-Caveat Lector- Major Israeli Operation on Palestinian Weapons Cargo ****************************************************
Friday afternoon, January 4, Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, flanked by Navy commander, Maj.-Gen Yedidya Yaari and Air Force commander Maj.-Gen Dan Halutz, called an unusual press briefing to announce the seizure of the 4,000-ton Palestinian arms freighter, Karine-A freighter Thursday night. As they spoke, Israeli frogmen were sailing the ship north up the Red Sea from the Bab el Mandeb and checking through the cargo of 50 tons of weapons, more than fifty times the Lebanese cargo destined for the Palestinians aboard the San Torini last year. Initial examination of the 83 crates turned up long and short range Katyusha rockets, with a maximum 20 km range, anti-tank Lao and Sagger missiles, 120 mm mortars and an abundance of heavy machine guns, rifles, mines, explosives and ammunition. Most of the hardware originated in Iran. It was carefully packed in specially manufactured sealed tubes attached to floating buoys for the Karine-A to drop off the Gaza Strip coast. DEBKAfile's military sources reveal that the capture of the Palestinians arms freighter was the product of close US-Israel intelligence, naval and air force collaboration. It lifted the veil off a corner of the secret joint operations between the two countries in a stretch of sea ranging from the southern approaches of the Persian Gulf near the Yemeni island of Socatra, up to the Horn of Africa and taking in the waters off Somalia and Djibouti and the Red Sea gateway of Bab el Mandeb. The US Fifth Fleet maintains two large bases in Socatra and the Yemeni port of Hodeida. Israel has the use of a large naval, air and intelligence base on Eritrea's Red Sea Dalahk Archipelago that commands the routes from the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Until the middle of this week, US and Israel worked together out of those bases to cut off the escape routes of al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in flight from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. DEBKAfile was the first to expose one of those escape routes as running through south Tehran. Its sources now reveal that the US spy satellites tracking that route picked up the Palestinian arms ship. At first it was taken for a an arms delivery to the Lebanese Hizballah against a possible US-Israeli strike. However, intensive intelligence work by US agents in Iran and the Persian Gulf, and Israelis operating in some Persian Gulf states, uncovered its true destination. US satellite, spyplanes and Fifth Fleet warships then shadowed the vessel from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, expecting it to bypass the Red Sea as too risky and reach the Mediterranean after circumnavigating Africa. An Israeli Dolphin submarines took part in the surveillance. But as the Karine-A reached Djibouti, it was signaled by radio to turn north into the Red Sea. The Israeli air force and navy swung into rapid action. Naval commandos and air force helicopters took off, accompanied by air force refueling craft. On the night of January 3, Israel helicopter transports dropped one group of frogmen onto the deck of the Palestinian freighter, while a second rubber dinghies was carried to target with rubber dinghies by air transports. The Palestinian Marine Police crew and captain were too surprised to resist the raiders and not a single shot was fired. General Mofaz, who put off his working trip to the United States, due Wednesday, January 2, to complete the operation, announced Israel has clear proof that top Palestinian Authority officials, in violation of all its commitments, purchased the vessel and charged it with illegal freight for delivery to Palestinian territory. Those weapons would have brought every part of the Israeli population into range from Palestinian territory. Interception of the cargo saved untold Israeli lives and prevented the Palestinian Authority from elevating its level of terror. Asked how Israel came to seize a Palestinian vessel on the high seas, Mofaz stressed that Israel does not confine its counter-terror operations to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but fights where it can. Arafat, he said, has long been in close touch with Iranian leaders and Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups. Three facts emerge from the Karine-A episode: A. Arafat could not have organized this large delivery without the help of the top level of the Lebanese Hizballah, which brings the notorious terrorist Imad Mughniyeh into the picture. B. In view of this close collaboration, some of the heavy weapons aboard the vessel must have been destined for Hizballah instructors and fighting men currently posted in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. C. According to DEBKAfile's military sources, the Palestinians and the Hizballah may have already divided up tasks for their next large-scale terror campaign, with the Lebanese group attacking from Lebanon in the North and the Palestinians using the new heavy hardware to attack Israeli population centers. ********************* Karine-A Seizure Changes US Game Rules for Arafat ************************************************* It took the New York Times only a few hours to obtain corroboration from "senior administration officials in Washington" for DEBKAfile's January 4 disclosure that the US was involved in tracking the Palestinian arms ship seized in a combined Israeli naval-air force operations on the Red Sea Thursday. The officials stressed that the US did not participate in the actual seizure. Neither did it have evidence that the weapons were destined for the Palestinian Authority, as Israel claims, rather than the Lebanese Hizballah. In terms of Arafat's involvement in the international terror movement, however, either option puts him in very hot water in Washington. The vessel was purchased by senior Palestinian Authority officials with PA funds; its skipper, now under Israeli interrogation, is a lieutenant colonel of Palestinian Naval Intelligence, three crewmen belong to the same force and a high-ranking Hizballah operative was also