Italy Becomes Third European Country to Counter Houthi Attacks in Red Sea

An Italian navy destroyer shot down a drone that was approaching it in the Red Sea, where Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias are attacking shipping, the defense ministry said on Sunday.

"In accordance with the principle of legitimate defense, the ship Duilio shot down a drone in the Red Sea" on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

"The drone, bearing similar features to those already used in previous attacks, was located six kilometers (about four miles) from the Italian ship and was flying towards it," it added.

The Houthis say they are attacking Israeli-linked shipping in solidarity with war-torn Gaza, where Israel is battling Palestinian Hamas militants in a war that has roiled the region since erupting on October 7.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the Houthi attacks were part of a strategy of hybrid warfare against some countries.

"The Houthi terrorist attacks are a serious violation of international law and an attack on the security of the maritime traffic on which our economy depends," he said.

In February, the European Union launched a naval mission to the Red Sea, dubbed Eunavfor Aspides, to protect shipping in the area. Italy said it would supply the admiral in command for the mission.

Last week, a German warship shot down two drones in the Red Sea. The German navy frigate Hessen, which was deployed earlier this month to the region, shot the drones down within 20 minutes of each one being fired, a defense ministry spokesperson told a news briefing, declining comment on the target of the projectiles.

During a visit to Canada, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended her country’s participation in the naval mission. A third of Italy’s exports pass through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that lies between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The unrest has forced several companies to reroute shipments in the commercially vital waterway, driving up delivery times and costs.

Key Israel ally the United States has led reprisal strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in a bid to quash the attacks, creating an international force to protect shipping.

'New tragedy'

Meanwhile, the Houthis vowed on Sunday to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar.

The US military confirmed on Saturday that the UK-owned vessel Rubymar had sunk after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis on February 18.

"Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain's bill," Hussein al-Ezzi, so-called deputy foreign minister in the illegitimate Houthi government, said in a post on X.

"It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza."

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November. The US and Britain began striking Houthi targets in Yemen in January in retaliation for the attacks.

The Belize-registered Rubymar is the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial ships.

Foreign Minister in the legitimate Yemeni government Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said in a post on X: "The sinking of the Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before.

"It is a new tragedy for our country and our people. Every day we pay the price for the adventures of the Houthi militia ..."

Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi vowed that "surprises" were in store for the militias’ enemies. He boasted that the Houthis have so far fired 385 rockets and drones and targeted 54 ships, hitting eleven, since starting their attacks.

The legitimate Yemeni government has slammed the attacks as an attempt by the Houthis to shirk their responsibilities towards peace. It also accused them of exploiting the war on Gaza to polish their image in Yemen and abroad.

It has also said the western attacks against the Houthis were useless because the best way to deal with the threat lies in supporting its forces on the ground to reclaim institutions and liberate the Hodeidah province and its ports and other regions held by the Houthis.

Western countries have so far carried out 300 raids against the Houthis in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah, Saada and Dhamar. The militias have stressed that the attacks have not curbed their military capabilities.

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.

Italy Becomes Third European Country to Counter Houthi Attacks in Red Sea