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| Israeli forces seize Iranian rockets 'destined for Gaza' in Red Sea raid | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Israeli naval forces have raided a ship in the Red Sea and seized dozens of advanced rockets from Iran that they claim were destined for Palestinian militants in Gaza. | |
| Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said the Iranian shipment had been seized at the end of a "complex, covert intelligence-led mission" that had started when the missiles began their journey at Damascus international airport several months ago. | |
| "Scores" of Syrian-made M320 surface-to-surface rockets had been seized on their way to Palestinian groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, he said. With a range of over 100 miles, these could hit targets from Nahariya in northern Israel to Eilat in the far south, where the Panamian-flagged ship is expected to dock in two days' time. "Millions of Israelis would have been at the mercy of terrorists," he added. | |
| The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, currently in America having met the US president, Barack Obama, to discuss the peace process with the Palestinians, spoke of the incident in terms of a wider Iranian threat to global security. | |
| "At a time when it is talking to the major powers, Iran smiles and says all sorts of nice things. At the same Iran is sending deadly weapons to terrorist organisations and is doing so via a ramified network of secret operations in order to send rockets, missiles and other deadly weapons that will be used to harm innocent citizens," Netanyahu said. | |
| "This is the true Iran and this state cannot possess nuclear weapons. We will continue to do whatever is necessary in order to defend Israel's citizens." | |
| There was no immediate reaction from Tehran. | |
| Lerner said 17 crew members had co-operated when their ship was intercepted 1,000 miles south of the Israeli port of Eilat in international waters between Eritrea and Sudan in the early hours of the morning. The operation was codenamed Full Disclosure. Israeli missile boats and naval commandos had taken part. | |
| The missiles had been loaded on to a plane in Damascus, flown to Tehran and shipped by land to the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas, he said. From there they went to Umm Qasr in southern Iraq and from there headed to the Red Sea and Port Sudan. Intelligence on who was to receive the weapons in Gaza was "still a bit preliminary". | |
| "It is a huge shipment of weapons that could have inflicted great damage on the state of Israel," Lerner said. "That's why we intercepted it. We have had it under our view since the loading in Damascus airport several months ago." | |
| In a separate incident on its border with Syria on Wednesday, Israeli troops shot two Hezbollah fighters who tried to plant a bomb near the fence between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syrian-held territory. | |
| An army spokeswoman said Israeli intelligence had identified the men as members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia helping the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, fight a civil war. She had no immediate word on their condition. | An army spokeswoman said Israeli intelligence had identified the men as members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia helping the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, fight a civil war. She had no immediate word on their condition. |
| Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed Shia group whose politicians sit in the Beirut government – fought Israel to a standstill in the 2006 Lebanon war. Both sides have built up strength since but have largely avoided direct confrontation. | Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed Shia group whose politicians sit in the Beirut government – fought Israel to a standstill in the 2006 Lebanon war. Both sides have built up strength since but have largely avoided direct confrontation. |
| Last week, however, Hezbollah accused Israel of bombing one of its bases near the Lebanon-Syria border and threatened to retaliate. | Last week, however, Hezbollah accused Israel of bombing one of its bases near the Lebanon-Syria border and threatened to retaliate. |
| Israel did not confirm carrying out the air strike, in keeping with its official silence on at least three such attacks in the last year targeting suspected Hezbollah-bound weapons convoys from Syria. | Israel did not confirm carrying out the air strike, in keeping with its official silence on at least three such attacks in the last year targeting suspected Hezbollah-bound weapons convoys from Syria. |
| It said it would hold Beirut responsible for any Hezbollah reprisals from Lebanese turf. | It said it would hold Beirut responsible for any Hezbollah reprisals from Lebanese turf. |
| Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The strategic plateau has seen occasional spillover violence from the Syrian civil war, and Israel has accused Hezbollah of setting up positions on the other side of the boundary fence. | Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The strategic plateau has seen occasional spillover violence from the Syrian civil war, and Israel has accused Hezbollah of setting up positions on the other side of the boundary fence. |