Israeli Navy Seizes Iran Arms Ship

World | November 4, 2009, Wednesday

A cargo ship believed to be the Francop, an Iranian vessel, moored at the Israeli port of Ashdod, after being seized by the Israeli Navy. Photo by BGNES

The Israeli navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tons of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said.

The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod.

The vessel was intercepted "near Cyprus", the Israeli military said, though it gave no further details on where this incident took place.

The Israeli military said marines had boarded the 137m Francop after its captain agreed to the search and no force was used.

The country's deputy defense minister, Matan Vilmai, said the ship's crew were not thought to have been aware of the smuggling operation.

A military spokesperson said there were "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board".

"The weapons originate from Iran and were intended to reach the Hezbollah terror organization for use against the state of Israel and its citizens," the spokesperson added.

The exact route of the ship has not been confirmed but Israel's Haaretz newspaper said it originated in Iran and had docked in Yemen and Sudan before using the Suez Canal.

In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities. He congratulated the army, navy and security forces on a successful action to prevent the supply of weapons.

Since Israel's offensive in Gaza last December and January, the Israeli navy and air force have been have conducting intense searches in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for ships smuggling weapons either to Hezbollah or to Hamas in Gaza.

In February Israel said a vessel detained off Cyprus was carrying Iranian weapons to Hamas in Gaza. Iran denied the claim.

In 2002 the Israeli navy captured the Karin-A, which was carrying some 50 tons of arms thought to be destined for Gaza.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident.