US Navy arrests pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

 

File photo of the Central Park. Business Insider.

The US Navy arrested pirates in the Gulf of Aden in the latest incident of shipping being attacked in the region. Business Insider. Unknown attackers took over the Central Park, a Liberian flagged ship linked to an Israeli billionaire. Five gunmen boarded the ship but were foiled when the crew locked themselves in the ship's safe room. A US destroyer, the USS Mason, and a Japanese destroyer, captured the pirates after they left the ship. The attack is part of a series of attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden. It is unclear who launched the attack as the attack took place far away from Houthi rebel controlled areas in Yemen and far away from Somalia, which has had issues with pirates in the past. 

Fox News is reporting that Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile attack against the USS Mason after the piracy incident. The missiles landed harmlessly in the Gulf of Aden. 

My Comment:

Yet another incident of piracy and attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden. This is how wars start and I don't know how much longer countries are going to put up with it. I have said for awhile piracy is not something that is tolerated in the modern world and it could very well end up with a new war, or, more accurately, a bigger extension of the Israel-Hamas war. 

Indeed, this isn't the first time the Houthis attacked shipping in the Gulf of Aden. I wrote about the Galaxy Leader when it was hijacked. From what I understand the Houthis still have that ship and its crew hostage. There haven't been a lot of updates with that story but it does show how dangerous this area has gotten. 

I don't have much doubt that these were Houthi rebels. Somali pirates are mostly a thing of the past and the rest of Yemen doesn't really participate in this kind of piracy. I guess it's possible that it was al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or ISIS but they aren't very active right now and I would assume that since the Houthis launched ballistic missiles at the USS Mason they were responsible for the attack. 

I also have to question the use of ballistic missiles against a Navy destroyer. American destroyers are pretty big ships but they can maneuver and I doubt the missiles the Houthis are using are accurate or maneuverable enough to hit a ship at sea without a huge amount of luck. I am guessing they have a surplus of ballistic missiles and aren't happy with how ineffective it was during their strikes on Israel so they might be trying to find a new use for them.

It's pretty funny that this attack failed pretty spectacularly. Unlike the attack on the Galaxy leader where the crew got blindsided, this crew as ready for the attackers and managed to lock them out. Apparently, without someone to actually sail the ship, the pirates were at a loss what to do next and simply gave up, only to get arrested by the US Navy. This attack was a pretty bad failure on their part