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Israeli warships pass though Suez canal
JERUSALEM — Two Israeli naval vessels passed through Egypt’s Suez Canal on Tuesday, headed from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, Israeli and Egyptian sources said.

“It was routine, they were on their way to Eilat” where Israel has its Red Sea naval base, an Israeli security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A source at the Canal Authority named the vessels as the Lahav and the Yafo, without giving their size or type.
The INS Lahav ('Blade') is a Sa'ar 5-class corvette, about 1,200 tons. It has anti-ship and anti-air missiles, and surface-launch torpedo tubes. Yafo ('Jaffa') is a Sa'ar 4.5-class missile boat, about 490 tons, re-built from an old Sa'ar 4-class boat with more modern technology. It has anti-ship and anti-air missiles, and a 76 mm gun.
Israel dispatched two missile boats to the Red Sea last August after Iran deployed a submarine and a warship there on what it called a patrol mission.

The Israeli military said at the time that its own naval deployment was “part of a routine exercise.”

The military had no comment on Tuesday’s crossing, which came to the backdrop of an international standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, which much of the world believes is geared toward developing atomic weapons.
Posted by: Steve White 2012-03-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=340931