2009 Israeli Navy seizure of cargo ship
Four Species
|
---|
|
Weaponry that was hidden under sacks of Polyethylene that served to disguise it as civilian cargo on the Francop
|
Planned by
| Israeli Navy
|
---|
Objective
| Seize freighter
Francop
|
---|
Date
| 4 November 2009
|
---|
Executed by
| Shayetet 13
|
---|
Outcome
| Successful Israeli naval interception
|
---|
The
Francop Affair
was a
high seas
incident on November 4, 2009 in which the
Israeli Navy
seized the cargo ship
MV
Francop
in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea
and its cargo of hundreds of tons of weapons allegedly bound from
Iran
to
Hezbollah
. The incident is also known by its military operation name,
Operation Four Species
.
[1]
Operation
[
edit
]
Israeli commanders had received intelligence reports that the ship
MV
Francop
was carrying weapons originating from
Iran
, which were to be transferred to
Hezbollah
.
[2]
The ship was about 160 kilometres (100 mi) off the coast of
Israel
, near
Cyprus
, when it was stopped.
On November 4, 2009, the ship was radioed by an Israeli Navy
missile boat
, which ordered it to halt and prepare for inspection.
Shayetet 13
naval
commandos
then boarded the ship without resistance. The navy said that the crew was not aware of the purported smuggling and cooperated with the commandos.
[3]
The commandos broke open the shipping containers and discovered crates of weapons and munitions hidden between sacks of polyethylene stacked along the openings and sides.
[4]
A spokesperson for the
Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) said the ship was carrying "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board". After boarding, the Israeli navy directed the ship to the Israeli
port of Ashdod
where a thorough inspection was held.
[3]
According to the IDF, the ship picked up the cargo in
Damietta
,
Egypt
; the cargo arrived in Egypt on a ship that sailed from
Bandar Abbas
,
Iran
on October 25.
[3]
The ship was then set to sail to
Limassol
, Cyprus and then
Latakia
,
Syria
.
[3]
The IDF suspects that the cargo was intended for Hezbollah, which fought Israel in the
2006 Lebanon War
. Following the war,
United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1701
forbade the shipments of arms to Hezbollah. In 2010, the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929
authorized states to seize items, including arms, that Iran is forbidden from exporting.
An Israeli naval chief said that the amount of weapons found is ten times more than that found during
Operation Noah's Ark
.
[5]
The arms shipment weighed 320 tons and were held in containers marked with Iranian shipping codes.
[2]
[6]
The seized weaponry consisted of 9,000
mortar shells
, 2,125 107-mm
Katyusha rockets
, 685 rocket fuses, 690 122-mm rockets, 21,100 F-1 fragmentation hand grenades, and 566,220
AK-47
rounds.
[3]
[6]
[7]
The Israeli military said that the shipment was equivalent to about ten percent of Hezbollah's stocks.
[3]
The arms shipment was the largest ever seized by Israel.
[2]
On November 5, 2009, ambassadors and diplomats from 44 countries, military attaches from 27 armies in the world, and the international media were invited by the IDF and the Foreign Ministry to show them the weapons and munitions seized from the
Francop
ship.
[8]
Reactions
[
edit
]
President of Israel
Shimon Peres
said, "Today the whole world can see the large gap between Syria and Iran's statements and their actual activities. The ship's arrest is not only of critical military importance, but also of political importance. Facts cannot be argued with."
[9]
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
called it " a war crime that the UN Security Council should have a special meeting over".
Hezbollah
made a statement to the press in which it denied "any connection with the weapons which the Zionist enemy claims it seized aboard the
Francop
ship".
[2]
Palestinian Authority
spokesperson Ghassan Khatib stated that "Since the Israeli leadership and society are not ready for peace, they are using any pretext to shun peace obligations, and one is the issue of the Iranian shipment".
[10]
An
Iranian
media source commentary claimed that "Israeli propaganda" was aimed at diverting attention from U.N. allegations of Israeli
war crimes
during the
Gaza War
.
[10]
Syrian
Foreign Minister
Walid Muallem
said, "Unfortunately, some official pirates in the seas, sometimes in the name of the navy, sometimes in the name of inspection, obstruct trade movement between Syria and Iran. This ship does not carry Iranian weapons to Syria and does not contain military material to manufacture weapons in Syria. This ship carries imported goods from Syria to Iran."
[11]
After photos of the shipment was released by Israel the
IRNA
news agency claimed the shipping manifest from the "Ministry of Sepah" was forged citing that the Sepah ministry was renamed to "Defense Ministry" more than 20 years ago and that "if a country plans to send a secret arms cargo to another, it will not brand the shipment with a full description".
[12]
In response the Israel MFA say that those 'Sepah' customs labels were found on some old crates of ammunition (7.62mm bullets, 122mm rockets and 106mm anti-tank shells).
[13]
See also
[
edit
]
- Operation Full Disclosure
- Similar seizure of Iranian weaponry on the high seas in 2014
- Karine A affair
- Similar seizure of Iranian weaponry on the high seas in 2002
- Gaza flotilla raid
- Where a ship attempting to break the blockade of Gaza was boarded and seized
- Victoria Affair
- Ship carrying Iranian weapons bound from Syria to Hamas in Gaza and captured by Israel
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Report: U.S. stopped Israel from attacking 'Hezbollah arms ship'
"
.
Haaretz
. 6 November 2009
. Retrieved
19 December
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Amy, Teibel (2009-11-05).
"Hezbollah denies link to arms ship"
. Associated Press
. Retrieved
2009-11-05
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Pfeffer, Anshel (2009-11-04).
"Israel seizes ship in Mediterranean carrying more than 3,000 rockets"
.
Haaretz
. Retrieved
2009-11-04
.
- ^
"IDF Navy commandoes board the Francop"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 2021-12-20
. Retrieved
19 December
2014
.
- ^
Greenberg, Hanan (2009-11-04).
"Navy: 10 times more arms on ship than on Karin-A"
. Ynet
. Retrieved
2009-11-04
.
- ^
a
b
Katz, Yaakov (2009-11-05).
"The haul: 320 tons of Katyushas, other rockets, shells and bullets"
.
The Jerusalem Post
. jpost.com. Archived from
the original
on 2012-07-08
. Retrieved
2009-11-06
.
- ^
"Slide Show of Weaponry Found on The 'Francop'
"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 2021-12-20
. Retrieved
19 December
2014
.
- ^
"Ambassadors, Military Attaches Witness Weapons Seized from
Francop
"
. Israel Defense Forces. 2009-11-05. Archived from
the original
on May 6, 2011
. Retrieved
2009-11-05
.
- ^
Boudreaux, Richard (2009-11-04).
"Israel seizes ship with alleged Hezbollah-bound arms"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
2009-11-04
.
- ^
a
b
"Israel accuses Iran of war crime over arms ship"
.
Khaleej Times
. Associated Press. 2009-11-06. Archived from
the original
on 2009-12-07
. Retrieved
2009-11-06
.
- ^
"Iran and Syria deny arms claims"
. BBC News. 2009-11-05
. Retrieved
2009-11-05
.
- ^
Israel faked
Francop
arms claims -- Iran
UPI
November 16, 2009
- ^
Ship of fools ctd.: The Israeli government response
[
permanent dead link
]
November 17, 2009