Houthi militia releases crew of the freighter "Galaxy Leader"

HANDOUT - Houthis escort the cargo ship "Galaxy Leader" (archive photo). Photo: Uncredited/Houthi Media Center/AP/dpa

Keystone

More than a year after the capture of the cargo ship "Galaxy Leader" in the Red Sea, the Yemeni Houthi militia has released the 25-strong crew.

Keystone-SDA

22.01.2025, 16:27

The move serves as "support for the agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza", the Houthi Supreme Political Council announced. This was reported by the militia-controlled Yemeni news agency Saba.

The release followed talks between the Huthi and the Islamist Hamas as well as mediators in neighboring Oman, it added. No details of their release were initially given.

The Houthis had hijacked the car transporter in the Red Sea in November 2023. According to reports in the Israeli media, a company is behind the ship, which is partly owned by British-Israeli businessman Rami Ungar. Houthi military spokesman Jahja Sari described the hijacking at the time on Platform X as a "moral obligation to the oppressed Palestinian people". The ship was carrying 25 sailors of various nationalities.

After the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Houthis began attacking dozens of merchant ships in the Red Sea and Israel - according to the militia, in support of Hamas in Gaza. The US, the UK and Israel itself responded with sometimes heavy airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.