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The Syria-bound intercepted Iranian arms ship at the port in Ashdod on Wednesday.
(Ilan Assayag)
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Last update - 11:12 05/11/2009
ANALYSIS / Arms ship seizure just another battle in the secret war with Iran
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Hezbollah arms ship 

The significance of Israel's interception of a ship carrying hundreds of tons of weapons, which defense officials are saying were Iranian arms meant for Hezbollah, is not in the quantity or the quality of the weapons seized. The importance, as far as Israel is concerned, is that the Israel Navy, which has long viewed the Mediterranean Sea as "our sea", is stepping up efforts to intercept cargo coming out of Iran.

Wednesday's operation, in which Israeli forces seized the Antigua-flagged Francop and unloaded the largest arms shipment Israel has ever commandeered, is the latest in a long line of operations with a similar goal, some of which Israel took credit for, and some of which were attributed to Israel's air force or navy. In fact, Israel is waging a secret war, which is sometimes not so secret, with Iran, against the backdrop of Iran's constant efforts to arm the organizations it supports, especially Hezbollah and Hamas.

This war began far from Israel's beaches, in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. In January, in the midst of the war in Gaza, an attack of a fleet of weapons-carrying ships sailing from Iran on its way to Gaza was attributed to the Israel Air Force, as were the sinking of several similar ships.
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Israel's daring, in terms of its actions against Iranian arms smuggling, is supported by an international diplomatic embrace, and intelligence. The diplomatic legitimacy and the legal justification for Israel's actions stem from United Nations Security Council resolutions forbidding Iran from exporting weapons to Syria, to be transferred into the hands of Hezollah. Israel is acting with the full cooperation of international NATO forces that patrol the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Mediterranean, in efforts to battle arms smuggling.

The international diplomatic support is manifested in Israel's ability to pinpoint weapons shipments coming from Iran, in cooperation with American intelligence bodies and those of France and other countries acting toward the same goal. The commander of the Israel Navy, who gave a press conference Wednesday afternoon, said in his briefing that the ship was discovered as a result of routine patrols and observation - these claims could merely be the navy's way of explaining the fact that it had previous intelligence regarding the ship's cargo which allowed them to carry out precise surveillance and intercept the ship. If in fact this is a case of previous intelligence, it demonstrates good intelligence capabilities, starting possibly from the ship's point of origin in the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, onto the Egyptian port which served as a transfer point for the delivery.

The method used to transfer the weapons indicates that Iran is under growing international pressure regarding its weapons shipments to Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah. This pressure stems form the Security Council resolutions that imposed international sanctions on Iran's state-run shipping company as a result of Iran's refusal to abandon its controversial nuclear program. The Iranians know that they can't use Iranian ships to transport these weapons, so they tend to lease foreign ships, as was the case last month with a German ship, waving a German flag.

In this instance, in order to prevent surveillance, the Iranians used a ship that appeared to carry civilian cargo out of the Iranian port, headed for Egypt. The Iranians believed that it would be easier to conceal the arms shipment if they used the Egyptian port as the point of transfer, loading the ship with the weapons there, hoping that it wouldn't be traced back to Iran. But they failed.

The 122 mm. rockets and 107 mm. Katyushas that were discovered aboard the ship are not impressive in themselves. In fact, the unimpressive cargo raises questions, because Hezbollah already has massive amounts of these weapons. The Iranians could have shipped these weapons in a simpler way - fly them directly to Syria and then into Lebanon by land - but they knew that Israel is aware of this smuggling route and has alerted the international community to its existence, and that the UN has issued several complaints to the Syrian government for violating UN resolutions. The only explanation can be that the Iranian effort involves the use of every available route, whether by land, air or sea, operating on the assumption that if some of the shipments are blocked, intercepted or seized, others will still arrive at the desired destination.

Israel shouldn't congratulate itself too much for this success, because it is just another operation in a string of operations comprising an ongoing cat and mouse endeavor. The Iranians will continue to smuggle weapons to their proxies and Israel will continue trying to expose and intercept them.

Related articles:
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  • WATCH: Video of Israel Navy commandeering arms ship
  • 'Iran arms ship bound for Gaza downed near Sudan'
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      1.   German Kriegsmarine supposed to prevent smugling fruitfully absen 21:48  |  Absolute Sweden 04/11/09
      2.   Iranian made weapoms could be used on Gaza 21:51  |  fo realz 04/11/09
      3.   Congratulating itself 21:58  |  Edifice 04/11/09
      4.   And the world stands still 22:04  |  alter ego 04/11/09
      5.   To Yossi Melman.... 22:34  |  David 04/11/09
      6.   ANALYSIS / Arms ship seizure just another battle in the secret wa 22:50  |  Joe 04/11/09
      7.   Best Israel Stay Quiet 23:15  |  Ron 04/11/09
      8.   Whatever happened to that ship they caught in February?? 23:31  |  Stephanie Mazerelli 04/11/09
      9.   Face the truth: WHO CARES????? 23:49  |  Yehuda ben Rahem 04/11/09
      10.   Another Battle Lost? 00:18  |  Ari 05/11/09
      11.   My question is: 00:23  |  Yonatan 05/11/09
      12.   A breath of fresh air is coming 00:40  |  ky 05/11/09
      13.   was this meant to get caught while others got thru 01:13  |  ralph 05/11/09
      14.   would leftist jews had the wherewithall or outlook to carry this 01:14  |  ralph 05/11/09
      15.   # 4 alter ego 03:58  |  AL 05/11/09
      16.   Turnabout is fair play 04:02  |  *BEN JABO 05/11/09
      17.   To #3 Orifice 04:41  |  utagawa 05/11/09
      18.   where there`s a will, there`s a way 04:45  |  VIPER 05/11/09
      19.   Congratulate Israel 05:10  |  Belinda Mackay 05/11/09
      20.   Disproportinate arms & weapons 06:12  |  Col [Res] Cohen 05/11/09
      21.   Our sea? 06:26  |  Fritz T. 05/11/09
      22.   Try baloon! 07:01  |  Andrei 05/11/09
      23.   This could backfire abit they boarded a ship in Cyprus` waters 08:41  |  Bloodyscot 05/11/09
      24.   Now what`s wrong? 11:12  |  Maureen Ann 05/11/09
      25.   look at the bright side 12:05  |  zionist forever 05/11/09
      26.   congratulations 12:11  |  razben anak 05/11/09
      27.   #1 Your usual game. unprecise and ready for 13:52  |  Ardi 05/11/09
      28.   drop in the bucket 00:42  |  dani 06/11/09
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