Suez Canal denies arms smuggling

Sources at the Suez Canal Authority have denied Israeli claims that Iranian ships carrying weapons pass through the waterway to Sudan, in order to smuggle arms to Gaza through Sinai. The sources said all vessels passing through the Suez Canal are subject to the Constantinople Convention which prohibits Egypt from preventing their passage unless they belong to countries at war with Egypt. Iranian vessels that go through the waterway, the source said, are subjected to the same procedures as other vessels. All military vessels have to receive a permit from the Ministry of Defence before they are allowed to pass, the source added. Israeli daily newspaper Maariv revealed in a report that Israel had agreed with the government in Asmara to post Israeli intelligence units in Eretria, Greece. The units monitor the movements of Iranian vessels in the Red Sea and investigate whether they carry weapons or other dangerous substances that may be smuggled into Sudan and from there to militant groups in Gaza via Sinai. This was seen as especially important after Egypt lifted the ban on the passage of Iranian military vessels through the Suez Canal after the Egyptian revolution. The newspaper reported that official statistics revealed a rise in the smuggling of Iranian weapons into Gaza via Sinai, especially since the smugglers have innovated new methods to avoid detection by Egyptian security forces in Sinai. The Israeli intelligence units, Maariv said, are posted on the island of Dahlac and at the port of Massawa- exceptionally strategic locations for the purposes of monitoring marine movements at the entrance to the Red Sea. The newspaper reported that Israel’s security presence in Eritrea is numerically small but very effective and has made many strategic achievements on Israel’s behalf.