EUNAVOR ASPIDES

Growing collaboration between al Shabaab and the Houthis is enabling both militant groups and contributing to heightened maritime and land-based threats on both sides of the Gulf of Aden.

Late Tuesday evening, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that "following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides". The two sides are the US and the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which is designated a terror organization by the US and others.

The United States has struck more than 100 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen since beginning the latest phase of its air campaign against the Iran-backed rebels last month, a US defense official said Wednesday. American forces have hammered the Houthis with near-daily air strikes since March 15 in a bid to end the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Yemen’s Houthis have announced that they will resume attacks on Israeli ships after their deadline for Israel to allow the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza passed.

The Council today decided to prolong the mandate of the EU maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in relation to the Red sea crisis (EUNAVFOR ASPIDES) until 28 February 2026, with a reference amount of over €17 million for the period. This decision was taken following the strategic review of the operation.

U.S. forces carried out airstrikes Wednesday against Houthi militant weapons storage sites in Yemen, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The strikes, conducted by B-2 bombers, targeted weapons the Houthis have used in a yearlong campaign of attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that have disrupted major sea shipping routes.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched an explosive-loaded drone that crashed into one ship Tuesday in the Red Sea and a missile that exploded against another. The attacks are the rebels’ first assaults on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict. 

[…] Adopting resolution 2739 (2024), with 12 votes in favour and three abstentions (Algeria, China and Russia), the Council also requested monthly reports from the Secretary-General on the crisis in the Red Sea until January next year. 

The aim of this snapshot analysis is to highlight a number of strategic questions that are likely to remain relevant as the USled Operation Guardian and the EU operation, Aspides, evolve. 

In less than two months the newest European Union (EU) naval force – Operation Aspides concentrated on the Red Sea – repelled 11 attacks and escorted close to 70 ships in the Indian Ocean inlet between Africa and Asia. … Speaking at the first Aspides media briefing, EU Vice President Josep Borrell said the operation was a clear and fast response to the deteriorating situation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.