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Israel Seizes Arms Boat Off Lebanon-Sources
Didn't know whether to post in Syria-Lebanon or M.E.; small version of the Karine-A, glad to see Abbas has the roadmap well in hand, except he's reading it upside down Israel's navy seized a fishing boat loaded with arms being smuggled by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas off northern Israel and towed it to the port of Haifa, security sources said Thursday. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that a vessel had been captured near Haifa, about 21 miles south of the border with Lebanon, and linked it to "recent terrorist activity." He did not mention that there were any arms on board. There was no immediate word on the vessel's point of origin or destination, but the sources said the boat, intercepted on Wednesday, had a weapons cache only a fraction the size of the 50 tons seized on a freighter in the Red Sea in January 2002. The Dubai-based satellite television station al-Arabiya reported that the weapons were bound for Palestinians. It said Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz would give details of the incident later Thursday. If the arms were bound for Palestinian areas, as was last year's shipment, it would deal another blow to a new U.S.-backed peace plan already battered by violence. Which "the Palestinians have accepted, but Sharon hasn't" of course The United States has asked Syria to rein in Damascus-based Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah. The security sources said Israeli naval commandos captured at least two members of Hezbollah when they boarded the rickety, 23-foot-long boat. Asked about the reported seizure of the boat, a Lebanese security official said: "We know nothing about the subject."
Word of the seizure was kept under military censorship overnight while authorities interrogated their prisoners. Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-22 |
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