Israel seizes boatload of arms

JERUSALEM -- Israel found missiles inside crates it seized Wednesday from a cargo ship. Containers from the vessel bore writing in English that said "I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group."

Israel alleged that the shipment of hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and anti-tank weapons - the largest it ever seized - was headed for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Israel stopped the ship, the Francop, off the coast of Cyprus and towed it to the port of Ashdod. It carried orange, red, white and blue containers piled three deep on its deck.

Weapons on display

Rows of crates from the vessel were displayed on the dock, and inside were rockets, hand grenades, mortars and ammunition.

At least 3,000 missiles were on board, the Israeli military said.

The seizure spotlighted the dangerous tensions between Israel and Iran.

Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear program and long-range missile development, dismissing Iranian denials that it is building nuclear weapons.

Among the weaponry displayed were Katyusha rockets. One of the long, skinny missiles sat atop a pile of storage boxes the military had labeled in Hebrew "rocket 122 mm." The 122 mm Katyusha was the main weapon used against Israel by Hezbollah in a monthlong war in 2006. During that war, about 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and about 160 people were killed in Israel.

Some of the weapons were hidden in the Francop's containers behind stacked bags of polyethylene labeled in English "NPC National Petrochemical Company," and the flame logo used by both the company and the Iranian Petroleum Ministry.

Israel claims proof

Israel said the huge weapons shipment backs up its long-standing contention that Iran is supplying large quantities of arms to Hezbollah and Hamas.

The Israeli military said cargo certificates showed the ship left an Iranian port for Syria, from where the weapons would be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The military did not show the documents, and Syria denied the vessel was carrying weapons.

Iran has never acknowledged giving weapons to Hezbollah.

The seizure came a day after Israeli officials said Hamas tested an Iranian rocket that can hit metropolitan Tel Aviv - bringing to the fore Israeli fears that both Hezbollah and Hamas are rearming for more confrontations after the 2006 Lebanon war and last winter's Gaza war.

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