US Navy SEALs seize oil tanker hijacked in Libya

A United States Navy SEAL team took control of an oil tanker in waters near Cyprus on Monday. The tanker had been hijacked by armed Libyans. 

The commandos seized the ship, named Morning Glory, after three Libyan militiamen took control of the ship earlier this month. 

Libya’s and Cyprus’s governments requested help from the United States to get the commercial tanker back. No American was hurt in the operation. 

“No one was hurt tonight when U.S. forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker Morning Glory, a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement.

{mosads}President Obama endorsed the team’s boarding operation, which was executed just after 10 p.m. EDT Sunday, according to the Pentagon. 

The SEAL team was attached to Special Operations Command Europe.

The ship was carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government’s National Oil Company, the Pentagon said. It was “illicitly obtained” from the Libyan port of As-Sidra.

“The SEAL team embarked and operated from the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG-80). USS Roosevelt provided helicopter support and served as a command and control and support platform for the other members of the force assigned to conduct the mission,” Kirby said.

U.S. sailors from the USS Stout will supervise the ship’s return to a Libyan port.