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The Haul: 320 Tons of Katyushas, Other Rockets, Shells and Bullets

[Jerusalem Post] Yaakov Katz - The IDF issued photos Thursday showing that the Katyusha rockets discovered last week by UNIFIL troops in Lebanon are of the same make as the rockets seized by the Navy from the Francop cargo ship Wednesday. The final weight of the cache was 320 tons and included 9,000 mortar shells, thousands of 107-mm. Katyusha rockets that have a range of 15 kilometers, some 600 Russian-made 122-mm. rockets with a 40-km. range and hundreds of thousands of Kalashnikov bullets. Most of the weaponry appeared to have come from the Far East and Russia, a senior officer said, while some of it was made in Iran. Most of it appeared to have been manufactured in the past few years. Defense officials Thursday said Egypt had failed to properly inspect the Iranian containers as they sat waiting to be loaded onto the Francop at Diametta Port. The containers were clearly marked as belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), a company known to assist in illegal arms trafficking to Hizbullah. "UN Security Council Resolution 1803 explicitly asks countries to board and inspect IRISL ships and containers," one official said. "The Egyptians could have done more."
2009-11-06 06:00:00
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