Israel seizes arms shipment 'bound for Hizbollah'
Thursday November 05 2009
Israel intercepted the largest arms shipment it has seized after commandos boarded a Lebanon-bound vessel off Cyprus yesterday.
Officials said the seizure provided the most tangible evidence yet of large-scale Iranian military support for Hizbollah, the Lebanon-based guerrilla movement that fought a war with Israel in 2006.
Israeli naval officers boarded the vessel shortly before dawn to discover a cargo that included hundreds of Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles, according to military officials.
A spokesman for the Israeli armed forces said cargo certificates showed that the vessel, sailing under an Antiguan flag, captained by a Pole and operating under the guise of an aid ship, had started its journey from an Iranian port.
Hizbollah offered no immediate comment. The discovery came a day after Israel's intelligence chief claimed that Hamas, which controls Gaza, had acquired an Iranian-made rocket that brought Tel Aviv within striking range for the first time.
Israel has recently downplayed the possibility of launching a unilateral strike against Iran's nuclear installations.
Israel's new-found reticence is seen by some observers as evidence of a deal under which the US will soften its demand for a total freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The US stance has caused anger in the Arab world and American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced a wave of hostility on a tour of the Middle East amid accusations that Washington had given in to Israel.
The row over settlements has damaged the prospects for a possible renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
However,a top level Israeli government official said last night that Israel had drawn up a secret offer proposing greater restrictions on settlement construction than the government had so far been prepared to countenance. (© The Telegraph, London)
- Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem
Irish Independent
