Bab el Mandeb: Nemački ratni brodovi se povlače | Tatjana Vujić Tubić – Geopolitika

The timing could not have been more delicate: in the middle of this week, the Yemeni Houthis and the German minesweeper “Fulda” launched, each for their own very different reasons, into action in the direction of the north. Namely, the Yemeni rebel movement “Ansar Allah” carried out ballistic attacks on two Saudi mega tankers “Layla” and “Encelia” on Wednesday and Thursday – as part of the previously announced naval blockade of the ports of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpw9xzx9r4ko).
After that, the war in the Persian Gulf, initiated by the actions of Israel and the US against Iran on February 28th , was extended to the Red Sea region, with successive strikes by Saudi Arabian aviation on the Yemeni port of Hodeida. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/24/saudis-strike-yemens-houthi-held-hodeida-rebel-media). That was followed by Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Aramco’s oil installations near the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea and the city ofYazan.
Along the way, the “Encelia” tanker was hit by an unidentified missile 130 kilometres southwest of the city of Al Shuqaiq in the Yazan region, not far from the border with Yemen. Whether and how much the armed conflict between the official Riyadh and the Yemeni “Ansar Allah” can escalate is uncertain.
What is known is that the Ministry of Defence of Germany, on Thursday, July 23rd , announced the “relocation” of the minesweeper “Fulda” and the supply ship “Mosel” from the Red Sea region (from the port of Djibouti) to the Eastern Mediterranean (https://www.eurasiareview.com/24072026-germany-withdraws-naval-vessels-from-red-sea-amid-rising-houthi-saudi-tensions/).
The unstable security situation, and the absence of an imminent mission in the region of the Strait of Hormuz were cited as the key reasons for Berlin’s decision to withdraw the two German warships from the tense zone near the strategic Bab el Mandeb passage (on the photo) on the southern approach to the Red Sea. In that direction moves towards Suez and the Mediterranean, an otherwise significant amount of energy supplies and other goods badly needed by the EU.
Meanwhile, “Fulda” and “Mosel” arrived in Djibouti only a month ago to join the (now apparently) abandoned “Coalition of the Willing” to demining Hormuz—an initiative of London and Paris joined on paper by forty countries. (https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/06/18/germany-moves-two-ships-to-djibouti-eyeing-multinational-hormuz-mission-this-summer/).
According to the earlier plans of the Europeans, “Fulda” and “Mosel” were supposed to lead the task of finding mines in the Strait of Hormuz within the “Coalition” armada.
How Brussels will understand Berlin’s decision to withdraw two warships from the anchorage in Djibouti right now is very uncertain.
Namely, on July 17th , the EU and Djibouti concluded a strategic “Agreement on the Status of Forces for Operation Aspides” – by which the Europeans gained new opportunities for further action on the high seas between Bab el Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. (https://www.voiceofemirates.com/en/news/2026/07/17/countering-bab-el-mandeb-threats-eu-reinforces-red-sea-naval-mission-with-strategic-djibouti-accord/).
“The European Union hereby expresses its strategic interest in maintaining security, and acting in a security role under the auspices of the Aspides and Atalanta missions here in the northwest of the Indian Ocean,” General Sean Clancy, Chief of the EU Military Committee, during a ceremony in Djibouti on July 17. By the way, the EU anti-pirates mission “Atalanta” has been in that region of the Indian Ocean since 20008, while “Aspides” was created in February 2024.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas came out in Djibouti with a proposal that “the ships that were promised to the Coalition of the Willing (for the demining of Hormuz), could, while they are now just waiting for that mission, be deployed here (to the EU Aspides mission”), since the Coalition of the Willing is not yet functional.”
Berlin seems to have some plans for “Fulda” and “Mosel” in the eastern Mediterranean…