Hessen then tried to shoot down this drone, but was unsuccessful. “The case was resolved in that it was not a hostile drone, which only became clear afterwards.”

The spokesman did not say which country this drone was subsequently assigned to. However, he expressly emphasized that before the shelling, the Hessians had asked all allied nations, in which no country had reported its own drone in the area of operation. Only later did it turn out that it was an unreported drone. It is well known that there are US combat drones in the region that have nothing to do with the operation in the Red Sea.

Shortly before, it had become known that the frigate Hessen, which was used to protect merchant ships, repelled an attack by the Houthi militia operating from Yemen for the first time on Tuesday evening and shot down two drones. The Iranian-allied militia wants to use attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea to force an end to the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, which is a response to the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on October 7th. Since Friday, Hesse has been involved in the EU operation to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea.