Cairo intercepts Iranian arms ship

[Fozzledick]

By YAAKOV KATZ

Israel is closely tracking an Iranian freighter believed to be carrying weaponry for Hamas that is currently docked in the Red Sea outside the Suez Canal, after Egypt refused to permit it to cross the waterway to the Mediterranean.

According to a report received at the Defense Ministry from the Pentagon, the US Navy recently boarded an Iranian vessel that was carrying artillery shells and other weaponry.

"This is a big test for the Egyptians," a senior defense official said. "So far the Egyptians have prevented the ship from crossing the Suez and we hope it will stay that way."

Defense officials said that Iran is trying to supply Hamas with new Grad-model Katyusha rockets and to replace high-grade explosives that were exhausted or destroyed by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232643757156&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. O or B's "defense" officials?

[peacetalksforall]

2. 1. Jerusalem Post

2. believed to be carrying weaponry
3. for Hamas
4. According to a report (that Isreal received)
5. U.S. has boarded an Iranian vessel (carrying weaponry)
6. Defense officials said Hamas tryhing (refresh Hamas supply of weapons)

THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL THE VAGUEST, SAY NOTHING PIECE OF

WRITING.

I read the rest of the article and no insight is provided to data contained in the first five paragraphs.

It tells us nothing. No outcomes.

Why don't they report on the progress of the aid ship that we followed over the holidays - a ship that has been lost? Where is the follow-up from that?

I'm going to stop following anything from The Jerusalem Post.

Ticked.

[Fozzledick]

3. It tells us that Egypt stopped the ship from passing thru the Suez canal into the Mediterranean

The same weapons ship stopped and searched last week by the U.S. Navy.

If you've been following this story, this is a significant development.

[Idealism]

6. Yeah this story smells mighty strange

How the hell did any U.S. personnel get on an Iranian frigate without causing an international scene?

Why were they on the Iranian ship at all, and if they discovered munitions, why weren't they stopped?

[peacetalksforall]

10. turned back. This would have been an affair that would have brought out Rumsfeld.

No one brought it up at a WH Briefing?

It kind of concerns me - we have to be on the watch for a SET-UP that could be used for invading Iran.

Hey, wait a minute - Cheney is gone.

[ohio2007]

15. Maybe you don't have a 'need to know'

Obama knows what's on board that ship and the Egyptians refused its passage through the canal. US personnel never got off the ship once they boarded the "ship of many registries"

[bemildred]

4. Is it really that hard to keep track of a ship?

Do you need helicopters? How about satellites and small craft? I thought radar worked good for this?

I don't see how it can do much unless it docks somewhere. The image of it getting close to Gaza and dropping stuff overboard without the Israelis noticing doesn't work for me. The image of it docking in Egypt and offloading stuff for overland transport works, but wouldn't Egypt have something to say about that?

Somehow I think this is all a dog-and-pony show.

[Fozzledick]

7. More details from the article

"There are two main smuggling routes," one official explained. "Some of the weaponry comes by ground from Somalia, Sudan and then into Egypt and through a tunnel into Gaza, while some comes by boat."

The boats sometimes unload the shipments in the Sinai's Port Said, where it is smuggled into Gaza by land. Other times, the shipments are dropped overboard in waterproof containers and are picked up by Palestinian fishermen or divers.

...

According to the London Times, Combined Task Force 151 of the US Navy, which is fighting pirates in the Gulf of Aden, has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments to Gaza.

Last week, the report claimed, troops from the USS San Antonio boarded a former Russian cargo vessel that was flying a Cypriot flag and was reportedly carrying weaponry destined for Hamas.

This would seem to indicate that Egypt is getting more serious about stopping the arms smuggling.

It also helps explain the incidents reported involving Palestinian "fishermen".

[bemildred]

8. I read the article.

It does not dispel my doubts. It is what my doubts are addressed to. Your comments do not address my doubts. Egypt is a corrupt and ineffectual government, sort of like the US and Israel. There is a lack of fact and detail in this story that I find annoying, I would say bullshitty, there are no facts. Even the boarding of the vessel is not something anyone wants to take responsibility for.

