(Dubai) An oil tanker belonging to a company linked to Israel was boarded on Sunday in the Gulf of Aden, a US military official said, confirming information from a maritime security firm.
“It appears that an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals seized the vessel Central Park in the Gulf of Aden on November 26,” the official told AFP, adding that “US and coalition forces are in the surrounding area and are closely monitoring the situation.”
The maritime security company Ambrey had previously announced the boarding of an oil tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen, in the latest incident in the same area.
“The event is probably linked to state actors,” Ambrey commented, specifying that the ship, which belongs to a company based in the United Kingdom and linked to Israel, had received threats from Yemeni Houthi rebels, supported by the Iran.
The boarding comes after a cargo ship belonging to an Israeli businessman was damaged in a suspected Iranian drone attack in the Indian Ocean on Friday, and a week after the Houthis captured a cargo ship linked to Israel in the southern Red Sea.
Yemeni rebels have threatened to attack Israeli and allied ships sailing in the Red Sea, in retaliation for the Israeli army’s war against Palestinian Hamas in Gaza under a four-day truce. came into force on Friday.
The war was sparked by a bloody Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 which left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to authorities.
In retaliation, Israel relentlessly bombed Gaza, where nearly 15,000 people including 6,150 children and young people under the age of 18 were killed, according to the Hamas government.
The Houthis announced last Sunday the seizure in the Red Sea of a cargo ship owned by Israel, chartered by a Japanese group and flying the flag of the Bahamas.
The rebels are part of what they describe as an “axis of resistance” against Israel, along with groups supported by Iran, such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
They fired a series of drones and missiles towards Israel and many of the devices were intercepted by Israeli defenses or American warships.
The boarding of the Central Park took place off the coast of the Yemeni port city of Aden. A merchant ship in the area reported that the tanker was “approached by eight people, wearing military uniforms, on board two boats,” according to Ambrey.
The shipping firm recalled that the Houthis had threatened to attack the tanker on Saturday if it did not divert to the port of Hodeida and that a US coalition warship intercepted the rebels’ message and demanded Central Park not to take it into account.