Iran intercepted an Israel-linked vessel on Saturday, alerting the Islamic Republic “he will suffer the consequences” of an escalation in a region destabilized by more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The maritime forces of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, intercepted in the Gulf a container ship operated by a company “belonging to the Zionist capitalist Eyal Ofer”, the official Iranian agency IRNA reported.
Several commandos boarded the ship “MSC Aries” by helicopter when it was “near the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
There were 25 crew members on board, according to Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC, IRNA said.
Israel has warned that Iran, its archenemy, they will “suffer the consequences” of any escalation. “We are ready to react,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
Video shows the helicopter intercepting an Israeli-linked vessel near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Photo: AFP The seizure of the ship takes place in a context of growing tensions in the Middle East, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, triggered by a bloody incursion by Islamic commandos into southern Israel on 7 October.
Tensions further increased with the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April. Tehran, which lost two of its generals in the attack, blamed Israel and warned it would not go unpunished.
Fearing an escalation, the US Defense Department, an ally of Israel, said on Friday it had sent “additional assets” to the area “to strengthen deterrence efforts and increase protection of American forces”.
Fears of a regionalization of the conflict They come as Qatar, Egypt and the United States, brokering a truce in Gaza, await a response to their latest ceasefire proposal.
Global fear
France, Germany and the United States have advised their citizens to refrain from traveling to Iran and several airlines have suspended their flights to the country.
Tehran has not indicated whether the seizure of the ship is already a response to the deadly attack on its consulate in Damascus.
“For a week the Zionists have been in a state of total panic and on alert,” Yahya Rahim Safavi, advisor to the supreme leader of Iran, said on Saturday, quoted by the ISNA agency.
“They stopped the military attack in Rafah,” in southern Gaza, and “because they don’t know what Iran wants to do, they and their allies are terrified,” he added.
The October 7 Islamist incursion into southern Israel left 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
The remains of the Abu Khadra mosque, in Gaza, destroyed by an Israeli army bombing, after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. Photo: EFEThe Islamist movement has also taken hold 250 hostages, of which 129 remain in Gaza, of which 34 are believed dead, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a relentless offensive that has already left 33,686 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health, which Hamas has ruled since 2007.
The Israeli army announced this on Saturday will continue its operations in central Gaza, after the withdrawal of his troops from Khan Younis, in the south of this ruined territory.
An AFP video shows what remains of a mosque in Deir al Balah. The army “asked to evacuate the entire area” before destroying it “within minutes”, said Abdullah Baraka, a witness.
The conflict, in addition to the significant number of victims, has left its mark on most of Gaza’s nearly 2.5 million inhabitants on the brink of famine, according to the UN. The Israeli siege prevents the entry of humanitarian aid requested by the small territory.
Warning sirens in Israel
The war is also felt on the other side of the border. Air sirens sounded over the Israeli city of Sderot on Friday and the army intercepted rockets fired from Gaza.
Further north, in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said Saturday it had bombed “a large military compound” of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas, a day after the Shiite movement launched “dozens of rockets against Israeli positions”.
Besides Lebanon there are other Iranian-backed groups in the region, including Yemen and Syria.
The conflict has also fueled violence in the occupied West Bank, where the body of an Israeli teenager who had disappeared the day before was discovered.
Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was “killed” in a “terrorist attack”, the army said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged Israeli settlers in the West Bank to put an end to the “acts of revenge” unleashed against Palestinians because of this drama.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.