Israel seizes weapons-smuggling ship off coast (2nd Roundup)

Tel Aviv - Israeli naval commandoes Wednesday seized a commercial cargo ship smuggling weapons sent by Iran and intended to reach the Hezbollah guerrilla group in Lebanon, the military said Wednesday.

Israeli military police stand guard next to part of the weapon cargo that was found on the ship the Francop, in the port in Ashdod on 04 November 2009. Israel's navy intercepted the Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said. The Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military reported, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod. EPA/PAVEL WOLBERGThe 140-metre-long Antigua-flagged Francop was stopped some 160 kilometres off the Israeli coast, military spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibowitz told the German Press Agency dpa. She said the weapons and ammunition were discovered hidden in commercial containers when the navy carried out a security check of the ship. A statement issued in the late afternoon said dozens of shipping containers found on the ship were carrying numerous weapons and ordnance, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers onboard. According to media reports, the weapons found on board the ship included missiles, including Katyusha rockets, small arms, grenades and ammunition, '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,' the military statement said. Military officials quoted by Israel Radio said the amount of weaponry found on board the ship was 10 times larger than the amount seized in December 2001, when Israeli commandos boarded a ship - the Karine A - in the Red Sea which was carrying arms from Iran to the Gaza Strip. The Francop was redirected to the southern Israeli port city of Ashdod, where its was searched while its crew was interrogated by Israeli authorities. The ship had been monitored by Israeli intelligence since it sailed from its port of departure, according to Israel Radio. After leaving the Bandar-Abbas Port in Iran, the cargo was shipped through the Suez Canal, unloaded at the Mediterranean Port of Damietta in Egypt and then loaded onto the ship that was captured by the navy. The intended destination was the port Latakia in Syria, with the contents of the shipment to be sent to Hezbollah, defence officials said. Naval commandoes boarded the ship before dawn Wednesday, when it was off the coast of Israel, but outside territorial waters. The crew of the Francop was unaware of the weapons, which were disguised as humanitarian aid, and offered no resistance. Israel has the right to 'act against terror' and those who supply it with weapons anywhere in the world, an Israeli government official told the radio. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak briefed ministers on the capture and both he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the Israeli security establishment. President Shimon Peres said not only Iran and Hezbollah, but probably also Syria was involved. 'The entire world is witness today to the great gap between what Syria and Iran are saying and their actions in practice,' he told reporters while visiting a joint Israeli-US Air Force missile defence exercise currently being conducted in Israel. 'Both Iran and Syria are constantly arming terrorist organizations, first and foremost Hezbollah and (the radical Islamist Palestinian) Hamas,' he charged, according to a transcript from his office. He said the weapons capture had both military and political importance 'of the first order.' Since the 2006 second Lebanon war, which lasted 33 days between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has repeatedly complained that both Syria and Iran continue to supply Hezbollah with weapons, despite UN resolution 1701 which ended the war and imposed an arms embargo on the movement. Meanwhile the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, in a report to appear in its Thursday edition, said the owner of the Francop ship is the German shipping company Gerd Bartels. But a company spokesman told the paper that the firm did not know what shipment was on board because the vessel had been chartered out to a Limassol, Cyprus-based company called United Feeder Services.