A German navy frigate left Thursday morning for the Red Sea, where it must secure maritime cargo disrupted by attacks by Houthi rebels and participate in an EU naval mission currently being prepared.
This is
“the most serious engagement by a German naval unit in many decades
,” naval inspector Jan Christian Kaack told reporters in Berlin.
The frigate
“Hessen”
, leaving the port of Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony (north), has a crew of around 240 people on board and will be on permanent alert, explained Jan Christian Kaack.
It will be able to respond to possible attacks with missiles, drones and remote-controlled
“kamikaze boats”
.
For now, this frigate will be on mission until the end of April.
Subject to a mandate from the European Union and the Bundestag, the frigate will be responsible for accompanying merchant ships, in order to intercept, for example, approaching missiles.
The Bundestag is due to vote on this commitment on February 23.
Protective mission
The EU is working on setting up a mission to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea called Aspides, the launch of which should be announced before the bloc's next meeting of foreign ministers on February 19.
According to a European diplomat, his mandate should be approved by the 27 on Thursday by written procedure.
Greece will take command and house its headquarters, according to this source.
Three frigates must initially participate in this purely defensive mission.
Since November, the Houthi rebels have said they are targeting ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they consider linked to Israel, in
"solidarity"
with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the grip of the war between the army Israeli and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Their attacks have forced many shipowners to suspend passage through this zone where 12% of world trade passes.
In response, Washington set up a multinational coalition in December to protect maritime traffic.
This coalition having not until then allowed a stop to the attacks, the American and British forces, who had threatened the rebels to strike their positions if the latter did not put an end to their attacks, have since carried out several strikes on Yemen since mid-January.
The impact of these tensions in this area is heavy for world trade: maritime transport of containers through the Red Sea has fallen by almost 30% year-on-year since the attacks accelerated in December, according to a Monetary Fund official. (IMF) in the region.