BRUSSELS: The European Union will discuss next week a plan to set up a naval mission to help protect Red Sea shipping , diplomats said on Friday.

The proposal _ in the pipeline in Brussels for several weeks _ was mooted before US and British forces struck Yemen early on Friday.

Any EU effort would seek to complement a US-led coalition, which includes numerous countries from the bloc, which is already operating in the vital shipping route.

The details of the size and scope of any EU mission remain to be hammered out and European diplomats said a first discussion would take place in Brussels on Tuesday.

Spain said on Friday that it would not take part in any EU naval mission in the Red Sea.

Its defence minister, Margarita Robles, said that “Spain’s position on this subject has always been clear”.

The EU last year initially mulled a plan to expand its Atalanta mission focused on protecting shipping off Somalia, but that move was blocked by Spain.

Madrid gave no official reason, but Spanish media reported that domestic politics was behind the refusal, with a hard-left partner in Spain’s governing coalition, the Sumar party, generally opposed to US foreign policy.

Diplomats said EU foreign ministers could strike an agreement on establishing the new naval mission at the coming meeting in Brussels.

The Houthis, who have seized control of a major portion of Yemen since a civil war erupted in the country in 2014, are part of a regional Iran-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel and its allies.

The pre-dawn air strikes by the United States and Britain add to escalating fears of wider conflict in the region.

The strikes targeted an airbase, airports and a military camp, the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV station said, with correspondents and witnesses reporting they could hear heavy strikes in Hodeida and Sanaa.

Tanker firm

Danish tanker firm Torm said on Friday it was halting all transit through the southern Red Sea, following attacks from Yemen’s Houthis and retaliatory strikes in Yemen by the US and UK.

“Torm decided today to pause all transits through the southern Red Sea until further notice,” a Torm spokeswoman said in an email, adding the company had no further comments at the time.

The Danish company owns a fleet of around 80 vessels and specialises in the transportation of petroleum products.

The company’s announcement came in the wake of a growing number of attacks by Houthis on Israeli-linked shipping in the key Red Sea international trade route since Oct 7.

Early on Friday morning, US and British forces launched air strikes in Houthi-held areas in Yemen, adding to escalating fears of a wider conflict in the region.

The targeting of ships has caused several shipping companies, including Denmark’s Maersk, to divert around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, affecting trade flows at a time when supply strains are putting upward pressure on inflation globally.

Some 12 per cent of global maritime trade normally passes through the Bab Al Mandeb strait, but since mid-November the amount of shipping containers has dropped by 70 per cent, according to maritime experts.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024