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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Israel Navy intercepts cargo ship of Iranian arms bound for Hezbullah

Yes, I'm in Boston again. Still sitting in the airport. For those who are wondering, yes, I'm going to see Dore Gold destroy Richard Richard Goldstone tomorrow (that's not why I came in - it just worked out).

The Israeli navy intercepted an Iranian cargo ship carrying 500 tons of arms for Hezbullah on Wednesday. To put this in perspective, when the Israeli navy intercepted the Karine A cargo ship in January 2002, that ship was carrying 50 tons of arms.

Let's go to the videotape.



Here's the story:
The Israel Navy intercepted the "Francop" cargo ship, which was laden with roughly 500 tons of weapons hidden amongst civilian cargo. The 36 weapons containers were sent from Iran and meant for the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon. For further information on how the interception occurred and what was uncovered.
Here's more:
Roughly 500 tons of weapons, rockets, and missiles was uncovered aboard the cargo vessel “Francop” flying an Antiguan flag, which was intercepted and brought to the Ashdod port. The Israel Navy force which intercepted the ship included naval commandos, missile boats, intelligence and explosive experts.

36 shipping containers with 500 tons of weaponry were found on the ship disguised as civilian cargo, and hidden among hundreds of other containers onboard.

Israel Naval and Engineering Corps forces are currently unloading the containers and are sorting through the various types of weaponry found aboard.

The naval commando force boarded the vessel and conducted an initial search. The search was conducted in accordance with the usual search protocols as dictated by International Law.

Following the initial search and after it became clear that the vessel was carrying weapons, the vessel was directed by the Israel Navy to dock at the Israeli Ashdod Naval base for additional searches and a detailed inspection of the hull’s cargo. It should be emphasized that the captain of the ship agreed to the search. The Israel Navy conducted all activity without any force.

The weapons found onboard the ship originate from Iran, and were intended for the Hezbollah terror organization, for use against the State of Israel and its citizens. The weapons uncovered at sea last night constitute a harsh violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1747 and 1701 that strictly forbid Iran from exporting or trading any form of weapons.

This is a well-known Iranian technique, taking advantage of cargo ships flying different flags in order to smuggle containers loaded with large amounts of highly volatile weaponry to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.

Following the necessary inspections of the boat, it is expected to be released.

The overnight operation was authorized by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense of the State of Israel. Commander of the Israel Navy, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Marom, commanded the operation from a forward command cell. The IDF Chief of the General Staff authorized the operation, after the confirmation of intelligence information gathered by the IDF.
There was a conference call with the IDF spokesperson at 9:30 Israel time (which I missed - the WiFi at JFK didn't work).

3 Comments:

At 1:34 AM, Blogger Sunlight said...

Any idea when the IDF Spokesperson is going to prepare graphic info on rockets going into Israel... I keep seeing people trying to counter Goldstone, etc. but they have NO graphic info, engineering animations, $$ and effort spent on shelters, ETC. Always showing Gaza, nothing on Israel experience under the rockets, resulting the need to stop the rocket people. Very frustrating. Maybe you can mention it to Dore Gold. Maybe his group would do it. Someone needs to.

 
At 3:15 AM, Blogger NormanF said...

Hmm.... it depends on the strength of an open wi fi network - and where you are in proximity to the signal.

As for the cargo ship, its a reminder that Hezbollah was getting a huge quantity of arms. Of course that's probably just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Kudos to the IDF for confiscating arms intended to be used against Israel and its citizens!

 
At 6:44 AM, Blogger judyinjerusalem said...

For anyone who wants to see if they can spot Carl in the audience at the Gold/Goldstone debate at Brandeis, there's a live webcast at www.jcpa.org at 5 p.m EST. The whole thing will be archived on the same site by Sunday or Monday.

 

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