German container ship attacked in the Red Sea
The British Maritime Transportation Office (UKMTO) also confirmed an attack. It occurred - like several previous attacks by Houthi rebels - near the Bab al-Mandeb strait between Yemen and the African country of Djibouti.
According to the maritime security company Ambrey, a fire broke out on the ship after the attack north of the port city of Mocha. A container had fallen into the sea and the damage had been reported by radio.
The Hapag-Lloyd spokesman did not confirm the information about the container to AFP. The spokesman said that the ship was on its way from the Greek port of Piraeus to Singapore. There were no casualties in the attack and the ship is now continuing towards its destination.
According to the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, the container ship sailing under the Liberian flag is the 370-metre-long "Al-Jasrah", which was completed in 2016. Sullivan blamed Iran for the attacks. "The Houthis pulled the trigger, they get the weapon from Iran," he said during a visit to Tel Aviv.
The Iranian-backed rebels see themselves as part of the self-proclaimed "Axis of Resistance" directed against Israel. Hapag-Lloyd has offices in the Israeli ports of Ashdod, Tel Aviv and Haifa.
"The Houthi attacks on civilian merchant ships in the Red Sea must stop immediately," demanded Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock in Berlin. She condemned the attacks on ships "in the strongest terms" and said that they "threaten international shipping and the freedom of trade routes".
At a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Friday in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the rebels meanwhile declared that they had attacked two more ships in the area. The "container ships MSC Palatium and MSC Alanya" had been "targeted by two sea missiles" on their way towards Israel, said Huthi military spokesman Jahja Saree on the rebels' television station.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas, the Houthi militia in Yemen has fired drones and missiles at Israel several times and attacked ships in the Red Sea. On Thursday, the Shiite Islamists declared that they had carried out a "military operation" against another container ship, the "Maersk Gibraltar".
In response, the shipping company Maersk declared on Friday that it would no longer allow its ships to sail on the route for the time being. The company had instructed all Maersk ships that were due to sail through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to "suspend their voyage until further notice", it said.
US security adviser Sullivan, meanwhile, reiterated his country's desire to strengthen security measures for shipping in the region. British, French and US ships are currently patrolling the region and have already intercepted several missiles. The US government asked "a few days ago" whether the German Navy would be able to provide support in the Red Sea, said a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Defense. The request was being examined within the German government.
The Bab al-Mandeb strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden - and therefore with the Indian Ocean. Around 40 percent of the world's international goods shipments pass through the region.
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Source: www.stern.de
