The center reported that the incident involved the ship being chased by small boats, with shots fired at it, prompting immediate defensive measures, according to Western media. The company clarified that the target was a cargo tanker, confirming that security measures successfully repelled the attackers without any injuries.
The Yemeni group “Ansar Allah” officially claimed responsibility for the attack on a commercial cargo ship at the end of last September while it was sailing in the Gulf of Aden. They justified this by saying that the ship’s owning company violated the group’s decision to ban ships from passing to Israeli ports via the Red and Arabian seas in response to the Israeli war on Gaza.
The spokesman for the “Ansar Allah” forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, stated in a military announcement broadcast by the group’s TV channel “Al-Masirah”: “The armed forces carried out a military operation targeting the ship (Minervagracht) for the owning company’s violation of [the group’s] decision to ban entry to the occupied Palestinian ports.” Brigadier Saree emphasized that “the armed forces’ operations will continue and will not stop until the aggression ceases and the blockade on Gaza is lifted.”
He confirmed the continued imposition of a maritime navigation ban on the Israeli enemy in the Red and Arabian seas, Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden. The group has launched attacks on Israel and ships associated with it, as well as the United States and Britain in the Red Sea, since November 2023, in response to the Israeli war in Gaza.
Since Tel Aviv resumed its military operations in the Gaza Strip on March 18, the “Ansar Allah” group in Yemen intensified its attacks on Israel and ships associated with it, the United States, and Britain. This prompted U.S. forces to carry out hundreds of airstrikes on the group’s positions in Yemen before the group and Washington reached a ceasefire agreement on May 6, but “Ansar Allah” confirmed that the agreement does not include operations against Israel.
The “Ansar Allah” group has controlled most of the central and northern provinces of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since September 2014. An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations on March 26, 2015, in support of the Yemeni army to reclaim those areas from the group’s control.
