MOGADISHU: A Lebanese registered ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia has been freed, said a shipping expert.
The pirates who boarded the ship on Saturday abandoned it on Sunday before naval forces rescued the ship, said Mohamed Abdirahman, former director of Puntland’s marine forces.
The pirates were unable to take the crew hostage because they locked themselves in a safe room said Abdirahman. No pirates were arrested and international naval forces are now escorting the ship, he said.
The ship hijacked off the coast of war-torn Yemen is a cargo vessel owned by a Lebanon-registered company, a UN agency confirmed on Sunday. The hijacking was the latest in a resurgence of piracy in the waters off Somalia and Yemen, one of the world’s crucial sea trade routes.
The OS 35, which can carry non-liquid cargoes like grain or iron ore, is registered by Oldstone Cargo Ltd, which lists its business address in Tripoli, Lebanon, said the International Maritime Organization. The OS 35 is Oldstone’s only ship registered with the UN. Oldstone could not be immediately reached for comment.
The pirates managed to board the ship on Saturday evening near Yemen’s Socotra Island despite resistance from the crew, said Somali pirate, Bile Hussein.
Somali pirates in recent weeks have hijacked at least two vessels with foreign crews in the waters off Somalia and Yemen, marking a return of the threat after five years.
In March, Somali pirates hijacked a Comoros-flagged oil tanker, marking the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel since 2012. They later released the vessel and its Sri Lankan crew without conditions.
Pirates later seized a fishing trawler, which Somali authorities warned could be used for further piracy.
Earlier this month, Somali pirates seized a small boat and its 11 Indian crew members as the vessel passed through the narrow channel between Socotra Island and Somalia’s coast.
Piracy off Somalia’s coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry. It has lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near the country, whose weak central government has been trying to assert itself after a quarter-century of conflict.
In December, NATO ended its anti-piracy mission off Somalia’s waters.
But frustrations have been rising among Somali fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters.
Ship hijacked off Yemen coast is freed
Ship hijacked off Yemen coast is freed
Israel decided to kill Khamenei in November, defense minister says
- “The prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) set the goal of eliminating Khamenei,” Katz told Israel’s N12 TV news
- The timing was set for mid-2026
JERUSALEM: Israel took the decision to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in November and was planning to carry out the operation around six months later, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.
Khamenei was killed in the first hours of the US-Israeli air campaign that began on Saturday in the first assassination of a country’s top ruler by an airstrike.
The joint air assault is nearing the end of its first week after opening salvos killed the country’s leaders and set off a regional war, with Iranian attacks in Israel, the Gulf and Iraq, and Israeli attacks against Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Already in November we were convened with the prime minister in a very tight forum and the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) set the goal of eliminating Khamenei,” Katz told Israel’s N12 TV news. The timing was set for mid-2026, he said.
The plan was eventually shared with the Washington and brought forward around January after protests broke out Iran, when Israel was concerned its pressured clerical rulers might launch an attack against Israel and US assets in the Middle East, Katz said.
Israel has said its aim is to eliminate the existential threat it sees in Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile project, and to bring about regime change. Iran’s rulers have so far shown no sign of relinquishing power.
