From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Mar 26 2009 - 07:22:15 EST
Thu., March 26, 2009 Nisan 1, 5769
IAF airstrike in Sudan hit convoy of weapons destined for Gaza
By Yossi Melman, Amos Harel and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and
News Agencies
Tags: IDF, Israel News, Hamas, Gaza
The Israel Air Force carried out an attack last January against a convoy of
trucks in Sudan carrying arms for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the
American network CBS.
According to the report, 39 people riding in 17 trucks were killed, while
civilians in the area suffered injuries.
Official Israeli sources refused to confirm or deny on Wednesday any report
of Israel's involvement in an air strike in Sudan.
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However, Sudanese State Minister for Highways Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem was
quoted in the Paris-based Sudan Tribune Web site as saying that a "major
power bombed small trucks carrying arms, burning all of them."
The strike "killed Sudanese, Eritreans and Ethiopians, and injured others,"
Saleem added.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin broke the story. He
says that Israeli intelligence learned of plans to move weapons through
Sudan, north toward Egypt and then via the Sinai into the Gaza Strip.
According to Martin, Israel and the U.S. had signed an agreement for closer
international efforts to block smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip.
During the final days of the Israeli offensive against Hamas, Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni and her American counterpart Condoleezza Rice signed a
security-intelligence memorandum on intensifying cooperation in a joint
effort to block the smuggling of arms from Iran to Hamas via Sudan.
The Sudanese news site said the attack took place "in a desert area
northwest of Port Sudan city, near Mount al-Sha'anun."
According to SudanTribune.com, the airstrike was an "embarrassment" to
Sudan's government, and it discussed the matter with Egypt's government "to
gather more information to formulate a response."
On the basis of the report from Sudan, American reporters sought
confirmation from U.S. administration officials, which led them to the
conclusion that the air strike did take place but that the U.S. Air Force
was not involved and that the aircraft were Israeli.
CBS correspondent Dan Raviv said that "if Israeli airplanes carried out the
attack in Sudan, it would suggest that there is a shadow against Hamas and
its weapons sources that is wider than the Israeli or U.S. government has
revealed."
In the original Sudanese report, an unidentified Egyptian official was
quoted as saying that the planes that carried out the attack were based out
of many countries in the region, and some observers guessed that he meant
Djibouti, but there is no such confirmation.
Meanwhile, Israel defense sources refused to comment on the report of an air
strike in Sudan or on the role that Israel may have played in that attack.
Defense sources have reiterated on a number of occasions that Iran embarked
on an intensive effort to supply Hamas with weapons and ammunition during
Operation Cast Lead.
The Israeli security sources said that an international network has been set
in place in which smugglers move arms caches from Iran through the Persian
Gulf to Yemen, on to Sudan and then to Egypt and Sinai where they are
brought into the Gaza Strip through tunnels.
Israeli intelligence has warned that the deliveries include anti-tank
missiles, small arms, and military grade high explosives, as well as
missiles.
Meanwhile, in May, an international conference is scheduled to take place in
Ottawa, the third of its kind since the end of Operation Cast Lead, which
will discuss how to prevent arms smuggling from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
In addition to host Canada, Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Norway,
Denmark, the U.S. and Israel will also take part.
Immediately after the conference a "war game" is scheduled to take place in
Washington, with the participation of security officials and diplomats from
the countries involved. The "war game" will practice a scenario of foiling
arms smuggling from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
The most recent conference took place in London a week ago and the countries
cooperating in blocking the arms smuggling from Iran formulated a joint plan
of operations. The plan includes the signing of a series of bilateral
agreements with countries situated along the path of the smugglers, as well
as countries whose commercial fleets carry cargo from Iran elsewhere
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