On Friday 5 July, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced that Operation Aspides had already accompanied more than 170 merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“The mission was launched in February. Since then, Aspides has successfully accompanied more than 170 merchant vessels. It has destroyed 19 drones and missiles that the Houthis shot, primarily against civilian targets”, he said during a visit to the mission’s operational headquarters in Greece, pointing out that Aspides had a purely defensive mandate.
According to the High Representative, six Member States are deploying frigates in the region’s international waters and 15 Member States are providing staff to the operational headquarters.
But while the mission is “important”, it is not enough, acknowledged Mr Borrell, who said that his work had to be complemented by “steady political and diplomatic engagement to help de-escalate, to mediate, and support a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen”. “We are working on it and we will spare no effort to achieve it”, he promised. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)