by DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Armed attackers seized and shot a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen on Sunday before being captured by the US Navy, officials said. Two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen then landed near a US warship assisting the tanker in the Gulf of Aden, raising the stakes amid a series of ship attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
The internationally recognized government blamed Iran’s Houthi rebels for the attack, although the rebels in control of the capital, Sanaa, did not acknowledge the seizure or the missile attack.
The attackers seized the Liberian-flagged Central Park, managed by Maritime Zodiac, in the Gulf of Aden, the company, US and British military and private intelligence firm Ambrey said.
The US military’s Central Command said in a statement early Monday that its forces and allies, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, responded to the seizure and demanded the armed attackers release the tanker.
“After that, five armed people boarded the ship and tried to flee in their small boat,” the Central Command said. “The Mason chased the attackers and eventually surrendered as a result.”
The Central Command did not identify the attackers, but said a missile was launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen early Monday morning.
“The missiles landed in the Gulf of Aden about 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometers) from the ships,” the statement said. “The USS Mason … was completing its response to the M/V Central Park’s distress call at the time the missiles were launched. No damage or injuries were reported from either vessel during this incident.”
Early Monday morning, the Zodiac said the vessel carrying phosphoric acid and its crew of 22 sailors from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam were unharmed.
“We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law,” the company said.
The Zodiac described the vessel as being owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc., although other records directly identified the Zodiac as the owner. Zodiac Maritime is based in London and is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. British corporate records listed two men with the surname Ofer as a current and former director of Clumvez Shipping, including Daniel Guy Ofer, who is also a director of the Maritime Zodiac.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government, based out of nearby Aden, blamed the rebels for the seizure in a statement by its state-run news agency.
“The government of Yemen has renewed its denial of the acts of maritime piracy carried out by the Houthi terrorist militias with the support of the Iranian regime, the latest of which was the Central Park kidnapping,” the statement read.
The attack took place in a part of the Gulf of Aden that is theoretically under the control of that government’s forces and is relatively far from Houthi-controlled territory in the country. Somali pirates are not known to operate in that area.
The Maritime Zodiac has previously been the focus of a wider, decades-long shadow war between Iran and Israel. In 2021, a drone attack believed by the United States and other Western nations to have been carried out by Iran killed two crew members aboard the oil tanker Zodiac on Mercer Street off the coast of Oman.
The British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations, which alerts seafarers in the Middle East, previously issued a warning to seafarers that “two black and white vessels carrying eight people in military clothing” had been seen in the area. .
The UKMTO placed the Middle Park site over 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of the coast of Yemen, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Djibouti and about 110 kilometers (70 miles) north-east of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, a key route shipping. .
The seizure of Central Park comes after a container ship, the CMA CGM Symi, owned by another Israeli billionaire, was attacked on Friday by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean. Iran has not acknowledged the attack, nor has it responded to questions from The Associated Press about the attack.
Both Symi and Central Park have been behaving as if threatened for the past few days.
The ships turned off their Automatic Identification System trackers, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it looks like they might be targeted. In the case of Central Park, the vessel was diverted four days ago after leaving the Suez Canal heading south into the Red Sea.
Global shipping has become increasingly focused as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict – even as a ceasefire stalls and Hamas hostage exchanges for Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier in November, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship bound for Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels still keep the vessel away from the port city of Hodeida.
However, the Houthis have not directly targeted the Americans for some time, raising the stakes in the escalating maritime conflict. In 2016, the US launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory in retaliation for missiles being fired at US Navy ships, including the USS Mason, at the time.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the American aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower traveled through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian Gulf, the US military said. The Eisenhower was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Stethem and the French frigate Languedoc.
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Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