captured on the deck of the Karine-A. Arafat has thus been caught red-handed placing his resources, many of which come out of donations from Western governments, into a manifest collaborative operation with a proscribed al Qaeda-linked terror group. Whether the 50 tons of weapons were destined for the Palestinian Authority or the Hizballah in Lebanon is immaterial in this regard. DEBKAfile first exposed Arafat's strategic decision to join operational hands with the Hizballah exactly a year ago. Since then, Lebanese Shiite terrorists have been streaming to Palestinian-ruled areas as military instructors working closely with Palestinian intelligence services, mentors for suicide squads and instructors in the manufacture and use of various types of rockets, including Katyusha surface weapons, and extra-power explosives. Until now, the US government has avoided acknowledging this collaboration, because it would have meant listing Yasser Arafat as head of a terrorist group and the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organization. However, the very fact that US spy satellites and planes picked up the trail of the Palestinian weapons ship as it sailed from Iran and passed the word on to Israel in time for its interception - a fact administration officials did not deny to the New York Times - is tantamount to an important administration step towards tightening the noose around Arafat. Indeed the first thing US envoy Anthony Zinni did when called on Arafat in Ramallah Friday afternoon was to demand an explanation for the arms ship. All Arafat and his aides could produce was a lame denial and the promise of an inquiry. A senior US source informed DEBKAfile Saturday that the time is past for talking about a Palestinian-Israeli peace or even a ceasefire. Arafat is on the spot he has got to understand that he is under notice to break off all his ties with violent terrorist organizations - the Hizballah in Lebanon, Iraqi military intelligence, through the officers he allows to operate on the West Bank and with whom he works in Jordan, and with the Damascus-based Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestinian. Aside from those links, he has still not moved to disband the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami. But he will find that the capture of Karine-A has affected a pivotal change in the rules governing Washington's attitude towards the Palestinian Authority. > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > PA ship's Katyushas would have threatened Israel's > cities > ------------------------------------------------------ > By Arieh O'Sullivan January, 06 2002 > ------------------------------------------------------ > TEL AVIV (January 6) - A freighter carrying 50 tons of > Iranian-supplied weapons captured by Israel Navy > commandos in the Red Sea on Thursday was carrying > long-range Katyusha rockets and other offensive > weapons destined for the Palestinian Authority, senior > government officials said over the weekend. > > The ship, the Karine-A, a 4,000-ton freighter owned by > the PA and captained by a PA naval policeman, was > boarded by naval commandos without firing a shot some > 500 nautical miles from Israel in an operation > codenamed Noah's Ark. > > Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the > arms shipment was intended for the PA. > > The PA denied any knowledge of the ship and said it > considered the announcement an Israeli effort to > sabotage the visit by US envoy Anthony Zinni. > > Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan > Gissin, said yesterday interrogation of the ship's > crew leaves "no doubt" the attempt to smuggle the arms > was planned, financed, and carried out by the most > "senior echelons" of the PA. > > Gissin rejected as "total nonsense" claims by the PA > it had nothing to do with the smuggling attempt. > > "[PA Chairman Yasser] Arafat is in a bind right now," > Gissin said, dismissing the PA's denials. "While > Arafat was talking about a cease-fire and peace, he > was planning the next stage of the fighting, using the > lull in the fighting to rearm, regroup, and prepare > for an escalation once the fighting starts again." > > Arafat called for a trilateral commission of > investigation - comprising Israelis, Americans, and > Palestinians - into the affair. > > He assured Zinni during their meeting on Friday he had > nothing to do with the vessel and its cargo, although > three members of the crew, including the captain, are > members of the PA Naval Police. > > Gissin denied suggestions the arms were not headed for > the PA in the Gaza Strip, but rather for Hizbullah in > Lebanon. "There are much better and safer ways to > provide weapons to Hizbullah than sailing through the > Suez Canal and landing off the beaches of Lebanon," > Gissin said. He also denied reports one of the men on > the ship is a member of Hizbullah, saying instead he > is a PA man trained by Hizbullah. > > The government announced the capture of the arms > freighter at a press conference in Tel Aviv Friday > afternoon. Naval commandos took control of the vessel > before dawn on Thursday. It was the most extensive > attempt to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian > Authority to date. > > "This was a daring and complex raid that took place > very far from Israel's shores," Mofaz told reporters > Friday. > > Under missile-boat escort, the Karine-A docked at the > small navy base in Eilat Friday night. Its entire > cargo was dismantled and examined and the commandos > debriefed. > > "From the weapons we examined, it appears that most of > [the cargo] was Iranian and included both short- and > long-range Katyushas, many Sagger and LAW anti-tank > rockets, mortars, mines, explosives, sniper rifles, > bullets, and many other weapons," Mofaz said. > "Remember the San Torini? This vessel has close to 50 > times more weapons." > > Last May, the navy intercepted the San Torini fishing > boat, which was filled with large quantities of > weapons en route from Lebanon to the Palestinian > Authority in Gaza. That catch included Katyusha > rockets, SA-7 (Strella) anti-aircraft missiles, > rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank