Egypt Denies Involvement in Ship Incident off Yemen, Condemns Red Sea Attacks

Cairo: Egypt has denied any link to a ship targeted off Yemen earlier this week, while condemning attacks on ships and maritime navigation in the Red Sea. The country's transport ministry stated that reports linking the targeted vessel to Egypt or its ports were false. According to TRTworld.com, the denial came after media outlets and social media platforms reported that Yemen's Houthi group had targeted a ship off the Yemeni coast and that the operating company's address was in Alexandria, northern Egypt. The vessel was flying the Tanzanian flag, owned by a Yemeni national, and operated by a company based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the ministry clarified. The ministry added that the ship was not registered with Egyptian shipping chambers and had not received a licence to conduct maritime agency work through Egypt's maritime transport and logistics sector. Furthermore, the ship had never entered Egyptian ports, was not heading to Egypt, and did not carry any cargo belonging to Egyptians. Separatel y, Egypt's foreign ministry expressed Cairo's condemnation of the targeting of ships in the Red Sea. It cited a Yemeni commercial ship flying the Tanzanian flag that was attacked with missiles while sailing off Yemen's coast south of Mokha port in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as well as a Saudi oil tanker targeted on July 25. Such attacks pose a serious threat to the security and safety of navigation in the Red Sea, one of the world's most important international waterways. Egypt reiterated its categorical rejection of all acts targeting ships and civilian facilities or threatening the security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and international waterways. These attacks often lead to reduced traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal, causing financial losses for Cairo as ships divert to alternative routes to avoid security risks. Since July 20, tensions have escalated in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Houthis announced a naval blockade on ships linked to Saudi Arabia. Three days later, Riyadh reported that one of its ships had come under attack and subsequently carried out strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen's western Hudaydah province, claiming they were used to threaten maritime navigation. Saudi Arabia also announced the formation of a defensive naval coalition to protect freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, including the US, Yemen, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, the Maldives, Bangladesh, and New Zealand.