Francop Affair

Israeli commanders had received intelligence reports that the ship was carrying weapons originating from Iran, which were to be transferred to Hezbollah. 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. The ship was then set to sail to Limassol, Cyprus and then Latakia, Syria. The arms shipment weighed 320 tons and were held in containers marked with Iranian shipping codes. 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. The Israeli military said that the shipment was equivalent to about ten percent of Hezbollah's stocks. ==Reactions==

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." 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". 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." 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". 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). ==See also==