ISRAELI NAVY commandos have intercepted a vessel in the Mediterranean Sea carrying hundreds of tons of weapons apparently destined for the Lebanese Shia Hizbullah.
The vessel, the 140m (460ft) Francop, flying the Antigua flag, was boarded west of Israel’s coast, close to Cyprus. There was no resistance, and Israel believed the international crew had no idea the 40 containers were packed with weapons.
Israel’s navy chief Brig Gen Rani Ben-Yehuda told a news conference, after the vessel was escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, that the arms were hidden under white bags of silicon.
The arms cache included rockets, mortars, rifles, ammunition and anti-aircraft launchers.
According to Brig Gen Ben-Yehuda, the containers originated in Iran and had been unloaded at an Egyptian port before being loaded on to the Francop, which was heading for the Syrian port of Latakia. He said the weapons were intended for Hizbullah in Lebanon.
The war between Israel and Hizbullah in the summer of 2007 ended with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which called for the disarming of all armed groups in Lebanon.
“This is the third time this year that Iran is disregarding international law and United Nations resolutions that forbid it to transfer weaponry,” Brig Gen Ben-Yehuda said. He estimated the quantity of weapons seized was 10 times the amount discovered on the Karin- A vessel which was intercepted by Israeli commandos in the Red Sea in 2002, carrying arms destined for Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak praised the maritime raid. “This is another success in the incessant battle against the smuggling of arms and military build-up by terrorist organisations who threaten Israel’s security,” he said.
Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem denied the Israeli allegations. “Unfortunately, there are official pirates disrupting the movement of goods between Iran and Syria,” he told reporters in Tehran. “I stress, the ship was not carrying Iranian arms bound for Syria, nor was it carrying material for manufacturing weapons in Syria. It was carrying commercial goods from Syria to Iran.”