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Israel shields US oil tanker supply route through Jordan
DEBKAfileâs Exclusive sources in Eilat report that a new US fuel supply line to Iraq began operating through Jordan last month. Every few days, a US supertanker puts in at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba and transfers the oil to escorted overland convoys cutting through the Hashemite Kingdom to US forces in different parts of Iraq. Jordan provides the port installations (built with financing from the defunct Saddam Hussein regime); Israel, the port tugboats and a naval-aerial protective umbrella. Our Eilat sources report that the Israeli tugboats are fitted with state of the art navigational electronic gear for guiding the supertankers into harbor for unloading and then out to sea. They access Jordanian port waters for this operation. However the Israeli naval-air force umbrella provides environmental protection without entering Jordanian air space or waters. Our sources report that Israeli transport minister Meir Shitrit paid an unpublicized visit to Eilat last week to inspect the protective shield for the new US oil route. According to DEBKAfileâs counter-terror sources, the July 23 al Qaeda Katyusha attack on Aqaba and Eilat was planned to disrupt this route by blowing up the first US supertanker due to enter Aqaba port the night before. The two US warships which the rockets missed were there to escort the tanker. This attack held up the start of the new route until the new protective measures were put in place in September. Posted by: Steve 2005-09-13 |
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