Dutch navy commander warns Israeli ships to heed Yemeni threats

WORLD, Nov. 10 (YPA) – A senior military commander in the Dutch Navy broke his silence on Saturday with a statement offering advice and warnings to Israeli ships and maritime companies linked to Israel, urging them to take the warnings from the Yemeni armed forces seriously.

Dutch news site NOS quoted Paul Bileveld, the former commander of the Netherlands’ largest warship, as saying: “We must take Yemen’s recent threat to ships seriously. The Yemenis possess a massive arsenal, and they are capable of attacking vessels linked to Israel.”

The naval commander pointed out that Yemeni forces have been sending warning emails to shipping companies and vessels dealing with Israel, confirming that several Dutch ships had received such warnings.

These messages stated: “You have been added to the blacklist for docking at Haifa port. The vessel will be prevented from passing through the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean, and will be directly targeted.”

The Netherlands had previously withdrawn its frigate “Tromp” from the Red Sea in May, after being deployed for a month as part of the European campaign to protect Israeli shipping, named .

The Indian Express newspaper said, “The Dutch frigate ZR MS Tromp sailed towards East Asia after withdrawing from the Red Sea.”

The newspaper quoted the commander of the Dutch frigate “Trump,” Yavan Bussekoum, as saying: “We were in the Red Sea region for more than a month, and the threat to the Yemenis extends from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, which connects the sea to the Indian Ocean.”

He added that “the Yemenis are violent and unpredictable.”

@E.Y.M