EU to launch year-long Aspides operation in Red Sea

The European Union will launch the year-long Aspides operation in the Red Sea on February 19, a high-ranking EU official said ahead of the EU ministerial meeting.

According to the official, the operation could be extended if necessary, TASS reports.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a news conference after a meeting of EU defense ministers in late January that the EU member states had agreed to launch an own mission to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea from February 19.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.