Houthis blow open murky world of ship nationality

When Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked a ship carrying 21,000 tonnes of fertiliser from Saudi Arabia to Bulgaria last month, they had a simple justification: they said the Rubymar was a «British ship».

But the Rubymar, which sank on March 2, flew the flag of Belize, was partly managed by a Beirut-based ship management company, was on a voyage organised by another Lebanese operator and had a mostly Syrian crew.

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