Shipping giant Maersk suspends vessel passage through Red Sea strait

The Danish shipping company "Maersk" decided Friday to suspend the passage of its ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait following an "incident" involving one of its vessels in the Red Sea.

This decision comes amidst Houthi attacks in Yemen, in retaliation of the Israeli occupation's aggression against the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Danish shipping giant said, "Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice."

The Houthis had announced on Friday the targeting of the container ships "MSC Alanya" and "MSC PALATIUM III" in the Red Sea.

The spokesperson for the "Armed Forces of the Houthi Group" stated in a statement that the naval forces carried out a military operation against the container ships (MSC Alanya and MSC PALATIUM III), which were heading to the Israeli Occupation territories and were targeted with two naval missiles.

He added that the targeting of the two ships came after their crews refused to respond to the calls of the Yemeni naval forces and the warning messages.

The Houthis’ Spokesperson reiterated that all ships heading to ports around the world, except for Israeli Occupation ports, will not be harmed, and they should keep their communication systems open.

He emphasized that they would not hesitate to target any ship that violates the information provided in their previous statements. They will continue to prevent all ships heading to the Israeli Occupation ports from navigating in the Arabian and Red Seas until the necessary supplies for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are delivered.