Yemen’s Ansurullah Militias Capture 48,000 Ton Israel-Linked Ship

On November 19 militias from the Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition captured a 48,000 ton Israel-linked cargo ship, the Galaxy Leader, in the Red Sea, taking 25 crew hostage as part of escalating operations to support the Palestinian war effort. Ansurullah forces have already launched strikes on Israeli targets including using long range cruise missiles and drones, and on November 8 shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone which had allegedly been supporting the Israeli war effort. The coalition announced regarding the operation: “All ships belonging to the Israeli enemy or that deal with it will become legitimate targets.” Coalition spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam later stressed regarding the rationale for the operation that the Israelis only understood “the language of force. “The detention of the Israeli ship is a practical step that proves the seriousness of the Yemeni armed forces in waging the sea battle, regardless of its costs and costs. This is the beginning,” he added. The Israeli military stated that the ship’s capture was a “very grave incident of global consequence.” 

Israeli operations in Gaza have sparked widespread condemnation from across the non-Western world and particularly among Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, with international observers widely accusing Israeli forces of severe war crimes if not genocidal conduct for the mass targeting of civilians and use of illegal weapons such as white phosphorus. Western sources have widely claimed that Ansurullah’s intervention may be an effort to gain Arab popular support by taking a strong position in support of Gaza. The targeting of civilian shipping in international waters itself remains illegal, although it has become increasingly common with the United States and a number of its Western allies having in recent years targeted North Korean, Iranian and Russian shipping while calls to consider the wartime targeting of Chinese shipping have also been raised in the West.