Ship capture
Israeli Navy commandos captured a ship, the Francop, about 100 miles off the Israeli coast near Cyprus that was en route from Egypt to Syria carrying huge quantities of arms. The arms were hidden in containers that originated in Iran and were destined for Syria and Hizbollah in Lebanon.
The German ship is registered in Antigua and was en route from Iran thru Sudan to Latakia in Syria. It is a cargo ship and it is thought that the crew and the owners did not know what was inside the containers. The ship was targeted as a result of Israeli intelligence and ca. 300 tons of arms were found aboard, that makes it about 10 times the amount of arms captured aboard the Karin A that was confiscated in the Red Sea by Israel in 2002.
This ship was rerouted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and further details and pictures of the arms cache were reported this morning. Of course, this arms shipment is against UN resolution 1801 that ended the Second Lebanon War, that denied Hizbollah any rearmament, to avoid a repetition of the war. Secty Gen of the UN Ban ki-Moon recently reiterated the UN's position that Hizbollah must disarm since sectarian militias are not allowed under the UN regulations. Although no-one expects Iran's proxy to disarm, the capture of this shipment of arms will hopefully set Hizbollah back. At least it amounts to an Israeli PR coup, since many leftists and Muslim supporters have denied that Iran is in fact arming Hizbollah and Hamas.
Coming as the UN General Assembly is debating the Goldstone Report on the last war between Israel and the Palestinians, Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, no one should have any illusions about the situation. The Muslim and Arab States with an automatic majority seek to demonize and undermine Israel by PR means to make up for what they cannot do on the battlefield. The loss of this shipment of arms is a more severe blow to Hizbollah in real terms than the anti-Israel resolution will be in the UN GA. If the Arabs continue to delegitimize Israel they cannot expect Israel to meekly make concessions to their demands in order to reinstitute negotiations.
The German ship is registered in Antigua and was en route from Iran thru Sudan to Latakia in Syria. It is a cargo ship and it is thought that the crew and the owners did not know what was inside the containers. The ship was targeted as a result of Israeli intelligence and ca. 300 tons of arms were found aboard, that makes it about 10 times the amount of arms captured aboard the Karin A that was confiscated in the Red Sea by Israel in 2002.
This ship was rerouted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and further details and pictures of the arms cache were reported this morning. Of course, this arms shipment is against UN resolution 1801 that ended the Second Lebanon War, that denied Hizbollah any rearmament, to avoid a repetition of the war. Secty Gen of the UN Ban ki-Moon recently reiterated the UN's position that Hizbollah must disarm since sectarian militias are not allowed under the UN regulations. Although no-one expects Iran's proxy to disarm, the capture of this shipment of arms will hopefully set Hizbollah back. At least it amounts to an Israeli PR coup, since many leftists and Muslim supporters have denied that Iran is in fact arming Hizbollah and Hamas.
Coming as the UN General Assembly is debating the Goldstone Report on the last war between Israel and the Palestinians, Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, no one should have any illusions about the situation. The Muslim and Arab States with an automatic majority seek to demonize and undermine Israel by PR means to make up for what they cannot do on the battlefield. The loss of this shipment of arms is a more severe blow to Hizbollah in real terms than the anti-Israel resolution will be in the UN GA. If the Arabs continue to delegitimize Israel they cannot expect Israel to meekly make concessions to their demands in order to reinstitute negotiations.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:10 PM
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