Italy may send aircraft to the Red Sea as part of its involvement in the EU Aspides naval mission to protect merchant ships from attacks from Houthi rebels based in Yemen, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday.
“There will be at least one Italian ship (involved in the mission) for 12 months, and we are also considering sending air assets for surveillance and data-collection tasks,” Crosetto told a joint meeting of the Senate and Lower House defence committees.
Ongoing disruption in the Red Sea threatens to destabilise Italy’s economy and marginalise ports in southern Europe, Italy’s defence minister said on Thursday.
Attacks since mid-November on commercial vessels by Iran-aligned Houthi militants, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have disrupted international shipping, forcing some companies to suspend transit through the Red Sea and instead take a much longer, costlier journey around South Africa.
“From a geopolitical perspective, the continuing of this situation could lead to the marginalisation of ports on the Mediterranean Sea,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told lawmakers from parliament’s defence committees.
“Not only does it threaten the security of navigation but also (Italy’s) economic stability”.
The minister said that commercial traffic through the Suez Canal — which he estimated to represent some 40% of Italy’s total maritime trade — had dropped by 38% by the last week of 2023. Navigation times increased by 10-12 days and costs increased almost five-fold, he added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Rai TV Wednesday Italy or France will lead the new EU mission to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi rebels.
“We are talking, it will be up to Italy or France,” he told Cinque Minuti.
He said that as well as the existing Atalanta mission against Somali pirates “there will be this other one with new rules of engagement, and therefore a capacity to down possible missiles or drones that attack Italian merchant ships or belonging to other countries.
“A defensive military mission to guarantee merchant shipping”.
Tajani said he was working with Defence Minister Guido Crosetto on the mission, codenamed Aspides.
