The History the Israeli Military Seizing Ships Carrying Weapons

Israeli Ship Seizure Map of March, 2014

In her ongoing wars with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, and the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel has taken to seizing ships on the high seas that they believe carry advanced weaponry supplied by Israel’s other foes, Syria and Iran.  The list below details the history of weapons-carrying ships seized by the Israeli military in recent years.

2002: The ship the Karine A, a Palestinian-captained ship boarded by the Israelis  in the Red Sea, was found to be contain 50 tons of Iranian weapons.

2009: The Israeli Navy seized the Francop in the eastern Mediterranean.  This ship was found to be carrying hundreds of tons of weapons that the Israeli government claimed originated in Iran and bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

March 2011: Israeli commandos captured a cargo shop sailing from Turkey to Egypt,  was loaded with weapons. The ship had sailed to Turkey from Syria, and the weapons were thought to be destined for Gaza. Syria is an ally of Iran, so again, the Israelis saw an Iranian connection.

March  2004: on the Red Sea, about 1,000 miles form the Israeli port of Eilat, the Klos-C, was seized in international waters between Eritrea and Sudan. The Israelis found inside the ship weapons including Syrian-manufactured M-302 rockets ( range of about 100 miles).

Over the past several years, other Western nations have seized ships in the waters in and around the Middle East. These ships are largely from Iran, though North Korean ships have also been stopped and boarded. Often, weapons of war are found on these ships, and that triggers a seizure.  Weapons bound for the Houthi forces of Yemen, as well as the Hamas forces in Gaza are most frequently the issue in these seizures.

Video of the Israeli Seizure of the ship carrying Iranian Weapons