by Leonid Tsukanov
| More on this story from yesterday. |
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Yemeni rebels responded with a customary salvo of rockets towards the Jewish state, after which both sides returned to their original positions.
True, while Tel Aviv and Sanaa were exchanging blows, on the opposite bank, near Djibouti, another confrontation was unfolding.
The Chinese military used a laser weapon against a German reconnaissance plane, which provoked strong protests from Berlin.
The Chinese government is keeping the intrigue under wraps and has not explained what prompted the sudden attack. But it is quite possible that Beijing has thus subtly outlined one of its “red lines” in the region.
EUROPE IS ON ALERT
The latest tensions were sparked by the sinking of the Greek cargo ship Magic Seas, chartered by an Israeli company, in the Red Sea. Its owners claim that the ship was sailing from China to Turkey and had no plans to stop in the Jewish state.
The Houthis, however, considered the Israeli port of Eilat to be its final destination, and so motivated the attack with a long-standing promise to “attack and sink” any ship that attempted to violate the blockade.
Fearing new attacks, the European mission Aspides has increased patrols along Yemen's borders, not only by water but also by air. In particular, the mission's "flying eyes" - aircraft equipped with multi-sensor platforms - have returned to the airspace over the Red Sea.
Thanks to them, the EU contingent could conduct long-range reconnaissance of the waters and calculate in which area the next strike might be carried out.
The Houthis, although they repeatedly threatened to shoot down reconnaissance aircraft, did not take any real measures against the Europeans, and the latter stopped expecting a trick from them.
Everything changed in early July 2025, when a German reconnaissance aircraft was subjected to a "sudden external influence" near the borders of Djibouti.
It was determined that the laser attack was carried out by a Chinese warship in the area at the time, causing "possible damage to the equipment" and forcing the pilot to abort his mission to monitor the area.
The German military department demanded an apology from Beijing, and the Chinese ambassador in Berlin was urgently summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where he received a protest from the authorities.
The Chinese side has not officially commented on the situation, although the national press has called the scandal “exaggerated and empty,” accusing Berlin of trying to artificially destabilize bilateral relations.
CHINESE WARNING
"Threatening illumination" of foreign aircraft near the Chinese base in Djibouti is a standard reaction of the Chinese military to the appearance of strangers. At least five similar cases have been recorded since the establishment of the PRC military base in the Red Sea region in 2017.
True, before this, only American pilots, whose stronghold "Camp Lemonier" is located nearby, suffered from the actions. In this way, Beijing allegedly prevented aerial reconnaissance of objects in the area of its presence.
Moreover, at least twice Chinese lasers struck at long range - when the threat of aerial photography of Chinese objects was not obvious.
For example, in 2018 and 2021, a Chinese destroyer “illuminated” American P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft with lasers when they were at a significant distance from the “special attention zone” and showed no intention of changing their trajectory.
For this reason, US pilots preferred to choose a different, safer approach course to Camp Lemonnier, so as not to provoke the Chinese further.
The German pilots were clearly not aware of such subtleties. Especially since the Bundeswehr aviation arrived in Djibouti as "guests" and used the infrastructure of the French Djibouti-Ambouli base for flights.
Considering that the French and American facilities are located in the same area (near the international airport), the Chinese patrols could well have mistaken the German reconnaissance aircraft for a US Air Force aircraft.
And at the same time, consider that the Pentagon has decided to demonstratively violate the previous gentleman's agreement by resuming reconnaissance flights near prohibited objects.
In this context, the use of laser weapons appears to be a reminder of agreements, rather than an intention to harm Germany's defense capability.
SECRET CONNECTIONS
However, the incident near the coast of Djibouti may well have a “second bottom”.
Since the start of the Houthi privateering operations in the Red Sea, Beijing has been constantly featured on the front pages of Western newspapers as one of the possible “sponsors” of the Yemeni rebels.
In particular, China was accused of secretly supplying Yemen with components for the production of UAVs and satellite terminals, which were used in planning attacks and conducting objective monitoring.
In both cases, the “transit point” was allegedly the territory of Djibouti, where the cargo was accumulated at a Chinese military base and from there smuggled to the port cities of Yemen.
In exchange for support, the Houthis allegedly allowed Chinese companies to safely pass through the blockade zone and even turned a blind eye to economic cooperation between Beijing and Tel Aviv.
This gave China a big head start in the trade race with the US and Europe, especially considering that neither Washington nor Brussels have security guarantees and are forced to transport valuable cargo under escort.
The Chinese government regularly debunks speculations about its presence in the Red Sea, not forgetting to remind that most of these “sensations” were fabricated by Israeli journalists in order to further discredit the Houthis, as well as countries that are not in a clinch with them.
However, opponents, apparently, do not abandon attempts to get closer to the Chinese base and capture the possible process of preparing the next cargo - and they use the tasks of Operation Aspides as cover, among other things.
So, by using a laser installation against a German reconnaissance aircraft, Beijing could well have hinted to Germany, and at the same time to other potentially interested parties, that surveillance in the Red Sea can only be carried out on the Houthis, and that it is not worth combining the tasks.