Fire on Turkish ship in Haifa started in engine room, not missile attack: report

Footage showing a Turkish ship docked at Haifa’s port on fire was falsely used to claim that a strike by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had succeeded in hitting the port with missiles, the Polygraph news site reported Friday, citing sources. Israeli officials.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militia and political movement, continue to escalate amid the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Israel said Wednesday it struck a Hezbollah command and control center in southern Lebanon, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and three other fighters. In response, Hezbollah launched its largest missile barrage on Israel since October 2023, when Tel Aviv declared the country at war following an unprecedented Hamas incursion that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people in the country and the taking of some 250 hostages.

At least 37,296 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since October, the besieged enclave’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday.

On June 10, Israeli Defense Forces reportedly intercepted missiles fired from Lebanon targeting Haifa, a major port city in northern Israel, and another port city, Acre. Israeli media published videos of air defense interceptions.

Some social media users claimed that Hezbollah succeeded in attacking the Haifa port.

⚠️ 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 ⚠️

𝗛𝗲𝘇𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗳 𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗳 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀…

For the 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 time ever, 𝗛𝗲𝘇𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗵 has wreaked havoc by striking the port of Haifa, the beating heart of the Israeli economy… pic.twitter.com/4uMy4hbnEF

– Iran Spectator (@IranSpec) June 10, 2024

Iran Spectator, an anonymous account with 38,000 followers, posted an image of a ship covered in black smoke, claiming that Hezbollah had struck Haifa port.

A fire broke out on June 10 on the Yaf Horizon, a ship belonging to the Turkish company Milestone Ship Management, docked at the port of Haifa.

The ship, carrying iron and steel goods, had left Novorossiysk, Russia, and stopped at the port of Haifa. Maritime news sites reported that a fire broke out in the ship’s engine room but was brought under control.

According to the Polygraph report, the ship has a history of inspection violations, including cleanliness issues in the engine room and non-working fire alarms.

Members of the “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi militants in Yemen and other armed groups in the Middle East and North Africa, have already claimed successful attacks on the port from Haifa. On June 6, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Houthi militants in Yemen claimed to have carried out precise drone strikes against ships in the port of Haifa, which the Israeli military denied.

The Houthis successfully disrupted port operations in Eilat, a southern Israeli city on the Red Sea, prompting Israel to redirect shipments to its Mediterranean ports.