Israel seizes ship laden with weapons

The Israeli military said an Iranian document was found on board, showing that the arms shipment originated from Iran, although the paper was not shown to reporters. Rear Admiral Roni Ben-Yehuda, Israel’s deputy navy commander, said that despite its size, the shipment of weapons was “a drop in the ocean’’ of arms being shipped to Hezbollah.

“It’s a cargo certificate that shows that it was from a port in Iran,’’ military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said. “All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin, and this one was stamped at an Iranian port.’’

The Israelis boarded the ship before dawn near Cyprus. Ben-Yehuda told a briefing that “hundreds of tons’’ of weapons were found on the ship, giving a much higher estimate than an earlier one of more than 60 tons.

Containers had Iranian shipping codes in English: “IRISL’’ on one side and “I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group’’ on the other. Some of the hundreds of crates lined up on the dock were open, revealing dark-green missiles with English-language designations painted in black.

Israel has long accused Iran of arming its enemies. But hours after the seizure, Israel had not provided proof that the arms were meant for the Lebanese guerrillas.

Israeli military officials said that the ship’s journey started in Iran, and that it arrived in Beirut a week ago. The next stop was Damietta, Egypt, where the weapons were loaded, they said. Ben-Yehuda said the ship was headed for Latakia, Syria.

In Tehran, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, dismissed Israeli allegations the ship carried arms.

“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,’’ Moallem said a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart. “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,’’ Moallem added.

His comments made in Arabic were carried by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station and other Lebanese local stations.

It was unclear why Moallem said the ship was headed in the opposite direction of that claimed by Israel. Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment in Damascus.

Iran and Syria are close allies and Hezbollah’s principal backers. Israel accuses Syria and Iran of supplying Hezbollah with weapons using air, sea, and land routes.

If true, Israel’s assertion would bolster allegations that Syria has been complicit in getting weapons to Hezbollah.

An Egyptian government official said it was “illogical’’ to think that Egypt is shipping weapons to Hezbollah. The official, who would not be named because he was not authorized to discuss the case with the media, could not confirm or deny if the ship entered Egyptian ports. But he said it is not possible to search every ship that enters Egypt’s ports.

Egypt’s relations with Hezbollah have been strained following the arrest in April of 26 people suspected of working for the group. The group is on trial in Cairo accused of spying for a foreign group, planning attacks against tourists and shipping in the Suez Canal, and sending operatives to Gaza to help militant groups there.

In the southern port Israeli city of Ashdod, where the ship was towed and docked, hundreds of rockets and piles of boxes of grenades were stacked on the shore as Israeli forces unloaded the cargo.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter war in summer 2006 that ended with a UN-brokered cease-fire, and tensions remain high.