Cargo ship is 'hijacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels' in the Red Sea – after Iran-backed militia vowed to target Israeli-linked vessels
Cargo ship is 'hijacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels' in the Red Sea – after Iran-backed militia vowed to target Israeli-linked vessels
by: Hani Kamal El-Din
Houthi rebels from Yemen have hijacked a cargo ship with up 22 crew members in the Red Sea in a ‘grave incident on a global level’.
The Bahaman-flagged ‘Galaxy Leader’ was boarded by armed men as it travelled south past the Arabian peninsula on its way to India.
It came hours after the Iranian-backed Houthi militia – which has fought a bloody civil war against the Yemeni government since the 1990s – vowed to target ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea in retaliation for the Jewish state’s response to the October 7 attacks.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed there are no Israeli citizens on board and denied the ship was Israeli, but called it a ‘grave incident’.
In a statement released on social media it said: ‘ The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence.
‘The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship.’
It is reported that the nationalities on board the ship include Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Filipinos and Mexicans.
According to publicly-available tracking data, the ship’s last known location was east of Port Sudan in the Red Sea on Saturday.
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