The ship that was intercepted by Israelis carried hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon as the Israeli military has said. The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km off the Israeli coast and was towed to the port of Ashdod.Benjamin Netanyahu claims the arms were inteded to strike Israeli cities. The vessel was intercepted "near Cyprus" but no further details on the exact place was given. Apparently the ship's crew was not thought to have been aware of the smuggling operation, and no force was needed to search the ship.
A spokesperson for the military said there were "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board". The spokesperson also added: "The weapons originate from Iran and were intended to reach the Hezbollah terror organization for use against the state of Israel and its citizens."
The ship was operated by a Cyprus-based shipping company United Feeder Services and the cargo was picked up in Egypt and was scheduled to dock in Lebanon. While Israeli searched the ship, they found an Iranian document.
Iran and Syria have both rejected Israel's allegations, and Hezbollah has not made comments on the incident yet.
By: Vesna Tanasic
Source: BBC World News
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