TEHRAN: An Iranian naval flotilla foiled a pirate attack on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Red Sea, the navy said, following a similar incident last month.
“A suspicious boat with 12 armed people on board approached the Iranian merchant ship in Bab Al-Mandab” strait on Thursday, the state news agency IRNA said, citing a statement by the navy.
It said a squadron had come into confrontation with the “pirates in the Red Sea,” adding that the invading boat “left the area” after the escort flotilla, “headed by the Jamaran destroyer... opened fire” at the vessel.
The incident comes after the Pentagon said on Tuesday that an Iranian ship seized an American military unmanned research vessel in the Gulf but released it after a US Navy patrol boat and helicopter were deployed to the location.
On August 10, a senior Iranian navy commander said the same naval flotilla thwarted an overnight attack on another vessel belonging to the Islamic republic.
Rear Admiral Mustafa Tajeddini said at the time that, following a help request by an Iranian ship in the Red Sea, the flotilla was dispatched to the scene and engaged fire with the attacking boats.
“After heavy exchanges, the attacking boats made off,” he added.
Like other countries dependent on the shipping lane through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, Iran stepped up its naval presence in the Gulf of Aden after a wave of attacks by Somalia-based pirates between 2000 and 2011.
Iran navy says thwarted pirate attack on ship in Red Sea
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Iran navy says thwarted pirate attack on ship in Red Sea
- Suspicious boat approached the Iranian merchant ship in Bab Al-Mandab strait on Thursday
- Escort flotilla ‘headed by the Jamaran destroyer... opened fire’ at the vessel
HRW says Israel’s Lebanon evacuation risks violating laws of war
- “Calling on everyone who lives south of the Litani (River) to evacuate immediately raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags,” said Kaiss
- “How are older people, the sick and people with disabilities going to be able to evacuate immediately?”
BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Israeli military’s call for residents of vast areas of southern Lebanon to evacuate raised “serious risks of violations of the laws of war.”
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel with Israel conducting air strikes across the country and its troops pushing into border towns.
On Thursday, Israel renewed its warning to residents of hundreds of square kilometers (miles) of southern Lebanon to evacuate because of military action.
“Calling on everyone who lives south of the Litani (River) to evacuate immediately raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags and fears for the safety of civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“How are older people, the sick and people with disabilities going to be able to evacuate immediately? And how will their safety be guaranteed as they leave?” he said in a statement from the rights group.
HRW said “the sweeping nature” of Israel’s call raised “concerns that their purpose is not to protect civilians,” adding that the area was home to hundreds of thousands of people.
The evacuation call “raises serious risks of violations of the laws of war,” it added.
Lebanese authorities said dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced from their homes since Monday.
