Mission in the Red Sea

German Navy accidentally shoots at US drone

Fortunately, the frigate Hessen missed its target in this case.(Bild: APA/AFP/FOCKE STRANGMANN)

As reported, the German frigate Hessen had its first live fire mission on Tuesday as part of the EU military mission "Aspides" in the Red Sea and shot down two drones belonging to the Yemeni Houthi militia. However, as was revealed on Thursday, the Hessians had already targeted an unidentifiable drone on Monday and attempted to shoot it down as well - without success. It later transpired that it was a US aircraft.

However, according to German media reports, the two interceptor missiles fired failed to hit their target for technical reasons and fell into the sea. However, this "double mishap" (incorrect acceptance and missing the target, note), as bild.de calls it, turned out to be quite fortunate. 

Ministry spokesperson: drone could not be assigned
Michael Stempfle, spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense, explained after the incident became known that the drone could not be assigned to any of the countries involved in the military mission to protect merchant shipping in the course of a clarification. "The case has been resolved insofar as it was not a drone that was hostile, as it only turned out afterwards," said Strempfle, who did not, however, name the owner of the drone.

It later turned out that it was an unregistered MQ-9 drone belonging to the US armed forces, which was not part of the anti-Houthi alliance. The transponder of the renamed flying object was switched off.

"Axis of resistance" against Israel
The Houthis see themselves as part of the "Axis of Resistance" directed against Israel and supported by Iran, which includes the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, the Houthis have stepped up their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Many shipping companies are now avoiding the sea trade route as a result. With their attacks, the Yemeni fighters want to force an end to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.