Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Seize Cargo Ship in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group, seized a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and say they have taken it to a Yemeni port.

“We are treating the ship’s crew in accordance with Islamic principles and values,” a spokesperson of the group’s military said in a statement. The group said the ship was an Israeli vessel.

The Israeli military said Sunday that the cargo ship was hijacked in the southern Red Sea as it was sailing from Turkey to India, raising the alarm that regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war are spilling over onto the maritime front.

In a social media post, the Israeli military called the hijacking “a very grave incident on a global level” but said the vessel is not Israeli-owned.

The ship is British-owned and Japanese-operated, carrying 25 crew members of various nationalities but not Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.