[IsraelTimes] Assault on Greek-owned ship and subsequent Israeli strikes raise fears of regional escalation, with hostage deal hanging in balance and Iran weighing continued talks with US
A fat merchantman attacked by Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth . Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels sank in the Red Sea, the group said Monday, raising new concerns over safety in a waterway that is crucial to global shipping, as Israel targeted the rebels with Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
s.
The Houthis attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas with drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire on Sunday, forcing its crew of 22 to abandon the vessel.
The Magic Seas attack and subsequent Israeli airstrikes early Monday targeting the rebels raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.
The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas
 ..always the voice of sweet reason...
war hangs in the balance, and as Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program, following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during Israel’s war against the Islamic Theocratic Republic Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington Sunday to meet with Trump.
SHIP ATTACK FORCES CREW TO ABANDON VESSEL
The attack on Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, or UKMTO, first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.
Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, said that Magic Seas also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said that two drone boats struck the ship, while another two were destroyed by the armed guards on board.
UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.
A European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
anti-piracy patrol in the region, called Operation Atalanta, said that 22 mariners had been on board Magic Seas.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military front man, later claimed the attack and said the rebels used missiles and bomb-carrying drone boats to attack the ship.
"Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Paleostine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas... until the aggression on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
stops and the siege on it is lifted," Saree said.
The Magic Seas owners did not respond to a request for comment. Saree later said the vessel sank in the Red Sea.
FRESH HOUTHI ATTACKS AFTER ISRAELI STRIKES
Separately, on Monday afternoon, a drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen at Israel was shot down by the Israeli Air Force, the Israel Defense Forces said.
No sirens sounded, "according to protocol," the military added.
Hours later, a ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Houthis fell short outside the country’s borders, according to a military official.
The IDF identified the launch, but no sirens sounded in Israel because the missile did not pose a threat.
The two attacks came after the IDF overnight said it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa, and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant.
The IDF also said it struck Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.
"Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities," the IDF said.
On Monday evening, the IDF released footage showing the strike on the hijacked ship. The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire and had been operated by a Japanese firm, NYK Line.
The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Saree, the Houthi front man, claimed the rebels’ air defense forces "effectively confronted" the Israelis, without offering evidence.
[X]
Yemeni official says Houthis behind second attack on Red Sea ship
[IsraelTimes] Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s internationally recognized government that opposes the Houthis, says the rebel group is behind Monday night’s attack on maritime shipping in the Red Sea.
According to the private security firm Ambrey, the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned Eternity C had been heading north toward the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones. The security guards on board opened fire in the attack.
“The vessel’s engines had reportedly been disabled and Ambrey observed that the vessel had started to drift,” the firm says.
There were no other immediate details on the attack, which is also acknowledged by the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, center. The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel notes the attack, but the rebels have not claimed the assault.
The US military’s Central Command says it is aware of reports of the attack, but declines to comment further.
The attack occurs in the same area as Sunday’s assault on Magic Seas, another bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the port of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.
Two hurt, two more missing in second Houthi attack on Red Sea shipping
[IsraelTimes] Two crew members of a Greek-managed vessel have been wounded and two more are missing in a drone attack off Yemen, hours after the Iran-aligned Houthis claim an assault on another bulk carrier in the Red Sea that it claimed to have sunk.
The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C was attacked with sea drones and skiffs off the port of Hodeidah, its manager, Cosmoship Management, tells Reuters.
Two crew members are seriously wounded and two are missing, the company says, adding that armed security guards were on board.
The vessel’s bridge was hit, an official at Cosmoship says, adding that telecommunications are impacted and contacting the crew is hard. 
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