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Last update - 13:50 25/01/2009
'U.S. Navy hunting Iran ships sent to rearm Hamas in Gaza'
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
Tags: Israel News, Hamas, Gaza 

A United States naval taskforce has been ordered to hunt down weapons ships sent by Iran to rearm its Islamist ally Hamas in Gaza, The Sunday Times reported.

Quoting U.S. diplomatic sources, the British daily said that Combined Task Force 151, which is countering pirates in the Gulf of Aden, has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments.
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The intelligence community in Israel believes that Iran intends on rearming Hamas after the Israel Defense Forces' recent offensive in Gaza seriously depleted the Islamist militant group's arsenal.

Israel launched the 22-day offensive late last month against Hamas in Gaza to try to permanently halt years of militant rocket fire on growing numbers of Israelis and to halt the smuggling of arms that turned Hamas into a threat to much of southern Israel.

Last week, the U.S. military intercepted and searched an Iranian-owned ship that officials feared was carrying arms to Hamas, but two officials said it was unclear Thursday whether those suspicions were founded.

The Cypriot-flagged commercial vessel was tracked by a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea over the weekend, one official said. It was boarded and searched with the consent of the vessel's crew on Monday and Tuesday, said another.

The Sunday Telegraph also quoted "well briefed sources" as saying that a second arms smuggling route into Gaza has also been used by Tehran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has sent shipments through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean to anchor off the Gaza coast, inside Egyptian territorial waters, where the Israel Navy is barred.

On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet that Hamas would resume smuggling arms into Gaza within a few months, despite Israel's destruction of many tunnels used for this purpose during the campaign.



