Karine A Affair
| Karine A affair | |
|---|---|
| Part of the al-Aqsa Intifada | |
Military equipment confiscated from MV Karine A
|
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| Planned by | Israeli Sea Corps |
| Objective | Seizure of MV Karine A |
| Date | January 3, 2002 |
| Executed by | Shayetet 13 |
| Outcome | Success |
The Karine A affair, also known as Operation "Noah's Ark" (Hebrew: מבצע תיבת נוח Mivtza Teyvat Noah), was an Israeli military action in January 2002 in which Israeli forces seized MV Karine A, which, according to IDF, was a Palestinian freighter in the Red Sea. The vessel was found to be carrying 50 tons of weapons, including short-range Katyusha rockets, antitank missiles, and high explosives.
Prior investigation has revealed that the captain of the vessel was Colonel Omar Akawi, a Fatah activist since 1976 and former member of the Palestinian Authority. According to the Lloyd's List, which tracks worldwide shipping records, the ship was purchased on 31 August 2001 from a Lebanese company by the Palestinian Authority, under the name of the Adel Mughrabi. The alleged purchaser of the weapons, Adel Mughrabi (aka Adel Salameh) was a former member of Yassir Arafat's staff until the early 1980s "when he was dismissed for conducting private business which conflicted with his official status".
From October 2000, Mughrabi was in contact with the Iranians and Hezbollah. Mughrabi was one of the key contacts in the Palestinian weapons obtaining system. He was supported by the Palestinian Naval Police Commander Juma'a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem. Their objective was to sneak in a great amount of weapons for the use of the Palestinian Authority. This particular operation included the purchase and facilitating of ships, forming of a sailing crew, planning on how to store and hide the weapons, the loading of the weapons into the vessels, and the transit of it until delivered to the Palestinian Authority.
The ship was then sailed to Sudan, where it was loaded with regular cargo and the crew was switched with Palestinian Authority personnel. It was renamed from Rim K to Karine A when it was registered in Tonga on September 12. Tonga has confirmed that Abbas was still the owner of the ship. During November 2001, they sailed to the Hodeida port in Yemen. Afterwards, the ship was loaded with weapons by the Iranians and the Hezbollah; while in transit, it was manned by personnel of the Palestinian Authority. The objective was to transport the weapons to the Palestinian Naval Police near the Gaza beaches.
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Wikipedia