The US and Japan Navy and have recovered the second ship from the Yemeni rebels….
U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals and is now safe, U.S. officials said on Sunday.
The tanker, which had been carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid, was identified as the Central Park by the vessel’s company. The officials did not identify the attackers..
One of the U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the USS Mason warship had responded to the distress call and the tanker was now free.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.
It followed a seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo ship by Yemen Houthis, allies of Iran, in the southern Red Sea last week. The group, which also fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel, vowed to target more Israeli vessels….
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Another Israeli-linked commercial ship has been attacked – probably by Yemen’s Houthi rebel forces – underscoring the heightened risk to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
The latest attack, confirmed by US officials, was on a commercial tanker named Central Park, which is owned and operated by Zodiac Maritime, run by the Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
The tanker sailed from the Moroccan port of Safi and passed through the Suez canal on 22 November. It appears to have been boarded by eight unidentified gunmen travelling on two boats in the Gulf of Aden, not normally seen as seas that the Houthis control.
On Sunday night, a US official told the AFP news agency that US and coalition forces had responded and that “the crew of the M/V Central Park is currently safe”. Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the USS Mason warship had responded and the tanker was free….
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Last Sunday, the Galaxy Leader was seized off Yemen’s western coast and diverted to the close Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah. Videos of a helicopter landing Yemeni troops on to the cargo ship, the capture of the vessel and then Houthi rebels dancing in celebration were broadcast. They waved the flags of Yemen and Palestine. Later there was footage of a Yemeni naval captain telling the captured crew: “Welcome to Yemen. You are our guests here. We consider you all to be Yemenis.”
Houthi involvement in an attack on a container ship owned by Zim Israel is less clearcut but it appears to have been targeted on Friday while sailing from Israel to China. In a cryptic reference on X, the Yemen army spokesperson wrote the words Zim and nothing further. The ship was last tracked in the Red Sea and there are conflicting reports as to its status. There was no immediate comment from Houthi officials.
The Houthi rebels, backed by Iran and seen as part of the “axis of resistance”, have also fired cruise missiles at Israel but they have been intercepted by the US navy, or Israel itself. The Houthis are fighting a UN-backed government that is based in Aden and is supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates