HODEIDA: Israeli ships are a “legitimate target,” the Houthi militia warned on Monday, after their seizure of an Israel-linked cargo vessel opened a new dimension in the Gaza war.
Sunday’s capture of the Galaxy Leader and its 25 international crew came days after the Iran-backed Houthis threatened to target Israeli shipping over the Israel-Hamas war.
The Houthis, declaring themselves part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran’s allies and proxies, have also launched a series of drones and missiles toward Israel.
“Israeli ships are legitimate targets for us anywhere... and we will not hesitate to take action,” Major General Ali Al-Moshki, a Houthi military official, told the group’s Al-Massirah TV station.
Analysts said Houthi threats to shipping around the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, a choke-point at the foot of the commercially vital Red Sea, were likely to rise.
The Bahamas-flagged, British-owned Galaxy Leader is operated by a Japanese firm but has links to Israeli businessman Abraham “Rami” Ungar.
The Houthis said the capture was in retaliation for Israel’s war against Hamas, sparked by the October 7 attack by the Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
More than 13,000 people have since been killed in Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
Sunday’s ship seizure “is only the beginning,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said Sunday in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, pledging further maritime attacks until Israel halts its Gaza campaign.
On Monday the militia released a video purporting to show Sunday’s seizure.
The footage showed masked armed men jumping onto the ship from a helicopter while the vessel was still moving, and holding crew members at gunpoint. Palestinian and Yemeni flags were raised on board.
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.
The vessel headed from Turkiye to India was re-routed to the Yemeni port of Salif port in Hodeida province, according to maritime security company Ambrey.
Ambrey said the owner of the Galaxy Leader, which transports cars and other vehicles, is listed as Britain’s Ray Car Carriers whose parent company belongs to Israeli businessman Ungar.
Israel’s military said the seizure was a “very grave incident of global consequence,” while a US military official called it “a flagrant violation of international law.”
The crew were reportedly “under investigation” by the Houthis, Ambrey said. They include Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Filipinos, Mexicans and a Romanian, according to Israeli and Romananian officials.
Nippon Yusen, also known as NYK Line of Japan, said it had set up a task team to gather information and ensure the crew’s safety.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Tokyo was “directly approaching the Houthis” as well as communicating with Israel.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterised the capture as an “Iranian attack against an international vessel,” an accusation dismissed by Iran.
“We have repeatedly announced that the resistance groups in the region represent their countries and make decisions and act based on the interests of their countries,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.
Yemen’s coastline overlooks the Bab Al-Mandab Strait — a narrow pass between Yemen and Djibouti at the foot of the Red Sea — which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and carries about a fifth of global oil consumption.
“The threat of disruption to shipping in the wider region is likely to rise,” Torbjorn Soltvedt of the risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft told AFP.
“If security concerns compel shipping companies to avoid the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the result will be significantly higher costs due to the lack of alternative routes.”
Mohammed Al-Basha, senior Middle East analyst for the US-based Navanti Group said the failure of Houthi missile and drone launches to hit targets inside Israel “might have influenced the decision to refocus on the Red Sea arena.”
Israeli ships ‘legitimate target’, Houthis warn after seizure
https://arab.news/z7nrr
Israeli ships ‘legitimate target’, Houthis warn after seizure
- “Israeli ships are legitimate targets for us anywhere... and we will not hesitate to take action,” a Houthi military official said
Lebanese army says Hamas handed over suspect in missile launches toward Israel
CAIRO: The Lebanese army said on Sunday that Hamas handed over a suspect involved in launching missiles towards Israel in March, days after Lebanon warned the Palestinian group not to conduct operations that compromise Lebanese security or sovereignty.
UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban on May 7
- UAE will lift a ban for its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025
DUBAI: The UAE Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that it will lift a ban on its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025, following a visit by the Lebanese head of state last week, according to WAM News Agency.
The decision comes after a joint statement issued on Thursday, announcing that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed agreed to implement measures to facilitate travel and improve movement between the two countries.
The UAE banned its citizens from traveling to Lebanon in 2021. Lebanese citizens were not banned from traveling to the UAE.
Paramilitaries launch first attack on Port Sudan: army
- The paramilitaries have expanded the scope and frequency of their drone attacks on army-held areas since losing control of areas including most of the capital Khartoum in March
- UN agencies have also moved their offices and staff to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge from the war.
PORT SUDAN: Sudanese paramilitaries on Sunday struck Port Sudan, the army said, in the first attack on the seat of the army-aligned government in the country’s two-year war.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023, have increased their use of drones since losing territory including much of the capital Khartoum in March.
Army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said in a statement that the RSF “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities in the city of Port Sudan with suicide drones.”
He reported no casualties but “limited damage” in the city, on Sudan’s Red Sea coast.
