The European Union is considering extending the Red Sea mission to protect Ormuz and deploying a new one in Lebanon

The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, has reiterated the idea of strengthening the EU maritime mission 'Aspides' in the Red Sea, so that this will be the contribution of the Community bloc to the international operation led by France and the United Kingdom to protect maritime transport in the Strait of Hormuz.

It has also advanced that the 27 EU countries are considering deploying a European mission in Lebanon, where they have thousands of troops, in view of the withdrawal by 2027 of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (FINUL).

At a press conference from Brussels following the meeting of the Defence Ministers of the Member States, Kallas has once again put on the table the idea of deploying the naval mission, which, in his view, would be 'sufficient to change the operational plan', and has proposed that the Member States allocate more ships to contribute to the coalition of more than 40 countries which are considering an operation in the Strait in the face of the Iranian blockade.

The head of European diplomacy has argued that this is' the fastest way forward 'and that it would be a way for the European Union to contribute' as one Europe 'to the Voluntary Coalition.

A mission in Lebanon ahead of the withdrawal of FINUL

On the other hand, Kallas has pointed out that the 27 countries are considering deploying a European mission in Lebanon, because when the FINUL mandate expires, 'there must be something else, something else', and he has reported that the ministers are in talks to see what a European mission consists of.

"We are considering launching a new European Union mission to strengthen control in Lebanon," the head of European diplomacy said, adding that in this way, "the stronger the Lebanese army is," Hezbollah will be a weaker Shia party militia.