Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind attacks on two Israeli ships earlier this month, the Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen network said on Wednesday.
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The attacks took place on January 4 and were in response to the targeted killings of senior member of Hamas, Saleh al Arouri in Beirut, and senior IRGC member Reza Mousavi in Syria.
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Funeral of senior member of the IRGC Reza Mousavi killed in Syria in a strike attributed to Israel
(Photo: Vahid Salemi / AP)
According to the report the CHEM SILICON, a chemical tanker belonging to the ACE company and flying a Liberian flag came under attack north-east of the Maldives Islands while another chemical tanker the PACIFIC GOLD, owned by Eastern was also struck.
Iran refrained from officially claiming responsibility for the attacks and no unofficial source said they were the actions of Iran. The tankers were attacked at a time when vessels making their way to Israel or those with direct or indirect links to the country or Israelis, have been targeted by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, in the Red Sea.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Wednesday it had received a report of an incident 60 nautical miles southeast of Aden in Yemen and that according to their report, the vessel was hit on the port side. "There was a fire onboard which has now been extinguished," UKMTO said.
This was not the first time that Iran had attacked Israeli-tied vessels, even after the Gaza war began. The CMA CGM Symi came under attack off the coast of India on December 23 in a drone strike which according to the Pentagon, was launched in Iran. Another ship was similarly struck a month earlier by IRGC drones in the Indian Ocean.