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| IDF photo |
The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
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The Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Klos C was boarded in international waters without resistance from its 17-strong crew in a "complex, covert operation," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters.
Lerner said dozens of M302 rockets were found aboard the Klos C, a weapon which could have struck deep into Israel from Gaza and would have significantly enhanced the firepower of the Palestinian enclave's Hamas rulers and other armed factions.
"The M302 in its most advanced model can strike over 100 miles, and if they would have reached Gaza, ultimately that would have meant millions of Israelis under threat," he said.
Hamas dismissed the Israeli announcement as a "silly joke".
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| Alleged path of rockets |
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed as “lies” the recent Israeli allegation that Tehran sought to send missiles to the blockaded Gaza Strip."Basically unfounded?"
“An Iranian ship carrying arms for Gaza captured just in time for the annual AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) anti-Iran campaign. Amazing Coincidence? Or same failed lies,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also stated that the allegation that a ship was en route to Gaza from Iran with advanced rockets is basically unfounded.
Israeli Defense Force report here:
Interesting use of new media by both sides.
Our Secretary of State referred recently to "Nineteenth Century tactics", in a context a simplistic, binary choice: negotiation versus confrontation.
ReplyDeleteYour "...Naval Blockade..." post clarifyies the high degree of effectiveness and refinement in method of confrontation chosen by civilized Israel.
There is little comparison, for instance, in Israel's recent success to an episode of Soviet confrontation in response to pro-Iranian Shiites' kidnapping of four Russian attaches in September 1985 (the 2oth century albeit). Here: http://goo.gl/ILPgz0
while I am sure that 99% of the facts here are correct, I not sure about one, that the rocket were intended for the Gaza Strip. Isn't more likely that weapons would be sent two were there is fighting? Is it possible that the real destination could be Syria? Or may be one of the factions in Libya? The Israel may have used the potential of being intended for Gaza merely as an excuses for stopping the ship.
ReplyDelete