GMM Safety | 2024-02-22 | Case Incidents |

British maritime security major Ambrey mentioned that a container vessel targeted by the Yemeni Houthis on Tuesday was flying the flag of Liberia and was headed for Somalia. The Iran-aligned Houthis said that it was targeting an Israeli cargo vessel, the MSC Silver II, in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, close to the Red Sea, with missiles.

However, Yahya Sarea, the Houthi military spokesperson, didn’t explain. In a statement, the group had made use of drones to target the US warships in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea and on sites in Israel’s Eilat. The Houthis termed the vessel to be Israeli.

The operator was publicly listed as being associated with ZIM. It is called at the ports of Israel regularly, the Ambrey advisory note mentioned. Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd, known as ZIM, is an international, publicly held cargo shipping firm headquartered in Israel.

The Houthis, who have taken control of Yemen’s most famous regions, have launched attacks on vessels with commercial links with the US, Israel, and Britain, prompting retaliatory Western strikes on the Houthi military sites that are based in Yemen.

The Houthis have pledged to keep targeting any vessel that is linked to Israel to show solidarity with Palestinians until Israeli forces end the ongoing war in Gaza. There are no dangers to international or European navigation so long there are no aggressive operations. Hence, there’s no need to militarize the Red Sea, Mohammed Abdul Salam, the Houthi spokesperson, mentioned in a post via X on Tuesday. What the world is awaiting is not the mere militarisation of the Red Sea but an immediate as well as holistic announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza for sheer humanitarian reasons that are crystal clear to everyone.

Reference: Reuters