Tehran denies any involvement in the cargo ship with rockets and mortar shells, but the evidence weighs heavily.
Only when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the deployment order, the speedboats approached the Israeli Navy to the ship "Victoria". Over the radio asked the commander of the Israeli elite unit "Schajetet 13" are the captain of the freighter to be allowed on board may be. The captain saw no reason to refuse permission to roll out and was on the ship's wall, a rope ladder. No one on board, provided any resistance. On the contrary, they willingly granted the Israelis look at the shipping documents.
PHOTO: REUTERSIsraeli authorities next to the ship's six ship missiles, 2,500 mortar shells and tens of thousands of surplus ammunition issuedThat 39 containers in the Syrian port of Latakia were embarked, the Israelis knew the basis of intelligence long ago. They also had reliable evidence that had been loaded in Syria not just cotton and lentils. Heavy padlocks on four containers, made the soldiers suspicious. When they broke open the locks, they found 50 tons of weapons that should be deleted in the northern Egyptian port of al-Arish. From there, the Israelis suspect, the weapons should be transported in well-controlled by the Islamist Hamas Gaza Strip.
Evidence of participation of the Iranian Revolutionary GuardThe crew of the vessel under the Liberian flag, "Victoria" was not aware of the explosive cargo as the ship about 320 miles west of the Israeli coast has been stopped. Turkey, too, where the ship was on its way from Syria to Egypt was made as a red herring stop it, did not participate in the weapons smuggling.was very good but part of Iran, Israeli military insured after the "Victoria" had entered the port city of Ashdod. Some manuals are written in Persian, there is evidence of the involvement of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, it said.
Close is also the assumption that two Iranian warships had two weeks ago in the port of Latakia allegedly participated in an exercise, the arms shipment for Hamas were deposited there. If the successful smuggling, the terrorist organization to its arsenal in 2270 mortar shells with a range of about two and a half and 230 grenades with a range of ten miles would have to increase. In the containers, there were also two launchers, two British-made radar equipment and almost 75,000 surplus Kalashnikov ammunition. Especially dangerous is the sixth in China, developed and produced in Iran floor-to-sea missile C-704 can be had, that Hamas would have up to 35 miles distant ships can attack.
Not the first weapons FundIt was not the first fund weapons at sea: Last, Israeli units on 3 November 2009, the "Francop stopped. The ship also had a German owner, was chartered and sailed under the flag of the Caribbean nation of Antigua. 500 tons of weapons to the Shiite militia Hezbollah were found on board.
Netanyahu said the weapons were to be directed at Israeli civilians, no doubt.However, I now already clear that the weapons came from Iran and Syria had been transferred, at. Hamas, however, denied that the arms shipment was destined for the Gaza Strip. Iran, too, wanted nothing to do with the delivery.The commander of the Iranian army, Amir Ataollah Salehi, accused Israel of lying. "We should give no credence to the Israeli intelligence, he said. The "Zionist regime" would "sink with the help of God in the depths of the Mediterranean".
Rearmament of Hamas through various smuggling routesNevertheless, there is increasing evidence that Iran is arming the Hamas operates through various smuggling routes. For example, reported the Turkish news agency Dogan, an Iranian cargo plane was en route from Tehran to the Syrian Aleppo was forced to land at Diyarbakir airport. First, it was said two F-16 fighter planes had forced the plane to land. Later corrected the Turkish Foreign Ministry and said the reports of a routine examination. However, should the Turkish security forces reportedly have asked experts in nuclear technology from Istanbul.
The Egyptian army is said to have been discovered on Sunday on the border with Sudan, a weapons convoy. Several reports indicate that the five or seven trucks had crossed the border into Egypt and were already on their way to Gaza. In a gun fight, the driver had fled. The trucks were loaded with mortar shells, rockets, guns and ammunition and explosives.
Last year, a convoy of such smuggling still in Sudan was bombed from the air.In the attack, 29 people will be killed. U.S. secret dispatches from the Wikileaks convolute suggest that the Israeli air force was responsible for the attack.