabilize the Middle East region.

While American aircraft also carried out dozens of raids on Houthi sites in Yemen, and were able to repel many missiles and drones that were launched towards cargo ships.