Hezbollah perhaps moves anti-ship missiles to Lebanon,

Thousands of P-15s were built and installed on many classes of ships from MTBs to destroyers, as well coastal batteries. The P-15 was quite successful in the conflicts where it was deployed.


According to an American official, there could be upwards of 12 Russian-made anti-ship cruise missiles in Hezbollah’s possession inside Syria. The official stated that while the organization had successfully smuggled at least some of the parts of the weapons into Lebanon this past year amid the chaos of the Syrian conflict, not all required parts had been transferred.


[November 5 2009]




Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki protested, "the report was not true. The ship was heading for Iran from Syria carrying Syrian goods, not weapons."

Israel Defense Force Commando Unit 13 knew what they were looking for. 36 of the 400 containers on board the Francop were intended for Hezbollah, "Hezbollah categorically denies it has any connection with the weapons which the Zionist enemy claims it seized aboard the Francop ship," Hezbollah said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Beirut.

IDF sources said that they were not ruling out the possibility that some of the mortar shells were manufactured in Israel and painted to make them look new. Israel's Soltam Company sold thousands of mortar shells to Iran during the regime of the Shah in the 1970s and some of them are believed to have been already transferred to Hizbullah in the past.

The Spanish crates were carrying 106 mm. shells and each had the words "2 Disparos" written on them, meaning two shots, for the number of rockets inside.

The 107 mm. rockets were in crates claiming that they were manufactured in 2007. There were even instruction manuals inside in English explaining how to handle the rocket, carry it and even place it inside a launcher.

The 122 mm. Katyusha rockets appeared to have been manufactured in Russia since they were covered in Russian writing. Some of the Kalashnikov bullets likely came from China.

Arctic Sea: No bullet holes found on Arctic Sea

The ship’s captain showed it off in the early hours of January 4 that is, before Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), checked the ship on that evening.
The ship’s bridge is what interested the NBI the most.
Everything is in place: the steering and navigation equipment, the device which sends the AIS positioning signal, and the satellite telephone. According to the report, the hijackers kept the crew locked in their cabins. However, it would appear that the locks on the doors could be opened from the inside without a key.
There are no bullet holes in the walls of any of the cabins. What if a hiding place had been built into the structures of the ship during the vessel’s refurbishment in Kaliningrad? It is very hard to say just standing on the deck.
The Maltese flag on the masthead flutters in the wind. The riddle of the Arctic Sea is no closer to being solved.
The" Hijackers" of the Arctic Sea, more than six of them, most ethnic Russians living in the same neighborhood in the Estonian capital Tallinn, were set up, part of a cover meant to save the Kremlin embarrassment about a secret Russian AA missile sale to Iran gone bad. The six men awaiting trial in a Moscow jail, are facing more than 20 years in prison on charges of kidnapping and piracy.In Tallinn, Alexei Bartenev, the brother of another of the alleged hijackers, says he received a letter from accused hijacker Igor Borisov. an unemployed roofer before the "Arctic Sea" incident. by regular mail, drawing attention to the defendants' plight. "They're trying to make it clear they're no kind of pirates," he says. Bartenev says the men are being held in relatively good conditions, but under "complete isolation."

On January 23, the vessel with another load of sawn timber, approaches Algeria.

Francop: Israel shows captured arms documents

official web site

KG shipping funds and Iranian Arms Shipments

An increasing number of KG shipping funds, which are popular among German professionals such as doctors, dentists and lawyers seeking tax breaks, are thought to be close to collapse as funding dries up. Peter Döhle Schiffahrts KG lists the containership Francop as part of its box fleet. The depth of the crisis was highlighted by confirmation that Peter Döhle Schiffahrts, one of the world's largest charter shipowners, has applied for loans from a government fund set up to help companies survive the global economic downturn. German container shipowners, who control a third of the world box ship fleet, are facing increasing financial difficulties and the threat of bankruptcy as charter rates test fresh lows with the end of the peak shipping season. An Israeli special forces squadron captured the Francop flying the Antiguan flag near Cyprus, containers with hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles and ammunition destined for the Hizbullah were captured.

Francop: advanced AA platforms aboard

Reports in Israel say advanced anti-aircraft platforms never before found in the region were on board.

The registered owner of the vessel is Francop Shipping Ltd. Isle of Man, and hence to the German shipping company Reederei Gerd Bartels, based near the port of Hamburg. Mirko Bartels of the private shipping firm : "We have nothing to say." Ship manager: BARTELS G. 23, Wacholderweg, Neu Wulmstorf
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moalim called the Israeli commandos "pirates" and denied the ship was carrying weapons in televised comments made during a visit to Tehran on 03 November.


In the past year, Lebanese authorities have arrested approximately 70 people on suspicion of spying for Israel. Last month, the Lebanese Army said it had found three eavesdropping devices attached to Hezbollah's private fiber-optic communication lines. The containers were owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Group.

Antigua and Barbuda flag Francop seized

Ashdod
The ship, the Francop, a commercial vessel operating under the guise of an aid ship, captained by a Pole and flying an Antiguan flag was towed to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, where the weapons were being unloaded. The vessel is operated by United Feeder Services, a Cyprus-based shipping company that said it picked up the cargo in Damietta, Egypt. The cargo included rockets, grenades, mortar shells and missiles.
Service in/out Limassol will be performed by ‘Francop’, -UFS newsletter 44

"This could be bigger than Karin-A," a military source said.

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.




* Name: FRANCOP
* MMSI: 305234000
* IMO: 9277412
* Call sign: V2DJ5
* Flag: Antigua and Barbuda
* Vesseltype: Cargo Ship
* Width: 22 m
* Length: 137 m

build 2003
speed 18