Operation Noah's Ark

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Noah's Ark
Karin A weapons.jpg
Military equipment confiscated from Karine A
Planned by Israeli Sea Corps
Objective Seize freighter Karine A
Date 3 January 2002
Executed by Shayetet 13
Outcome Success
v • d • e
See also: Operation Noah's Ark (1943)

Operation Noah's Ark (Hebrew: מבצע תיבת נוח‎, Mivtza Teyvat Noah) was an Israeli military action in January 2002 in which they seized Karine A, a Palestinian freighter in the Red Sea. The vessel was found to be carrying 50 tons of weapons, including twelve-mile-range Katyusha rockets, antitank missiles, and high explosives.

Contents

[edit] The shipment

The ship itself was worth an estimated $400,000, the civilian cargo used to conceal the weapons approximately $3,000,000, and the weapons were estimated at a value of approximately $15,000,000. The equipment included Katyusha rockets, mortars, sniper rifles, bullets, anti-tank mines, anti-tank missiles, as well as over two and a half tons of pure explosives. Maj. Gen. Yedidya Yaari, the commander of the Israeli Navy, reported that they were packed in 83 crates in waterproof plastic and attached to buoys, to permit their drop-off and retrieval at sea.

The captain of the vessel was Omar Akawi, a Fatah activist since 1976 and former member of the Palestinian Authority. According to the Beirut newspaper The Daily Star, the alleged purchaser of the weapons, Adel Salameh (aka Adel ‘Moghrabi’) was a former member of Yassir Arafat's staff until the early 1980s "when he was dismissed for conducting private business which conflicted with his official status".[1]

According to Lloyd's List, which tracks worldwide shipping records, the ship belongs to Iraqi Ali Mohammed Abbas, who purchased it on August 31, 2001 from a Lebanese company. It was renamed from Rim K to Karine A when it was registered in Tonga on September 12. Tonga has confirmed that Abbas is still the owner of the ship.[2]

[edit] The interception

The mission began at 04:45 of 3 January 2002 in the Red Sea, 300 miles from Israel. Israeli Navy commandos, backed by combat helicopters and aircraft, surprised the crew and took over the vessel without firing a single bullet. The ship was taken to Eilat the night of January 4.[3]

Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz, chief of staff of the Israeli Army, announced in a Tel Aviv news conference on January 4 that the army had seized the ship while General Anthony Zinni was meeting with Yasser Arafat to promote negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.[3]

[edit] Aftermath

Israel and the United States alleged Hezbollah had some link to the Palestinian weapons ship seized by Israel. Three Hezbollah members arrested in Jordan were attempting to smuggle Katyusha rockets to the Palestinians (the detainees were later freed by the Jordanians at the request of the Lebanese government). Another fishing vessel carrying weapons to the Palestinians was sunk off the Lebanese coast by Israel in May 2002. Israel charged that the weapons and military cargo were purchased with the help of Hezbollah. Hezbollah rejected accusations of involvement in arms shipment.[4] Israeli reports stated that the ship, purchased from Lebanon, had loaded weapons at the Iranian island of Kish in the middle of the night off the coast of Iran. It had then sailed through the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea.[5]

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat however, denied any involvement. While the IDF maintains that the weapons were bound for the PA, other sources have suggested that the weapons may instead have been headed to Lebanon for the use of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.[1] However, the New York Times called Arafat's denial "implausible."[6] Some academics, such as Matthew Levitt,[7] Anthony Cordesman[8] and Efraim Karsh[9] have also supported the view that the ship was smuggling Iranian weapons to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel subsequently arrested Fuad Shubaki, an Arafat aide who was in charge of finances in the PA, and charged him with arms dealing and establishing connections with a foreign agent, for his role in financing the weapons ship. Shubaki was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail.[10] [11]

In the aftermath, Tonga has suspended its international ship registry.[12]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The Strange Affair of Karine-A, Brian Whitaker, Guardian Unlimited, January 21 2002.
  2. ^ "Weapons ship mystery deepens". BBC. 2002-01-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1753233.stm. Retrieved 2008-06-26. 
  3. ^ a b "IDF Seizes PA Weapons Ship: The Karine A Affair". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/paship.html. Retrieved 2008-06-26. 
  4. ^ Katyusha Rocket Global Security
  5. ^ "Seized Arms Would Have Vastly Extended Arafat Arsenal". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE7D61F39F931A25752C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. 
  6. ^ "Arafat's Implausible Denials". New York Times. January 10, 2002. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE6DC1039F933A25752C0A9649C8B63. 
  7. ^ Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, by Matthew Levitt, 2006, p. 176.
  8. ^ The Israeli-Palestinian War: Escalating to Nowhere, by Anthony H. Cordesman 2005, p. 277.
  9. ^ Arafat's War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest, by Efraim Karsh, 2004, p. 236.
  10. ^ Man behind Karine A arms ship sentenced to 20 years in jail
  11. ^ Karine A mastermind gets 20 years
  12. ^ "Tonga suspends registry". http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMII/MMIIJan15b.html. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Noah%27s_Ark"