Israel Claims Seizure of Iran Arms Ship

Military Officials Say Boat Was Delivering Missiles to Hezbollah Guerillas in Lebanon

(AP)  Israeli naval commandos seized a ship Wednesday that defense officials said was carrying more than 60 tons of missiles, rockets and anti-tank weapons from Iran to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

The pre-dawn seizure near Cyprus was a rare interception of a suspected arms shipment by Israel, which has long accused Iran of arming its enemies. Israel offered no evidence to support its claim that the weapons were meant for Hezbollah.

Weapons including anti-tank missiles and Katyusha rockets were stashed on a commercial vessel operating under the guise of an aid ship, captained by a Pole and flying an Antiguan flag, Israeli defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the military had not officially released the information.

Based on intelligence reports, a naval unit patrolling the area intercepted and boarded the vessel without incident, defense officials said.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said the crew was not aware of the cargo's contents.

The ship, the Francop, was towed to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, where the weapons were being unloaded. The vessel is operated by United Feeder Services, a Cyprus-based shipping company that said it picked up the cargo in Damietta, Egypt.

An employee of the company's chartering department who would not identify himself said the ship had been bound from Egypt to Cyprus and from there to Lebanon and Turkey. He said the company did not know what was inside the containers or where the cargo originated.

The employee asked that his name not be used because the company had yet to formulate an official response.

UFS' niche is bringing cargo to small ports not called by big container ships.

A senior Lebanese army official refused to comment on the Israeli report, saying it happened outside Lebanon's national waters. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the interception "another success against the relentless attempts to smuggle weapons to bolster terrorist elements threatening Israel's security." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms supply "was intended to hit Israeli cities."

The vessel was the second major arms ship Israel has seized in its campaign to quash the smuggling of weapons to Palestinian and Lebanese militants.

In January 2002, Israeli forces stormed the Karine A freighter on the Red Sea, and confiscated what the military said was 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Authorities from other countries, including the United States last month, have stopped ships suspected of carrying arms in the past.

The Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since Israel and Hezbollah fought a fierce war in the summer of 2006. But Israel has long warned that Hezbollah fighters have been rearming and now possess some 40,000 rockets.

Gaza militants also have dramatically reduced their rocket attacks on southern Israel since a bruising winter war. But militants continue to smuggle in rockets and components through underground tunnels with Egypt, the Israeli military says.

On Tuesday, the head of military intelligence said Gaza's militant Hamas rulers recently test-fired a missile capable of striking Israel's largest urban center, metropolitan Tel Aviv.

Eli Shaked, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, said the growing arsenals of Hamas and Hezbollah are changing the balance of power between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant groups.

"The situation is becoming more and more complex because the weapons they are acquiring are more and more dangerous to civilian targets in Israel," Shaked said.

The weapon Hamas recently test-fired is "the doomsday weapon" because if such rockets are ever used to attack Tel Aviv, "this will force Israel to start an all-out war."

The presence of Iranian proxies in the Mideast have combined with Tehran's nuclear program and arsenal of long-range missiles to make Iran the Jewish state's most formidable foe.

Israel shares the West's fears that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, despite its assertions to the contrary. Neutralizing the Iranian nuclear threat remains Netanyahu's top priority and Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities.

[ajayvee]

Shaked says that "if such weapons were ever used to attack Tel Aviv, blah, blah, blah. Well, what would actually happen in such a scenario is that the Israelis will call the attack a holocaust ... no, that's been used already ... they'll call it The Slaughter and for the next 60 years they will play the Slaughter Sympathy Card every time someone in the world says or thinks anything that Israel doesn't like. That would indeed be beneficial because the current Sympathy Card has been played so much and so often over the past 60 years that there is hardly any percentage left in it.

[dwilson59]

I have a question and would like to hear your response.

If Israel stopped building and gave the land back to the Palestine, stopped the check points and opened up the Borders what would happen?

[thesevenveils]

Iran would continue with its sworn objective to wipe the country Israeli off the face of the world.

[hungry1968-17]

dwilson59:

Gave back ALL of the land they stole?

The whole 80%?!?!



Simple answer: peace in the middle east.

[U_S_Drug_Addict]

you would have allot of people of East european Origin,
pulling out photos of WW2 for a Sympathy fest.

[U_S_Drug_Addict]

dude, if they got back 80% of their land back, why would they have a need to fire anymore rockets?
they would be liberated from Apparteid..

[ToolMangler1]

by U_S_Drug_Addict November 4, 2009 6:29 PM EST
"dude, if they got back 80% of their land back, why would they have a need to fire anymore rockets?"



You misunderstand, It isn't about the Palestinians land, (They were worthless to the Arabs before Israel was repatriated) It is the fact that Israel exists that fuels this 'Islamic/Israeli hatred. Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran to name a few have sworn enmity towards Israel and anybody that helps them. Islam is scared "SPITLESS" of the Jewish GOD, Jehovah. They are the children of Ishmael, (a son of Abraham) who, according to both Muslim and Jewish tradition, is the ancestor of the Arabs. (Gen 16)
(Son of Abraham "By his wifes slave")

[U_S_Drug_Addict]

yeah sure......
Google NAKBA....

[Iamthemango]

Iran is a nation of terrorists and is not above using Hezbollah as its nuclear launchpad in a war against Israel and by extension the US.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

[kcits]

"Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said a naval unit on a routine patrol identified a cargo ship flying an Antigua flag about 100 miles west of Israel's coast"

Exactly what right does Isreal have to stop any boat 100 miles from its coast? Regardless of its contents, this smacks of the ends justifying the means.

[roadracer9x]

US essentially did something similar during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961. I am not saying it is "legally" right I am just saying that the West, the Russians, the Chinese, the Koreans, etc have all done similar things in their history, so stop singling out Israel.

[gramto8]

by roadracer9x November 4, 2009 6:44 PM EST
US essentially did something similar during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961. I am not saying it is "legally" right I am just saying that the West, the Russians, the Chinese, the Koreans, etc have all done similar things in their history, so stop singling out Israel.
________________________________________

The 'Cuban Missile Crisis' was only 90 miles off the shores of the USA. The folks are going outside a 100-mile perimeter and are acting worse than the Somali pirates.

[bubbadubba]

I am sure Israel will turn around and sell it to the Taliban for big bucks.

[I_am_me1953]

I was thinking more that Israel will return the rockets and missiles to the Palestinians -most likely after the next time those idiots attack Israel.

That is what I would do. Palestinians want their missiles back, ok catch this one, light the fuse and see what happens. Sure would be more cost effective.