European Union Yemen (SPC) Unified Command Josep Borrell OCdr Vasileios Gryparis[1] FCdr Commodore Michail Pantouvakis National leaders Alexander De Croo Emmanuel Macron Olaf Scholz Kyriakos Mitsotakis Abdul-Malik al-Houthi Mohamed al-Atifi Mahdi al-Mashat 1 Destroyer 1 Joint support ship 2 Frigates 12 UAVs

[4] Since the start of the Israel–Gaza war, the Houthi movement has engaged with and boarded certain ships passing through the Red Sea, as a response to the Israeli attacks in Gaza and the rest of Palestine since October.

[10][11] According to the European External Action Service, the purpose of the operation is to protect merchant vessels against strikes, to accompany them and to reinforce maritime situational awareness in the region.

The previous Force Commander till 2 November 2024 was the Commodore Konstantinos Pitykakis (HEL Navy) serving aboard Italian destroyer Caio Duilio.

[23] From 8 August 2024 Rear Admiral Massimo Bonu took over the role of the Force Commander till 2 November 2024 On 27 February 2024, the German frigate Hessen engaged and destroyed two Houthi drones.

[38][39] On 20 March, a French Navy helicopter deployed in the area of the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea to fight against the Houthi rebels shot down a drone, the first time this had happened.

[56] On 21 March, a German Navy Sea Lynx Mk88A helicopter engaged and destroyed an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) when it approached a civilian convoy under tow.

[60] On 27 April, the issues affecting the deployment of Belgian frigate Louise-Marie were resolved, and the ship set course to the area of operations in the Red Sea.

[40] On 8 May, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence announced Karel Doorman was suffering from technical issues with one of its weapons systems, delaying the deployment into the Red Sea.

[61] On 15 June, Force Command transitioned from Italian Rear Admiral Stefano Costantino to Dutch Commodore George Pastoor, serving the role from aboard Karel Doorman.