Pirates' Attempt to Hijack a Ship East of Aden Fails

The British Maritime Trade Operations Agency announced on Friday, May 10, that it received a report of an unsuccessful attempt to hijack a ship 195 nautical miles (about 370 kilometers) east of Aden. The ship's captain reported that a small boat carrying five or six armed men approached the ship with a ladder. Maritime sources, referring to the attackers as 'pirates,' suggested that they may have attempted to hijack the ship amid the chaos caused by Houthi attacks on vessels. According to the agency, the armed men were forced to flee after returning fire. The ship and its crew were unharmed and continued on their course. On Thursday, May 9, a spokesperson for the Houthis in Yemen claimed that the group's militants targeted two ships, 'MSC Diego' and 'MSC Gina,' using several ballistic missiles and drones in the Gulf of Aden. Previously, Houthi rebels had threatened to soon extend their attacks on Israeli ships to the Mediterranean Sea. This group, which is backed by the Islamic Republic, has controlled parts of Yemen and began attacking cargo ships and warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden under the pretext of supporting the people of Gaza following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. The group's attacks are primarily conducted using drones and anti-ship ballistic missiles, but many of their assaults have failed, with only a few being successful. In recent months, the Houthis have also launched several missile and drone attacks against the port of Eilat, which is about two thousand kilometers from Yemen. The United States and its partners have repeatedly targeted the positions of the Houthi rebels in response to their attacks on ships since November 2023. The Biden administration removed the Houthi militant group from the list of terrorist organizations on February 16, 2021, aiming to encourage the group to engage in negotiations to reduce tensions and improve the situation for the Yemeni people, over 83% of whom live in absolute poverty according to the latest UN report. However, on February 16 of last year, the U.S. Treasury added the Houthis back to the list of terrorist organizations due to their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Iranian-backed Houthis claimed to have attacked three ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, threatening to target Israeli ships in the Mediterranean. The Islamic Republic claims to have freed the crew of the 'MSC Aris' ship, and a container ship was targeted by a missile attack in the Red Sea. The seizure of a commercial ship by the Iranian government has been described as 'intolerable' by the global shipping industry.