[razors edge]

9. Untill these firshermen

are pulling up Mig 29s in their nets, and a support battalion, I think the motherland is still safe.

[razors edge]

5. That kinda sucks

for Israel I guess, didn't the US let it go after boarding it?

And now other countries are getting involved to stop a possible shipment to Hamas.

How will these guys ever get another credible but useless threat?

[peacetalksforall]

11. Well, we know that Israel, the U.S., France, UK are all against Hamas.

An old tired allegiance - and super dangerous.

Somehow I hope that our military reports to their Commander-In-Chief.

I pray that Iran deals with Obama.

I pray there are no more massacres.

[razors edge]

12. The choices are pretty clear.

None of them give Israel the kind of future they might have wanted. That too is a result of their choices made in the past.

If Obama is a fair dealer, he will be given a chance, I feel, from the Arab community. Lets hope.

[iconicgnom]

13. Wouldn't it be nice if the US weren't the world's #1 arms supplier? I mean, really.

If the entire US economy didn't depend on manufacturing and trading arms?

But nowadays I don't even hope for that kind of change. I think it's a vision impossible to bring about in my, and probably your, lifetime.

Nowadays I don't expect anyone to exact any sense of proportionality in their judgments. We're nearly 100% sheep, and I admit it, I am too. My excuse, I'm too blasted by media, whether MSM or alternate or internet - and I don't put in the needed months of meditative leave. Study time, personal time. And those few who do live in a different universe. So in effect I put myself up there as a ping-pong ball to be batted to smithereens by a surfeit of info, and glam. And, it goes without saying, war propaganda.

Anyway, I know what happened to Iraq after the arms inspectors certified that it was, to all intents and purposes, disarmed.

I really don't think the world's #1 arms supplier and its biggest client cab be anything akin to evenhanded when it comes to deciding which countries, which factions, ought to be armed or disarmed. This entire talking point would be questionable even were the US not the most heavily "into it" country in the world, w.r.t. war.

[bemildred]

14. Iran arms ship released by U.S. Navy now 'sailing to Syria'

The captain of a ship that the United States Navy recently detained has said his vessel is now en route to Syria. The boat was initially believed to be carrying arms destined for Hamas, though sources say the weapons will likely be delivered to Hezbollah.

The U.S. navy was forced to release the ship, which it had detained in the Red Sea on suspicion of carrying arms to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Weapons of various kinds were found aboard the ship, which was flying the Cypriot flag when it was stopped January 19, the U.S. military said.

The ship was released Tuesday when it became apparent that there was no legal basis for holding it.

The captain of the ship, which is a Russian vessel leased to Iran, earlier refused to accede to the U.S. Navy's demand that it anchor at an Egyptian port on the Red Sea, and continued on through the Suez Canal toward the Mediterranean. He also refused to anchor off Cyprus, and said his ship was en route to Syria.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059336.html

[Fozzledick]

16. Cyprus detains Iran arms ship en route to Syria

By Barak Ravid , Haaretz Correspondent

Cypriot authorities detained on Thursday an Iranian arms ship en route to Syria, a European diplomatic source said.

This move is apparently the result of requests by Israel and the United States that Cyprus stop the ship. It is carrying a large amount of weaponry, including artillery rounds and rockets that Israel believes are destined for either Hezbollah or Hamas.

The vessel left the Persian Gulf a few weeks ago and reached on Wednesday about 60 miles from Cyprus' port city of limassol.

The Cypriot authorities were the only ones authorized to confiscate the ship's cargo since it was flying the Cypriot flag.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060064.html

[ohio2007]

17. Cyprus Authorities Holds Iran's Hamas Arms Ship in Limassol Port

snip
According to unconfirmed reports, the Israelis tried to seize the boat in the Red Sea (like they did in 2002 with the Karin A, a similar Iranian weapons ship then heading for Gaza). But the Americans decided not to give the Israeli Navy a chance to seize the vessel and tow it to Eilat for fear of a Tehran ultimatum to Jerusalem, followed by Iranian attacks on Israeli and US naval craft patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The ship had initially tried docking in Egypt but was denied access by the Egyptian Navy.

