EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has asked EU countries to strengthen the Aspides mission in the Red Sea, amid increasing threats from Houthis to navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which is crucial for trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
The proposal, contained in a letter dated 19 September and sent to EU capitals, follows a request by Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, who raised the alarm after an Italian frigate intervened to escort an Italian merchant vessel off the coast of Yemen last Friday.
“We need more suitably equipped naval and air assets”, including greater capacity to provide “close protection”, Kallas wrote, stressing that the EU must increase its presence to ensure that “the operation can fully carry out its mandate.”
Italy and Greece have so far provided the mission’s three core ships, temporarily supplemented by vessels from Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
According to the letter, the leverage the Houthis have acquired over the strait by seizing the port of Mocha, Perim Island and the Hanish Islands represents “a serious threat” to maritime security along a key international transit route, and is therefore “already harming European interests”.
Kallas asked national governments to “suggest possible actions” concerning the way existing EU missions operate.
Will naval deployment be enough?
More EU countries could decide to assume responsibility for a specific stretch of sea under the Aspides mission itself, as Italy just did to protect its merchant vessel. French and Dutch units are also already operating in the area to protect their own merchant fleets.
Rome could also consider bolstering its military presence with additional ships based in Djibouti, in which case it would ask allies to contribute to the necessary military expenditure, although securing approval for this option would be very difficult.
Several analysts stress, however, that a naval deployment alone may be inadequate, calling for air cover against the Houthis’ takeover of large parts of the Yemeni coast.
EU defence ministers are set to discuss the issue at their meeting on 28 September in Brussels, followed by the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 12 October in Luxembourg.
Aspides was launched in February 2024 and, although defensive in nature, is authorised to use force to protect merchant vessels from Houthi attacks, as has already been the case with the Italian ships Caio Duilio and Fasan.
Strategic command has been entrusted to Greece, while operational control has alternated between Italy and Greece in successive periods and is currently led by Admiral Vasileyos Griparis.
Italian government among the most exposed
Last week, Crosetto complained that only two European warships were present in the area and announced the decision not to wait for Europe if further escorts were needed for national commercial cargo vessels.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has also voiced similar concerns in the past. “We have been asking the EU for months to reinforce the Aspides mission: Italy and Greece are doing a great deal […] but if there is no military contribution [from the other EU states] there must be a financial contribution.”
Rome considers around ten crucial maritime journeys through the strait each week to be “critical.” Italy also lost a Eurofighter in a Houthi bombing raid on a Saudi Arabian base last week, carried out by the militia that now controls Yemen.
Italy has advanced assets at several Saudi bases, as well as small contingents deployed in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which are already at risk because of the US war with Iran.