Early Wednesday morning,
the Israel Navy intercepted an Iranian shipment of advanced weapons
intended for terrorist organizations in Gaza. This is not Iran’s first
attempt at smuggling weapons. Previous attempts, had they been
successful, would have armed local terror organizations with vast
amounts of high-quality weaponry. Here is a select number of cases.
Naval smuggling attempts:
1. In January 2009, the Cypriot merchant vessel Monchegors,
which was en route to Syria, was called for inspection at Limassol by
the Cypriot authorities. Upon boarding the ship, inspectors uncovered
caches of Iranian weapons. The cargo was seized and confiscated in
Cyprus until July 11th 2011, when it caught fire and spontaneously
combusted.
2. On November 4, 2009, the Israeli Navy boarded the MV Francop, a merchant vessel en route to Latakia in Syria. Upon inspection, IDF forces discovered 500 tons of Iranian-made weapons,
secreted away in 36 unmarked cargo crates. The shipment included
various rockets, cannons, hand grenades and rifle ammunition – all
disguised and covered up by sacks of ordinary supplies, in a similar
method to that used on the KLOS-C.
The MV Francop ship
3. On March 15, 2011, Israel Navy commandos boarded the
civilian vessel Victoria which was headed from Syria to the Egyptian
port city Alexandria. The ship was carrying approximately 50 tons of concealed weaponry,
including Iranian-made C-704 surface-to-sea missiles, mortars and
ammunition. The shipment was intended for terror organizations in the
Gaza Strip, such as Hamas and the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad).
4. On January 22, 2002, Israel Navy commandos boarded the merchant vessel Karine-A
which had been purchased by Palestinian owners in order to smuggle
weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip. The ship had loaded its cargo in
Iran, sailed through the Persian Gulf and was stopped on its way to
Israel – much like the KLOS-C. The Karine-A had was shipping 50 tons of
weaponry.
Smuggling attempts via land:
On January and April 2012, Turkish authorities twice seized
several trucks carrying contraband weapons on their way from Iran to
Syria.
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