Final inventory of Iran arms ship: 40 rockets, 180 mortars, 400,000 bullets
IDF recovers forty M-302 rockets, with a range of 90-160 kilometers, hidden in crates on intercepted Gaza-bound vessel.
By YAAKOV LAPPINWeapons recovered by the IDF from the Klos C.(photo credit: COURTESY IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
The IDF released on Sunday an inventory of weapons recovered from the attempted Iranian shipment to Gaza last week on the intercepted freighter Klos C.After detailed analysis carried out by the Engineering Corps, the IDF found 40 M-302 rockets, with a range of between 90 to 160 kilometers, hidden in crates.The Klos C also carried 180 120mm. mortar shells and some 400,000 7.62mm. bullets.“These are advanced weapons that were intended to threaten the security of millions of Israeli civilians. The IDF will continue in its mission to prevent arms smuggling across the Middle East to various terrorist organizations, under Iranian cover and funding,” the military said in a statement.Before being intercepted, the ship was heading for Port Sudan, where the Iranian Quds Force had planned to pick up the rockets and move them overland via Egypt and into Gaza through smuggling tunnels, the IDF determined.According to Military Intelligence, Iran originally flew the rockets from Syria to an Iranian airfield a number of months ago, before trucking them to the Iranian port of Bander Abbas, where they were loaded onto the Klos C.On Saturday, Israel Navy ships escorted the commandeered freighter to Eilat Port after intercepting it last week in the Red Sea, some 150 km. from Port Sudan and 1,500 km. from Israeli shores.Islamic Jihad was one of the intended recipients of the rockets, and Hamas is also assumed to have been a recipient.IDF intelligence assessments say that Iran’s Quds Force organized the shipment.