AFP images showed smoke billowing from the area of the airport in Port Sudan, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) from the nearest known RSF positions on the outskirts of Khartoum.
In the eastern border town of Kassala, some 500 kilometers south of Port Sudan, near Eritrea, witnesses said three drones struck the airport on Sunday for the second day in a row.
An AFP correspondent in Port Sudan said his home, about 20 kilometers from the airport, was shaking as explosions were heard early Sunday.
A passenger told AFP from the airport that “we were on the way to the plane when we were quickly evacuated and taken out of the terminal.”
On social media, users shared videos which AFP was not able to immediately verify showing a large explosion followed by a cloud of smoke rising from the blast site.
Flights to and from Port Sudan, the country’s main port of entry since the start of the war, were suspended until further notice, a government source told AFP.
The rare attacks on the airports in Port Sudan and Kassala, both far from areas that have seen much of the fighting since April 2023, come as the RSF has expanded the scope and frequency of its drone attacks.
The paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have been battling the regular army, headed by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million.
In the early days of the war, the government relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which until Sunday’s attack had been spared the violence.
UN agencies have also moved their offices and staff to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge from the war.
The conflict has left Sudan, Africa’s third largest country, effectively divided.
The army controls the center, east and north, while the RSF has conquered nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and parts of the south.
Lacking the army’s fighter jets, the RSF has relied on drones, including makeshift ones, for air power.
Missile launched from Yemen lands near Israel’s main airport
- Yemen's Houthis claim missile attack on Israel's main airport
- Sirens were activated in Tel Aviv and other areas in the country
TEL AVIV: A missile landed inside the perimeter of Israel’s main airport on Sunday, wounding six people, halting flights and gouging a wide crater, in an attack claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The Israeli military said “several attempts were made to intercept” the missile that was launched from Yemen, a rare Houthi attack that penetrated Israel’s air defenses.
A video issued by Israel’s police force showed officers standing on the edge of a deep crater with the control tower visible in the distance behind them. No damage was reported to airport buildings or runways.
The police reported a “missile impact” at Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main international gateway.
An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport’s largest, with the crater less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the closest tarmac.
“You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen meters (yards) wide and several dozen meters deep,” central Israel’s police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video shared by the force.
It was not immediately clear whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an interceptor.
The attack was claimed by Yemen’s Houthis, who say they act in support for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza.
“The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile,” the Houthis said in a statement, referring to their own forces.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.
An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35 am (0635 GMT), adding the “reverberation was very strong.”
“Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers,” the AFP journalist said.
“Many passengers are now waiting for their flights to take off, and others are trying to find alternative flights.”
An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official told AFP.
A passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of the country, caused panic.
“It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this,” said the passenger, who did not want to be named, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
“A missile might come at any time and life stops for some time. Today at the airport there was panic and even I was scared, because the blast was big.”
Israel’s airport authority said that “departures and arrivals have resumed” at Ben Gurion, a short while after they had been interrupted due to the missile fire.
The airport “is open and operational,” the aviation authority said in a statement.
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”
The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas praised the missile attack on Israel's airport that was claimed by the Houthis.
“Yemen... escalates its attacks on the heart of the illegitimate Zionist entity, surpassing the most advanced defense systems in the world and striking its targets with precision,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement.
Qatar rejects Netanyahu’s ‘inflammatory’ Gaza comments: foreign ministry
- Netanyahu's office earlier urged Qatar to stop its "double game" and "decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas”
- Qatar ministry spokesman said the statement "fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility”
DOHA: Gaza mediator Qatar on Sunday rejected comments from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it needed to “stop playing both sides” in truce negotiations.
A statement released by Netanyahu's office on Saturday said Qatar needs to “decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas.”
Qatar “firmly rejects the inflammatory statements... which fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari responded in a post on X.
Despite efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to restore a ceasefire, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.
Israel, which wants the return of 59 hostages still held in Gaza, has insisted Hamas must disarm and be excluded from any role in the future governance of the enclave, a condition that Hamas rejects.
It has insisted on agreeing a lasting end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces as a condition for a deal that would see a release of the hostages.
Al-Ansari criticized the portrayal of the Gaza conflict as a defense of civilization, likening it to historical regimes that used “false narratives to justify crimes against civilians.”
In his post, Al-Ansari questioned whether the release of 138 hostages was achieved through military operations or mediation efforts, which he said are being unjustly criticized and undermined.
He also cited the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza represented by what he called a suffocating blockade, systematic starvation, denial of medicine and shelter, and the use of humanitarian aid as a tool of political coercion. On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Friday, adding to signs that attempts to stop the fighting and return hostages held by Hamas have made no progress.
Israel’s campaign was triggered by the devastating Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage. It has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated Gaza where aid groups have warned the Israeli blockade risks a humanitarian disaster.
