Israel Matzav

Egypt seizes rockets and ammunition

The Egyptians made quite a big deal out of this. Apparently they are trying to convince us of fool us into believing something. On Wednesday - what a coincidence - the Egyptians just happened to find 108 Grad (Katyusha) rockets and nearly 20,000 rounds of ammunition (yes, of course they gave a precise number) that were making their way from Libya to Gaza via the Mediterranean port of Marsa Matruh (pictured).

Security sources said a gang had smuggled the consignment – consisting of 108 Grad rocket warheads and 19,646 rounds of ammunition – into the seaport of Marsa Matruh, according to Egyptian daily Al-Masry al-Youm.

The consignment was most likely destined for Gaza but could also have been en route to buyers in Egypt’s increasingly lawless Sinai.

From which Israel was also attacked in the round of fighting just concluded... in case you'd forgotten.

Al-Masry al-Youm cited unnamed security sources as saying a gang of three Egyptian suspects fled into the desert around Marsa Matruh, leaving behind the weapons consignment after security services ambushed them.

How convenient....

It did not speculate as to the source of the weapons. However, Marsa Matruh is on the main highway from the Nile Delta to Libya, a country Egyptian security officials have named as the source of many of the weapons being sold on Egypt’s black market and smuggled into Gaza.
Over the past year, Egypt has seized several weapons consignments that originated in Libya, including in Marsa Matruh.

According to a report in The Washington Post last year, large caches of weapons have flooded into Egypt from Libya, including surface-to-air missiles, rockets and anti-aircraft guns. The missiles are smuggled into Sinai and then into Gaza via networks of tunnels.

In addition to Libya, weapons are also being smuggled into Gaza and Sinai from Sudan and from Lebanon, via Iranian proxy Hezbollah.

And now that we have agreed to a 'cease fire' that does nothing to stop it, we can expect weapons smuggling to resume while the Egyptians turn a blind eye when they're not abetting it.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, Libya, weapons smuggling

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:37 PM