Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have seized an Israeli commercial ship in the Red Sea on Sunday and diverted it to the Yemeni coast, according to a Houthi leader, while the Israeli military denied it was from an Israeli ship.
This assertion comes days after Iranian-backed rebels threatened to target Israeli ships in the sea between North Africa and the Middle East, due to Israel’s war against Palestinian Hamas. in the Gaza Strip.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation in the Red Sea, the result of which was the seizure of an Israeli ship and its transfer to the Yemeni coast” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on social network X.
“The Yemeni armed forces treat the ship’s crew in accordance with the teachings and values of our Islamic religion,” added the spokesperson, stressing that this act was “based on religious, humanitarian and moral responsibility towards the oppressed Palestinian people, and the unjust siege to which they are subjected, as well as the continuation of the horrible and heinous massacres perpetrated by the Israeli enemy.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm that they will continue to carry out military operations against the Israeli enemy until the aggression against the Gaza Strip ceases and until the heinous crimes against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and in the West Bank cease”, added the spokesperson.
“The armed forces’ operations only threaten the Israeli entity’s vessels and those owned by Israelis, as we indicated in a previous statement,” he said again.
A maritime source from the rebel-controlled port of Hodeida (west) said that “the Houthis seized a commercial ship and took it to the port of Al-Salif in Hodeida.”
Various nationalities
For its part, the Israeli army denied that it was an Israeli ship. “The ship left Turkey bound for India, with civilians of various nationalities on board, but no Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship,” the army stressed.
The Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa, are part of what they describe as an “axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes groups supported by Iran, such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
“Our eyes are open to constantly monitor and search for any Israeli vessel,” declared their leader, Abdel Malek al-Houthi, in a speech on Al-Massira, the Houthi television channel.
“The enemy (Israel) resorts to camouflage in its movements in the Red Sea, particularly in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. It did not dare to hoist Israeli flags on its ships (…) and extinguished identification devices”, he said.
“We will search and verify the ships that belong to him, and we will not hesitate to target them,” had threatened the leader of the Iran-backed rebels.
The Bab El-Mandeb Strait, a narrow passage between Yemen and Djibouti, is located on a vital route for world trade, particularly oil traffic.
For his part, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “strongly condemned the Iranian attack on an international ship”, in a press release from his office.
“The ship, which is owned by a British company and operated by a Japanese company, was hijacked under Iranian direction by the Yemeni Houthi militia,” adds the statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office.
“On board the ship are 25 crew members of various nationalities, including Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Filipino and Mexican. No Israelis are on board. This is a new act of Iranian terrorism and a step “Forward in Iran’s aggression against the citizens of the free world, with international consequences for the security of the world’s sea lanes,” continues the press release.
