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Munitions are displayed in front of white sacks of polyethelene, which the Israeli military said were used in a bid to hide the weaponry - Source: Reuters -
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Israeli naval commandos seized a ship carrying hundreds of
tonnes of Iranian-supplied arms, including rockets that can hit
Israeli cities, to Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Israeli officials
said.
Commodore Ran Ben-Yehuda, speaking as the search of the
Antigua-flagged Francop was under way in Israel's Mediterranean
port of Ashdod, said the weapons were found behind civilian goods
in at least 40 shipping containers.
The shipment, he said, was enough to keep Iranian-backed Hezbollah,
which fired some 4,000 rockets into Israel during a 34-day war in
2006, supplied for a month of fighting.
"The weapons came from Iran and were meant for Hezbollah,"
Ben-Yehuda told reporters at Ashdod port, where wooden crates of
bullets, rocket-propelled grenades and variety of rockets which he
said were unloaded from the ship filled a dock.
He said the containers were picked up by the Francop in the
Egyptian port of Damietta and were to have reached Hezbollah in
Lebanon via Syria.
Syria and Iran denied the Israeli allegations.
"It's 10 times the size of the cargo on the Karine-A," Ben-Yehuda
said, referring to a freighter with 50 tonnes of arms that Israel
seized in 2002.
Israel said that vessel's cargo was supplied by Iran and
destined for Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel believed Egypt and the vessel's crew were unaware weapons
were being shipped on the Francop, Ben-Yehuda said.
He said naval commandos boarded the ship overnight without incident
after receiving the captain's permission to inspect his cargo.
The interception, the military said, was carried out in
international waters about 160 km from Israel.
Ben-Yehuda said Israeli intelligence constantly kept taps on
suspected smuggling lanes.
Hidden
At Ashdod port, some of the crates on display were still wedged in
containers behind white sacks of polyethelene in what the Israeli
military said had been a bid to hide the weaponry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that weapons
discovered on the vessel could have been used to attack Israeli
cities.
But in public comments on the incident, Israeli leaders gave no
hint they were contemplating military action against Hezbollah in
response to the alleged weapons smuggling attempt.
The Israeli-Lebanese frontier has been largely quiet since
2006.
A Cyprus-based shipping source told Reuters the ship had been due
to call in Lebanon.
The 8,622 deadweight tonne ship was due to have arrived on November
1 at Damietta and was last seen on October 31 in the Mediterranean
sea between Lebanon and Cyprus, according to AISLive ship tracking
data on Reuters.
The vessel is owned by German shipping company Reederei Gerd
Bartels, based near the port of Hamburg.
Asked to comment, Mirko Bartels of the private shipping firm
said: "We have nothing to say."
An official with Cyprus-based United Feeder Services told Reuters
it had acted as the time charterer and carrier for the Francop,
charged with loading and discharging the vessel.
"The vessel sailed from Damietta, and was bound for Limassol,
Cyprus and then Lebanon, Turkey and back to Damietta," the
official, who declined to be named, said.
"We are not allowed to open up containers to see what is inside,"
he said.
"We do not have much information. We just know that the vessel
was seized and was forced to go to Ashdod to check the
cargo."
