Portugal: State to join EU Red Sea mission to protect shipping – minister

Portugal’s minister of foreign affairs announced on Monday that it will participate in the European Union (EU) mission to accompany ships in the Red Sea under threat from the Huthi militias, with the details of Portugal’s participation yet to be defined.

“Portugal will support this mission […], it will include a component of intervention capacity in defence of ships that are being threatened and from our side the ministry of defence will say what the availability is for us to support. It certainly won’t be with a frigate or a ship, but there will be some participation from our side,” said João Gomes Cravinho, at the end of a meeting of EU ministers responsible for diplomacy in Brussels.

EU diplomacy today discussed the creation of a mission in the Red Sea to repel attacks by Yemen’s Huthi militias on international shipping.

The Yemeni rebels have begun attacking vessels in response to Israel’s military intervention against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.

Huthi spokespeople have announced that the end of hostilities in the Red Sea depends on the end of Israeli bombardments in Gaza.

For this mission to go ahead, it would be necessary to deal with stages relating to the mission’s mandate and military plan, the need for the participation of the EU Military Committee and the postponement of the launch until February, according to EU sources.

The idea would be to make the joint operation by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal, with EU commands and funds, which has existed since 2020 in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to protect international shipping
Source: MNA International