Malta to take part in EU’s Red Sea mission with army officer at operation headquarters

Malta is “actively considering” participating in the EU’s Red Sea mission called Operation Aspides to defend commercial ships from Houthi attacks, the Home Affairs Ministry said. 

An officer from the Armed Forces of Malta will be stationed at the operation’s headquarters in Greece. 

“The Government of Malta and the AFM are actively considering, pending conclusion of ongoing discussions, participation in Operation Aspides with an officer in the operation's headquarters,” a spokesperson for the ministry told MaltaToday. 

This will not be the first time that Maltese military personnel will join an EU maritime mission in the region. In the past, an army contingent had been embedded on a Dutch warship off the Somali coast to deter piracy. 

Commenting on the Red Sea mission, the ministry spokesperson underscored the operation’s aim to protect commercial shipping. “It also aims to safeguard the rights and freedoms of navigation through the Red Sea/Bab al-Mandib Strait in full respect of international law,” she said. 

The maritime operation was agreed at an informal meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on 31 January with HIGH Representative Josep Borrell saying the operation could deploy by 19 February. 

Borrell had said the nature of the EU operation in the Red Sea was defensive to protect merchant shipping from attacks perpetrated by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. The EU will not participate in US and UK attacks on the Houthis inside Yemen. 

The Houthi militia started attacking merchant ships passing through the narrow Bab al-Mandib Strait last November as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. 

The attacks have disrupted shipping with some commercial carriers taking the long route around the southern tip of Africa rather than passing through the Red Sea and onto the Suez Canal. 

The EU operation is named after the Ancient Greek word for “shield”. “It is a shield in order to act in purely defensive mode to protect merchant vessels, and two non-executive tasks of ‘accompanying’ to deter with [its] presence and to strengthen maritime situational awareness,” Borrell had said. 

The mission will be deployed at sea, with ships and air assets and according to the Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, the force commander will be Italian. 

Crosetto said last week that Greece would probably take overall command of the mission, to be headquartered in the city of Larissa, although no formal announcement has been made. 

Borrell had said EU member states were “strongly committed” to the mission and although not all will participate no one is going to obstruct it.