grenades, mortars > and shells, mines, Kalashnikov assault rifles, and > ammunition. > > "Use your imagination," he said. "If, God forbid, they > had a 122mm Katyusha inside the Palestinian Authority, > with a range of 20 kilometers, just where they could > reach and what kind of damage they could cause to > Israeli civilians and soldiers. If these weapons had > reached terrorists acting against us, it would have > dramatically... widened the scope of terror against us > for a long time." > > The IDF chief stressed these weapons are in violation > of the existing agreements between Israel and the PA. > > "Again we see that the PA is not honoring its > obligation to agreements and is ready to create a > threat from long-range weapons for which it has no > justification to arm itself, whether for defensive > purposes or in order to enforce the law," Mofaz said. > "The link between the PA and the smuggling operation > is unequivocal, clear, and undeniable. Official > figures in the PA were involved, among them senior > officials in the Palestinian Naval Police," including > the ship's captain and other crew members. > > "This smuggling attempt confirms the PA's intentions > to continue its policy of terror and violence, to > escalate it over time, and to make the attacks more > deadly, as well as deeper inside Israel," Mofaz > charged. > > Mofaz also lambasted the PA for using its money to > purchase weapons, while at the same time complaining > to the world of its people's distress. > > "The PA claims that its people are in economic > distress because of the conflict," he said. "At the > same time, however, they are using vast resources for > purchasing weapons, instead of for solving internal > economic distress. This is again proof of the cynical > use of the suffering of the Palestinian people." > > Military officials declined to estimate the cost of > such an arms shipment. > > Mofaz said the smuggling effort belied any attempt by > the PA to show it is reducing terror attacks. "Once > again, we are witness to the PA leadership's double > standards," he said. > > Mofaz said the incident demonstrated the close links > among the PA, terror groups and Iran, all of whom want > to annihilate Israel. > > "We will fight terror everywhere and at all times, not > just in Judea and Samaria and Gaza," he said. "We will > hit terror wherever it threatens us �no matter how far > away from us." > > According to security sources, the PA purchased the > ship a few months ago. > > OC Navy Adm. Yedidya Ya'ari said the commandos boarded > the vessel in international waters and no nation's > maritime sovereignty was violated. Ya'ari said the > weapons were packed in special waterproof containers > designed to be dropped into the sea and picked up by > smaller craft. > > Ya'ari said the operation in international waters, > which included both navy vessels and air force > helicopters, "stretched the envelope of Israel's > deterrent capability a few inches more." > > He said the IDF is not aware of other vessels that > have been able to slip past the navy to deliver > weapons to the Palestinians. > > State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US > condemns any attempt by militants to escalate the > tensions and the conflict in the region. > > Boucher said Zinni had expressed US condemnation to > Arafat and pressed Arafat to find an "explanation of > the situation." Zinni also urged Arafat "to take > immediate steps to prevent future attempts to bring in > additional weaponry or escalate the current conflict." > > Boucher said the US was not involved in the seizure of > the vessel, but American media quoted senior US > officials as saying the US had participated in > tracking the ship. > > An Israeli official in Washington said Mofaz had > canceled his trip to Washington last Wednesday in > order to be on hand to oversee the seizure of the > ship. Officials originally said Mofaz had canceled his > visit in order to be in Israel while Zinni is here. > > A senior PA security official said PA officers > involved in the smuggling incident committed a > "shameful act" that harms the PA. > > "There is no need for these weapons," the PA source > said. "If it were true that the PA was smuggling these > rockets into the Gaza Strip, it would give Israel a > reason to finish off the PA." > > He suggested those from the PA on the vessel might > have been involved in smuggling Katyushas to Hizbullah > in Lebanon for money. > > The PA official said there are unanswered questions > that shed doubt about the ship's destination and > Israel's claim the money and vessels were bought with > Arafat's money and intended for the PA. > > Another PA source did not rule out the vessel's > belonging to a Palestinian company or having been > bought with Palestinian money, while yet another PA > source said the Palestinians knew about the vessel > before Zinni's arrival. > > Palestinian sources said Iran, Iraq, and Syria want > violence to continue in the PA to divert attention > from their own involvement in supporting groups > labeled by the US as terror organizations and thus > delay any strike or sanctions against them. Those > countries are behind the smuggling of weapons to the > Palestinians and Hizbullah, one PA source said. > > Palestinian officials urged Zinni to use his influence > with the Gulf states and to pressure Iran to stop > channeling money and weapons to extremists. > > Foreign Minister Shimon Peres plans to ask world > leaders today to declare Iran - which, according to > security officials, is the source of the weapons on > the ship - a nation that abets terror, a Foreign > Ministry spokesman said. > > Iran yesterday denied any involvement with the vessel > captured by Israel. > > (Lamia Lahoud, Herb Keinon, and Janine Zacharia in > Washington contributed to this report.) > ----------------------------------------------------- > This article can also be read at > http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/01/06/News/News.41164.html > > ===================================================== <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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