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Egypt Court Upholds Seizure of Ship that Blocked Suez Canal

A view shows Ever Given container ship in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image. (Maxar TechnologiesHandout via Reuters)
A view shows Ever Given container ship in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image. (Maxar TechnologiesHandout via Reuters)
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Egypt Court Upholds Seizure of Ship that Blocked Suez Canal

A view shows Ever Given container ship in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image. (Maxar TechnologiesHandout via Reuters)
A view shows Ever Given container ship in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image. (Maxar TechnologiesHandout via Reuters)

An Egyptian court Tuesday rejected an appeal by the owner of a massive container ship of the court-ordered seizure of the vessel over a financial dispute.

Egyptian authorities have impounded the hulking Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week in March, halting billions of dollars in maritime commerce.

The Suez Canal Authority said the vessel would not be allowed to leave the country until a compensation amount is settled on with the vessel’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd.

A court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia ordered the seizure of the vessel earlier this month. The Ever Given’s owner filed an appeal on April 22 in hopes of overturning the decision.

The Economic Court of Ismailia on Tuesday upheld the seizure decision. There was no immediate comment from the vessel’s owner.

The Suez Canal Authority has demanded $916 million in compensation, according to the UK Club, an insurer of the Ever Given. That amount takes into account the salvage operation, costs of stalled canal traffic and lost transit fees for the week the Ever Given blocked the canal.

Negotiations between the Suez Canal Authority and the shipowner were still ongoing to settle the compensation claim, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. said last week. The company said it has notified a number of the owners of the approximately 18,000 containers on the ship to assume part of the damages demand. It refused to disclose further details of the negotiations, including the amount covered by insurance and how much it is asking freight owners to share.

The Ever Given was on its way to the Dutch port of Rotterdam on March 23 when it slammed into the bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.

A massive salvage effort by a flotilla of tugboats helped by the tides freed the skyscraper-sized, Panama-flagged Ever Given six days later, ending the crisis, and allowing hundreds of waiting ships to pass through the canal.

The blockage of the canal forced some ships to take the long alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip, requiring additional fuel and other costs. Hundreds of other ships waited in place for the blockage to end.

The shutdown, which raised worries of supply shortages and rising costs for consumers, added strain on the shipping industry, already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.

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Israeli Army is Setting Up Rapid Response Unit on Border with Syria

Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
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Israeli Army is Setting Up Rapid Response Unit on Border with Syria

Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)

The Israeli military has announced the formation of a special rapid response unit in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to fend off threats from Syria, when necessary.

Commander of the 210th Bashan Division Lieutenant Colonel Yair Palai said the unit would operate as an effective attack force capable to launch in seconds and prevent threats on Israel similar to the one Hamas launched on October 7, 2023.

“The Unit will be prepared 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of events,” he said.

“In the case of any security incident, the Unit will strike the enemy mercilessly. There is no possibility of failure, because this unit depends on constant vigilance,” Palai said.

The unit, which is comprised of elite soldiers from reconnaissance units and special reserve units, will operate under the 210th Division.

Sources said the unit has fully mobilized and operated continuously over the past three months.

Its goal was initially to counter Iranian, Syrian, Yemeni, Iraqi or other militias that might operate from the Golan against Jewish settlements there.

But recent developments in Syria compelled the army to prepare for any additional threats.

Last week, Syrian army soldiers were killed in a major attack by opposition fighters led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, who swept into the city of Aleppo in the northwest, forcing the military to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar Assad in years.

On Tuesday, Haaretz said the Israeli military fears that amid the Syrian opposition assault and their taking over of military sites belonging to the Assad regime in the country, chemical weapons could fall into the wrong hands.

If such weapons fall into the hands of the opposition fighters or Iranian militias, Israel would have to act in a way that “may affect Syria and the entire Middle East,” according to Haaretz.

The report said that after the country's civil war, Assad tried to rebuild his chemical weapons production facilities, with most having been removed from Syria under an international agreement. But a substantial part of the chemical weapons project, particularly the knowledge accumulated over the years, still remains in Assad's hands.

Haaretz wrote that Israel has relayed messages to the Syrian regime via the Russians insisting that Assad assert his sovereignty and bar Iran from operating from within Syria.

“The army is monitoring with concern the surprise Syrian rebel offensive on Assad strongholds in Syria that began last week,” it said.

Also, intelligence officials believe that while the Syrian president's standing has been weakened, Iran, with Russia's support, is exploiting the chaos in order to send in tens of thousands of fighters from the armed militias that support it.

According to Haaretz, the army's current estimate is that there are 40,000 Iranian militia fighters in Syria.

In tandem with the ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been carrying out strikes almost daily on the border between Syria and Lebanon in order to thwart attempts to smuggle weaponry destined for Hezbollah.

Although to date there is no firm evidence that the Iranian forces plan to station themselves in Damascus, the newspaper said one Israeli diplomatic official involved in the discussions referred to this on Sunday as a known fact. “Iran has begun to send an influx of forces into Syria in an attempt to aid Assad and suppress the revolt,” he said.