European diplomats announced today a new plan, to be discussed next week, between EU countries, aimed at setting up a naval mission allegedly to help protect Red Sea shipping following the Yemeni Armed Forces' operations in the maritime route. 

The proposal -- in the pipeline in Brussels for several weeks -- was mooted before US and British forces struck Yemen. All EU efforts seek to complement a US-led coalition, including numerous countries from the bloc, already operating in the vital shipping route, knowing that many chose to stay out of it. 

According to the diplomats, the first discussion is going to be held in Brussels next Tuesday with the exact details of the size and scope of any EU mission to be sorted later. They also added that there is a possibility of striking a new agreement, by EU foreign ministers, on establishing the new mission. 

The EU, last year, initially mulled a plan to expand its Atalanta mission focused on protecting shipping off Somalia, but that move was blocked by Spain.

The Yemenis are ready

Following the joint US-UK aggression against Yemen overnight, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced that the aggression won't go unpunished. 

"The American-British enemy has perpetrated a heinous attack on the Republic of Yemen, as an extension to its continued support for Israeli crimes in Gaza, with seventy-three airstrikes targeting the capital Sanaa, and the provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah, and Saada," Saree announced.

"These airstrikes resulted in the martyrdom of five individuals and the injury of six others from the ranks of our armed forces," he added.

"The American and British enemies bear full responsibility for their criminal aggression against the Yemeni people, and it will not slide without retaliation and punishment. The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target sources of threat and all hostile targets on land and sea, defending Yemen, its sovereignty, and independence."