Houthi rebels from Yemen have hijacked a cargo ship with as many as 52 crew members in the Red Sea in a ‘serious incident’.
The Bahamas-flagged ‘Galaxy Leader’ was boarded by armed men as it traveled south along the Arabian Peninsula en route to India.
The ship is registered to a British company partly owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar and is currently leased to a Japanese company, reports indicate.
It came hours after the Iran-backed Houthi militia – which has been waging a bloody civil war against the Yemeni government since the 1990s – vowed to attack ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea in retaliation for the Jewish state’s response to the attacks of October 7.
The ship Galaxy Leader has been hijacked by Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Red Sea
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed there were no Israeli civilians on board, but called it a “serious incident.”
A statement on social media said: ‘The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very serious incident with global consequences.
‘The ship left Turkey bound for India, crewed by citizens of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship.”
More to follow…