Egypt said Thursday that two ships were hit by a drone at the Mediterranean Port of Damietta, where an initial inquiry found that the strike on Wednesday caused fires aboard the vessels. The port is home to a liquefied natural gas hub, making the incident part of a broader pattern of pressure on energy-related infrastructure in the region.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the fires broke out on a regasification ship and a storage vessel. The ministry said emergency and rapid-response procedures were activated quickly, with authorities and on-site firefighting and safety teams coordinating to contain the situation.
Damage reported to LNG vessels
Trade intelligence firm Kpler identified the damaged vessels as the Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and the GasLog Salem LNG tanker. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The report comes as Iran, Houthi forces in Yemen and Iran-backed militias in Iraq have expanded strikes on energy infrastructure across the Middle East.
The incident followed a renewed round of U.S. strikes against Iran on Wednesday, carried out in response to what Washington described as an attempted surprise missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on American forces in the region. Separately, the Houthis said Monday they targeted pipeline infrastructure in Saudi Arabia that moves oil to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, while Iran-aligned militias in Iraq launched drones at oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Eastern regions this week. U.S. and Saudi warplanes later carried out joint strikes against those militias in retaliation.
Source: cnbc.com
