Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Monday toured a display of Syrian-made missiles that were intercepted by the Israeli Navy last week on a Gaza-bound ship from Iran. The rockets are being displayed in the Red Sea port of Eilat, where the ship was brought over the weekend.
“Iran, a brutal regime, has not abandoned its deep involvement in terrorism, its systematic efforts to undermine peace and security throughout the Middle East, and its ambition to destroy the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said, the Associated Press reported. “What is new is not Iran’s deeds or its lies, but the desire of many in the international community to bury their heads in the sand.”
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the weaponry on board the seized Iranian ship included dozens of M-302 missiles, which have a range of 100-200 kilometers (62-124 miles). The weapons were hidden inside cement containers. They were originally flown from Syria to Iran. From Iran, they were shipped by boat to Iraq. The shipment was intercepted while it was being moved by boat from Iraq to Sudan, from where the weapons would have been smuggled to Gaza.
Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, told JNS.org that while Iran’s nuclear program “is the fast mover in international discussions,” the Iranians are at the same time “working very diligently on expanding the scope and lethality of their missile program,” which is a delivery vehicle for nuclear weapons.
{Matzav.com}
