EU Naval Mission Says it Destroyed Aerial Drone in Gulf of Aden

Houthi supporters protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 July 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi supporters protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 July 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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EU Naval Mission Says it Destroyed Aerial Drone in Gulf of Aden

Houthi supporters protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 July 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Houthi supporters protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 12 July 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

The EU naval mission protecting ships crossing the Red Sea said that its frigate Psara had destroyed an unmanned aerial drone in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.

The Aspides mission began in February in response to drone and missile attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militias on vessels in the region. The Houthis describe the attacks as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza.

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

Iran has long denied arming the Houthis, likely because of a yearslong United Nations arms embargo on the militias. However, the US and its allies have seized multiple arms shipments bound for the insurgents in Mideast waters.



Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
TT

Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Government officials met Wednesday in the northeastern province of Hasakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the US.

The new Syrian government wants to bring Syria’s breakaway Kurdish militias back under government control, but the details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.

Wednesday’s meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.

The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.