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  • Fatah loyalists: Gaza op is 'Allah's revenge' for Hamas actions
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    Disturbing trend
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      1.   Iran war 08:58  |  Ali 25/01/09
      2.   Treat the cause, not the symptoms 08:59  |  Natallie Durson 25/01/09
      3.   Nothing in the present charta...51 UNCh 09:09  |  fritz t. 25/01/09
      4.   I would think that more than one Arab country... 09:27  |  Silvienne 25/01/09
      5.   How To Train A Persian Cat To Not Toy With Its Gazan Mouse 09:42  |  Lavi 25/01/09
      6.   Does it mean US pirates here?? 09:43  |  Palestinian 25/01/09
      7.   It`s Sunday every day according Haaretz 09:53  |  Josh 25/01/09
      8.   Rearming Of Hamas 10:01  |  Clickfool 25/01/09
      9.   Clickfool and rearming of hamas 10:27  |  George 25/01/09
      10.   Silvienne, Iran is not an Arab country. 10:35  |  christoph 25/01/09
      11.   #8, fool, hamas is designated as a terror organisation 10:35  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/01/09
      12.   To: Natallie Durson 10:52  |  Angel 25/01/09
      13.   To: Fritz 10:54  |  Angel 25/01/09
      14.   To: Palestinian 10:56  |  Angel 25/01/09
      15.   Clickfool - Then Israel will hit them again and harder this time 10:59  |  B 25/01/09
      16.   Will the Navy also "hunt down" U.S. arms deliveries to Israel ??? 11:00  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/01/09
      17.   who pays for the armaments from Iran?Whoever,if they had to pay f 11:04  |  Susanna/Shoshana 25/01/09
      18.   #8 Click fool, ahhh, the topics of immorality. 11:18  |  Mashugana 25/01/09
      19.   Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? 11:19  |  Israeli citizen 25/01/09
      20.   # 12 - Angel 11:39  |  Natallie Durson 25/01/09
      21.   Will the Navy also "hunt down" U.S. arms deliveries to Israel ??? 11:40  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/01/09
      22.   Attack Iran they deserve it 11:55  |  Karl 25/01/09
      23.   #10, christoph...I already know that... 11:56  |  Silvienne 25/01/09
      24.   #11, C. Kohn, what is Hamas? 11:58  |  Silvienne 25/01/09
      25.   #12, Angel re-writes International Law... 12:01  |  Silvienne 25/01/09
      26.   #16, Swiss Dino, now that I would like to see! 12:03  |  Silvienne 25/01/09
      27.   Swiss dino: answer 12:04  |  ben 25/01/09
      28.   What weapons? 12:04  |  Noura 25/01/09
      29.   To Clickfool "Democratically Elected" 12:05  |  Abdul-Ahad 25/01/09
      30.   Clickfool and Silvienne 12:07  |  ChanahS 25/01/09
      31.   #15 Natalie Durson 12:14  |  H 25/01/09
      32.   #14. Catilinas answer: "Quoniam quidem circumventus ab inimicis.. 12:17  |  german citizen 25/01/09
      33.   Durson: "nothing is proven by talk" . True, except one thing 12:24  |  Israeli citizen 25/01/09
      34.   Swis Dino et al - it`s amazing 12:31  |  ChanahS 25/01/09
      35.   #27, Chanah S 12:37  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/01/09
      36.   Catilina`s end: without leaving prisoners 13:15  |  Israeli citizen 25/01/09
      37.   There many Swisses who would love to see 17:06  |  TOMY 25/01/09
      38.   USA executes sea-piracy-policy, just like the Somalis 17:13  |  Kris Lazar 25/01/09
      39.   to bad the palestinians 17:15  |  sam i am 25/01/09
      40.   As long as... 17:46  |  Bazmann 25/01/09
      41.   Treat the cause, not the symptoms 18:32  |  ernie 25/01/09
      42.   #2 - Natallie Durson 18:43  |  MichaelF 25/01/09
      43.   EU may get into the act 18:45  |  MichaelF 25/01/09
      44.   #30 - ChanahS 18:50  |  MichaelF 25/01/09
      45.   Arms for HAMAS 18:51  |  DrShahdyne 25/01/09
      46.   #17 - Susznna/Shoshana 18:53  |  MichaelF 25/01/09
      47.   U.S. Navy stooges 19:06  |  Natallie Durson 25/01/09
      48.   To: Swiss Dino 19:48  |  Angel 25/01/09
      49.   If Iran thinks it is an "act of war" - do something 19:49  |  George Lee 25/01/09
      50.   Trying to prevent the next Gaza war 19:53  |  Realist 25/01/09
      51.   Iran to blame for Gaza deaths 20:19  |  Chris 25/01/09
      52.   Obama will cancel this effort in a matter of weeks 20:35  |  Voice of Reason 25/01/09
      53.   Well done, US. Seize any ships violating arms embargo. 20:43  |  Indra 25/01/09
      54.   # 27 ben (2nd try)....at least the Swiss people are not convinced 21:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/01/09
      55.   Sorry, dino, silvienne, hamas/Iran are the US enemy, 21:24  |  steve-NYC 25/01/09
      56.   # 51 Sorry, steve....... 21:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/01/09
      57.   Confiscate Iranian weapons and give to the Kurds 22:29  |  Peter Williams 25/01/09
      58.   U.S. Navy hunting Iran ships sent to rearm Hamas. Bullsh*t! 22:51  |  Maureen Ann 25/01/09
      59.   SWiss Dino 51 23:04  |  ChanahS 25/01/09
      60.   # 55 Chanah S 23:31  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/01/09
      61.   angel the settlements are illegal under international law 23:38  |  Justin 25/01/09
      62.   angel the settlements are illegal under international law 23:42  |  Justin 25/01/09
      63.   WMD 00:00  |  jogeechacha 26/01/09
      64.   us ships orderd by olmert 00:03  |  sam i am 26/01/09
      65.   Swiss dhimmi,war on terror can be easily won 00:21  |  Rob 26/01/09
      66.   #21 Swiss dino 01:19  |  The Warrior 26/01/09
      67.   No arms found on Iranian AID ship 01:23  |  Pablo B 26/01/09
      68.   # 24 Silvienne .... Democratic Hamas 01:29  |  allang 26/01/09
      69.   Pirate the Iranian ship,... 01:40  |  cwarn 26/01/09
      70.   Swiss Dino 56 - Do the Swiss also know that 02:21  |  ChanahS 26/01/09
      71.   Blast and sink it. 02:35  |  Barny Rubble 26/01/09
      72.   us navy patrol 04:55  |  albert 26/01/09
      73.   #47 Durson...you should think first 05:08  |  NAVY Seal 26/01/09
      74.   Sorry, the Swiss do understand...Dino..? 07:51  |  Sylvia Margolis 26/01/09
      75.   Response to # 16 08:21  |  Dan 26/01/09
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