After the US Navy allowed it to continue its voyage through Suez, the Iranian vessel's captain called Tehran for instructions and was told to proceed to a Syrian port and there unload its arms consignment for Hamas, including a fresh supply of rockets.

But entering the Mediterranean on Jan. 26, the Iranian ship found three waiting armadas – Israeli missile boats, vessels of the US Sixth Fleet and the Chabanenko, a Russian anti-submarine destroyer, coming from Tartus Port in Syria. They all stayed close to the Iranian vessel – each with its own agenda: The Israeli missile boats blocked its access to the shores of Gaza, while the Russian destroyer kept watch for developments. On Thursday afternoon, though, as the ship passed 100 km. off the coast of the Cyprus port of Limassol, it was stopped by the Cypriot Navy, which was legally allowed to intercept it since it was flying a Cypriot flag. Cyprus's decision to intercept the ship, officials said, was made after the United States and several European countries applied pressure on the government in Nicosia. The officials said that the ship was believed to be carrying a number of shipping containers packed with weaponry.


snip
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a768e59ff-db7f-4090-9e55-d59deae27195&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending

[bemildred]

18. Cyprus awaits UN decision on 'Gaza arms' ship

NICOSIA (AFP) – Cyprus said on Wednesday that it is waiting for UN guidance on what to do with a Cypriot-flagged ship docked off Limassol port, amid Israeli charges it is carrying illegal arms for the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

"Due to the origin of the cargo, it needs to be examined whether this specific shipment falls within any specific (UN) resolution ban, and it?s from here we expect UN guidance," Cyprus Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou told reporters.

---

Kyprianou also said that "almost everything written or published was wrong".

---

There has been no official confirmation of what exactly is on the boat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090204/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazacyprus

[Alamuti Lotus]

19. This is bordering on piracy

The Israelis must carefully consider their actions, for less provocative behavior has sparked many conflicts in any other context.

This is not an isolated incident, query the Lebanese ship recently hijacked. The crew was fired on, then physically attacked once boarded by Israeli military, before having the ship commandeered and taken to Ashdod.

[bemildred]

20. US Navy fuels freed weapons ship

Compare and contrast.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. Navy on Friday fueled a Ukrainian merchant ship carrying tanks and other heavy weapons that had been held by pirates for more than four months and gave food and water to the freed crew before its journey to Kenya, a spokesman said.

MV Faina has been at sea since it was seized in September and had not had a chance to refuel. The ship remained anchored near the Somali coastal town of Hobyo after pirates released it Thursday evening after receiving a $3.2 million ransom, which they said was dropped by plane.

---

The Faina was headed to Mombasa before it was hijacked. There is controversy over who the actual owners of the weapons cargo are. Diplomats in the region previously have said the cargo was destined for southern Sudan, something the autonomous region has denied. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua repeated Kenya's claim to the cargo Thursday.

Analysts said the seizure of the Faina and its cargo of weapons was a wake-up call about the danger that piracy posed to one of the world's most important trade routes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD96649LG0

[Fozzledick]

21. Int'l parley may block smuggling by sea

By YAAKOV KATZ, HAVIV RETTIG GUR, AND ALLISON HOFFMAN

Israel hopes that a meeting on weapons smuggling into Gaza that began in Copenhagen on Wednesday will result in increased cooperation and intelligence sharing among different navies that patrol the Gulf of Aden and the Mediterranean Sea, senior government officials said.

Representatives from nine countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway gathered in Copenhagen on Wednesday to discuss the challenges related to illicit arms smuggling into Gaza, including the possibilities for international cooperation to prevent the flow of weapons.

Israel has sent a small Foreign Ministry delegation to participate in the meeting with observer status. The Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the talks, which will continue on Thursday.

The expert meeting was organized in close cooperation with the new American administration, the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, and will seek to map out the challenges related to weapons smuggling to Gaza, including the political, juridical, diplomatic and technical aspects of potential international contributions to handle this challenge.

Focus will be on the transit routes that the arms are following from their point of origin towards Gaza.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304688889&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull