Iranian arms shipment to Hezbollah Intercepted

[The Grim Squeaker]

Israel's navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said.
The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities.
In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants.
Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident.
Iran and Syria have both rejected Israel's allegations.
The Israeli military said marines had boarded the 137m (450ft) Francop after its captain agreed to the search and no force was used.

The vessel was intercepted "near Cyprus", the Israeli military said, though it gave no further details on where this took place.
The country's deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, said the ship's crew were not thought to have been aware of the smuggling operation.
A spokesperson for the military said there were "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board".
The spokesperson added: "The weapons originate from Iran and were intended to reach the Hezbollah terror organisation for use against the state of Israel and its citizens."
The Associated Press news agency reported the vessel was operated by Cyprus-based shipping company United Feeder Services and the company had said the cargo was picked up in Damietta in Egypt.

ANALYSIS

Paul Wood, BBC News, Jerusalem
The seizure of the Francop is being celebrated by Israeli generals and politicians as a major success. The vessel, says the military, was carrying enough weapons to supply Hezbollah for a month or more of ground fighting.
The seizure comes after Israel carried out a joint military exercise with the Americans. The unspoken assumption of that exercise - for many in Israel at least - is that Israel will one day carry out military strikes against Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran will then hit back itself and also activate Hamas and Hezbollah.
Even if that sequence does not take place, Israeli military intelligence believes the "northern front" is the most likely place for the next fight. Syria denies weapons were on board - accusing Israel of an act of piracy - but the seizure is another sign of how impermanent is the peace in this part of the world; how all sides are looking ahead to, and preparing for, the next round of hostilities.

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.
A United Feeder Services source told news agencies the ship was scheduled to dock in Lebanon.
The Israeli military said an Iranian document had been found on the ship.
A military spokesperson said: "All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin and this one was stamped at an Iranian port."
However, in a news conference in Tehran broadcast on Iran's state-run Press TV, visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the ship was not carrying Iranian-made weapons and that the cargo comprised Syrian exports to Iran.
Mr Netanyahu 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 tonnes of arms thought to be destined for Gaza.

Not the first time and not the last.

[KrauserKrauser]

Fairly damning if true.

Cue the Iranians claiming massive Israeli conspiracy and this all being the fault of the US in 3..2..1...

[Themightytom]

Fairly damning if true.

Cue the Iranians claiming massive Israeli conspiracy and this all being the fault of the US in 3..2..1...

Although it IS our fault for arming israel to such an extent that they can intercept this kind of thing.

Our meddling is preventing their meddling to prevent our initial meddling.

[Coyote]

Would it be wrong for me to say that I will never forgive Michael Jackson for stealing the media thunder away from the Iranian protests at a crucial time-- and allowing that fellow the chance to reorganize and reconsolidate his power?

[Themightytom]

Would it be wrong for me to say that I will never forgive Michael Jackson for stealing the media thunder away from the Iranian protests at a crucial time-- and allowing that fellow the chance to reorganize and reconsolidate his power?

Probably. I feel the same way, but the fault lies not with kjackson for dying, but rather the fickle attention given to social justice. Something else would ahve happened to distrqact the public anyway.

[[R_H]]

Pictures of the seized munitions

Recoilless rifle round


Rockets(?)


Tins of 7.62mm Rimmed


Mortar shells and hand grenades were also seized.

[[R_H]]

IDF won't use seized arms, except for research (YNet)

Weapons seized on Francop ship Wednesday destined for Hezbollah are meticulously stored in IDF warehouses in central Israel. Munitions center official says it took 32 trucks to transport hundreds of tons of weapons


The thousands of rockets, mortar shells and other weapons that were in Iran just 10 days ago and were seized on the Francop ship on Wednesday were transferred to IDF warehouses in central Israel. "We loaded all the look on 32 trucks that made their way over night from Ashdod Port straight to two warehouses meant for their storage, and now all that is left is to sort and pack it all away in an organized manner," Lieutenant-Colonel Itzik Gershon, head of the IDF's munitions center's operations branch said. Gershon said the military plans only to store the weapons, and will not use them except for research purposes.

Alongside the navy, the engineering corps and other operations bodies taking part in the Four Species Operation have employed dozens of ammunitions examiners from the munitions center, which belongs to the IDF Technology and Logistics Branch, in order to identify the hundreds of tons of weapons found on their way from Iran to Hezbollah, which were seized by the IDF. The first part of the operation was completed by morning, with the hundreds of crates loaded on trucks on their way to the warehouses in central Israel. "Our main job was to examine the ammunition, inspect its features and organize the various weapons in a secure manner in order to minimize as much as possible the time it remains in a civilian port," Gershon said. "Most of the transportation was carried out over night. We had prepared two large warehouses in advance, and we put the various items in there."

Gershon said that despite the large amount of weapons seized, it was decided not to recruit reserves troops. "Our regular troops worked around the clock, identified the items, marked them, and made sure that everything was done with the utmost caution." The ammunitions inspectors had to examine the weapons, sometimes one at a time, and in other cases by sampling. "There is no doubt that everything was packed in a very organized manner, everything was in its place. "It looked like a meticulous European packaging operation that ever surprised us a little bit with its accuracy," he said. Gershon said the types of weapons were familiar, and some of them were very outdated, but the large amount was the main surprise.

The IDF does not plan to use the weapons, and only a small part of them will be used for research by professional IDF and defense establishment bodies. Most of the goods will remain in the warehouses. Part of the loot seized from the Karin-A ship in 2002 is also stored at the warehouses, and has not been used. "Now that we have everything, all we have left to do is to organize it all in a secure fashion, we will have to pack part of the weapons over again, this is a process that will take some two weeks and then all this will behind us."

[Simon_Jester]

What would they use the weapons for? They already have plenty of their own weapons, and much of the ammunition would be incompatible with what they already have.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Those groups in Baluchistan attacking the Revolutionary Guards would probably like them, but they hate Israel even more than the Iranians do.

[Sea Skimmer]

What would they use the weapons for? They already have plenty of their own weapons, and much of the ammunition would be incompatible with what they already have.

Umm, its not like you can just throw out high explosive warheads and rocket motors (which are often explosives based) in the trash if you don’t want them. They’ll get blown up latter or else passed on to someone else like Afghanistan.

[Edward Yee]

Could be usable for EOD practice/training.