TEHRAN, April 22 (MNA) – Germany has withdrawn a warship that was deployed to the Red Sea as part of an EU military mission amid the failure of the alliance to confront Yemen’s maritime campaign in support of the Gaza Strip.The German military said that the Hessen frigate, with a crew of 240 on board, had left the Red Sea on Saturday morning.

The frigate had been deployed in the strategic waterway in February as part of the EU naval operation called Aspides (“shield” in ancient Greek) in the face of pro-Palestine operations by the Yemeni armed forces.

Germany is expected to send the Hamburg frigate to the Red Sea in August, but military analysts say the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza may not continue until then.

Yemen’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein al-Ezzi hailed the departure of the German frigate from the Red Sea as a “step in the right direction.” He also expressed Yemen’s readiness to maintain the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, the narrow but pivotal body of water that connects Europe to Asia.

On Thursday, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement, called on European countries to withdraw their warships from the Red Sea.

He also emphasized that the European vessels, which are not going to the occupied territories, are not at risk.

Israel waged its bloody war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 following a historic operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group against the usurping regime.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza, Yemeni forces have targeted ships going to and from ports in the occupied lands, or whose owners are linked to Israel, in the southern Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and even in the Arabian Sea.

SD/PressTV