EU's Red Sea protection mission set to launch by Feb. 19: Borrell

GENEVA

An EU naval mission to protect commercial vessels in the Red Sea against Houthi attacks will be launched by Feb. 19, said the bloc’s foreign policy chief on Wednesday.

Maritime security in the Red Sea has "significantly deteriorated over the last weeks," Josep Borrell told a press conference following an informal meeting of the EU defense ministers in Brussels.

Saying the new maritime operation will be called Aspides, after an ancient Greek word for shields, Borrell said it will act "in a purely defensive mode to protect merchant vessels, to non-executive task of a company to deter with presence, and to strengthen maritime situational awareness."

He called the mission "proportional to the threat we are facing," adding that "our goal is to establish and launch this mission the latest on the 19th of February, I hope and I'm sure we will," he added.

Borrell said member states are "strongly committed" to this operation, although not all of them will take part. Spain has already declined to participate.

In doorstep remarks ahead of the meeting, he said the bloc has to still decide which country will take the command, where the headquarters will be, and what naval assets member states will provide.

He voiced hope over being able to announce who will take the lead following the meeting, but it is still not clear which country will command the mission.

The Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea, particularly those bound for Israel, since November. They say their attacks aim to put pressure on Israel to halt its deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip, prompting the US and UK to launch retaliatory airstrikes against targets inside Yemen.

The Red Sea is one of the world's most frequently used sea routes for oil and fuel shipments.