A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defense official said Saturday.
َThe US defense official confirmed on Saturday the news, blaming Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for the attack, the AFP reported.
Maritime security company Ambrey said the Malta-flagged, French-operated container ship was reportedly damaged when the unmanned aerial vehicle exploded close to it.
The Yemeni Asnraullah-led seized the Israeli ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea last week.
"The vessel was managed by an Israeli-affiliated company, which was assessed to be the reason why it was targeted," Ambrey said, adding that in the days before the attack, the ship's tracking transmissions had stopped shortly after departing port in the United Arab Emirates.
Ambrey said in a separate incident on Friday the Yemeni Sana'a government cautioned a tanker southwest of Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeida "to change course and warned that an attack would follow if they did not follow the instructions."
The security firm said the warning was issued several times, adding it is an operation was imminent.
Gaza's health authorities say nearly 15,000 people have been killed in Israeli aerial bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory since then.
The reported attack comes almost a week after Yemen's Sana'a government's naval forces seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.
MNA