Attackers seized a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Aden, Yemen, on Sunday, authorities said. While no group immediately claimed responsibility, it comes as at least two other maritime attacks in recent days have been linked to the Israel-Hamas war. The attackers seized the Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden, the company and private intelligence firm Ambrey said. An American defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the attack took place. Zodiac called the attack "a suspected piracy incident." "Our priority is the safety of our 22 crew onboard," Zodiac said, per the AP. "The Turkish-captained vessel has a multinational crew consisting of a crew of Russian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Indian, Georgian, and Filipino nationals. The vessel is carrying a full cargo of phosphoric acid."
Zodiac described the vessel as being owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc., though other records directly linked Zodiac as the owner. London-based Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attack. Aden is held by forces allied to Yemen's internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition that has battled Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for years. That part of the Gulf of Aden in theory is under the control of those forces and is fairly distant from Houthi-controlled territory in the country. The maritime attacks come as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong Israel-Hamas war, which threatens to become a wider regional conflict.
The US defense official said that it appeared "an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals" seized the ship. "US and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation," the official said. Zodiac Maritime has been targeted previously amid a wider yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. In 2021, a drone attack assessed by the US and other Western nations to have been carried out by Iran killed two crew members aboard Zodiac's oil tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman. The Central Park seizure comes after a container ship, CMA CGM Symi, owned by an Israeli billionaire, came under attack Friday by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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