Watch the moment Yemeni rebels hijack ‘Israeli’ cargo ship

Iranian-backed rebels from Yemen have released a video showing gunmen dropping from a helicopter and seizing a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, in a hijacking that western intelligence sources say was ordered by Tehran.

The sources claim the order was given by Brigadier General Abdolreza Shahlaei, a veteran commander in the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who has spent much of the past decade in command of the main Iranian unit supplying the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Though he is in Tehran at present, the sources say he still commands dozens of Iranian officers based in Yemen and remains in charge of liaison with the Houthis.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has made reference to an “Iranian