Iranian drone attacks Israeli container ship

A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip an American defense official said Saturday The attack Friday on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by IsraelThe defense official said on condition of anonymity that the Maltaflagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangleshaped bombcarrying Shahed136 drone while in international waters The drone exploded causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew ldquoWe continue to monitor the situation closelyrdquo the official said The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the US military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attackCMA CGM a major shipper based in Marseille France did not immediately respond to a request for comment However the vesselrsquos crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threatThe ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubairsquos Jebel Ali port according to data from MarineTrafficcom analyzed by the AP Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted It had done the same earlier when travelling through the Red Sea past Yemen home to the Iranianbacked Houthi rebels The Symi is owned by Singaporebased Eastern Pacific Shipping which is a company ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan OferAlso read France detains Nicersquos Atal for IsraelHamas war messageIn the IsraelHamas war which began with the militantsrsquo October 7 attack the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen Iranianbacked militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war though Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attackEmotional reunions witnessed as Hamas hostages releasedEmotional scenes unfolded as Israeli children and women held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza for a gruelling 49 days were released and finally reunited with their families under a Qatar Egyptian and US brokered deal Ohad Munder 9 in a video released by Schneider Childrenrsquos Medical Centre SCMC can be seen running and hugging his father in a tight embrace for the first time since he was released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on FridayOhad was freed along with his 55yearold mother Keren Munder and 78yearold grandmother Ruti Munder Rutirsquos husband Avraham Munder still remains in Gaza in Hamasrsquo custody Emilia Alony 5 who was released with her mother Danielle as part of a temporary ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel was reunited with her grandma In photos released by the SCMS Emilia can be seen in a tight embrace with her grandmother SCMC has made special arrangements for the hostages being released arranging for all possible things to make them switch to normal surroundingsRussia launches drone attack on Kyiv wounding 5 civiliansAn inhabitant of an apartment sorts through broken glass after the drone attack on Kyivrsquos residential buildings PicAFPRussia launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine on Saturday morning since the beginning of its fullscale invasion in 2022 military officials said ldquoKyiv was the main targetrdquo wrote Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on his Telegram channel In total Russia launched around 75 Iranianmade Shahed drones against Ukraine of which 71 were destroyed by air defense Ukrainersquos armed forces saidThe attack was ldquothe most massive air attack by drones on Kyivrdquo said Serhii Popko head of the Kyiv city administration noting that air defense shot down more than 60 air targets over the capital throughout the morningThe assault on Kyiv began at 4 am local time continuing in waves for over six hours and caused power outages in 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions At least five civilians were wounded in the hourslong drone assault on Kyiv which saw several buildings damaged including a kindergartenThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever