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EU Naval Mission in Red Sea Destroys Missiles, Houthi Seaborne Drone

This handout grab of a video taken and released by the French 'Etat-Major des Armees' on March 20, 2024, shows a Houthi UAV threatening commercial navigation prior to its destruction by a French army helicopter from a French destroyer patrolling in The Red Sea. (Photo by Handout / Etat-Major des Armees / AFP)
This handout grab of a video taken and released by the French 'Etat-Major des Armees' on March 20, 2024, shows a Houthi UAV threatening commercial navigation prior to its destruction by a French army helicopter from a French destroyer patrolling in The Red Sea. (Photo by Handout / Etat-Major des Armees / AFP)
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EU Naval Mission in Red Sea Destroys Missiles, Houthi Seaborne Drone

This handout grab of a video taken and released by the French 'Etat-Major des Armees' on March 20, 2024, shows a Houthi UAV threatening commercial navigation prior to its destruction by a French army helicopter from a French destroyer patrolling in The Red Sea. (Photo by Handout / Etat-Major des Armees / AFP)
This handout grab of a video taken and released by the French 'Etat-Major des Armees' on March 20, 2024, shows a Houthi UAV threatening commercial navigation prior to its destruction by a French army helicopter from a French destroyer patrolling in The Red Sea. (Photo by Handout / Etat-Major des Armees / AFP)

The EU's naval mission in the southern Red Sea said on Thursday it had destroyed three ballistic missiles and a Houthi seaborne drone to protect merchant ships.

The EU's mission, known as Aspides, said on social media platform X that a French warship had destroyed the ballistic missiles and a German destroyed the drone, operated by the Iran-aligned Houthis and spotted near commercial vessels.

Aspides was launched in February to help protect the key maritime trade route from drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi militias, who say they are retaliating against Israel's war on Gaza.

Other countries, including the United States and Britain, also have naval forces operating in the area.

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20 Migrants Die in Shipwreck Off Tunisia

Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui /File Photo
Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui /File Photo
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20 Migrants Die in Shipwreck Off Tunisia

Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui /File Photo
Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui /File Photo

Tunisian authorities recovered the bodies of 20 people who appeared to have drowned after a shipwreck off the country's Mediterranean coastline, near a popular point of departure for migrants attempting to reach Europe by boat.
The country's National Guard said in a statement on Wednesday that coast guard members dispatched to the sinking ship rescued five people and retrieved the bodies of 20 others 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the coast north of Sfax. The coastline is roughly 81 miles (130 kilometers) from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
According to The Associated Press, the National Guard said that it continued to search for missing people and did not indicate how many may have been on board when the ship set off.
With assistance from Europe, authorities in Tunisia have strengthened the policing of their borders in an effort to prevent deaths at sea and combat smugglers and migrants crossing illegally to southern Europe. Yet drownings and corpses washing ashore are regularly reported, including last week when authorities found the bodies of nine people who appeared to have drowned at sea along the same stretch of coastline.
The iron boats that migrants and smugglers use to attempt to cross the Mediterranean are often unseaworthy. Though there is no official count, international groups and Tunisian NGOs believe hundreds have perished at sea this year. The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates more than 1,100 have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean off the coasts of Tunisia and Libya. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights believes between 600 and 700 people have died or gone missing off the coast of Tunisia.
More than 19,000 migrants have embarked from Tunisia and arrived in Italy this year, including many who subsequently applied for asylum, according to UNHCR. That's far fewer than the more than 96,000 who made the journey by the same point in 2023. The majority who have arrived in Italy in 2024 have been from Bangladesh, Tunisia and Syria.
There is no official numbers regarding migrants in Tunisia. However, thousands are living in makeshift camps among olive trees near Sfax's coastline.