Israel captures 'largest ever' shipment of Hezbollah weapons

Israeli commandos today seized a ship packed with arms bound for Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.

The military said the weapons, the largest shipment it has ever found, were sent from Iran.

Rear Admiral Roni Ben-Yehuda, the deputy Israeli navy commander, said that "hundreds of tons" of weapons were found on the ship.

He added the weapons were "a drop in the ocean" of arms being shipped to Hezbollah.

In the southern Israeli port of Ashdod where the ship was towed and docked, hundreds of rockets and piles of boxes of grenades were stacked on the shore as the cargo was unloaded.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter war in 2006 that ended with a UN-brokered cease-fire, but occasional flare-ups occur.

The seizure was bigger than a similar haul in 2002, when Israeli military confiscated a vessel with 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The presence of Iranian proxies in the Middle East have combined with worries over Tehran's nuclear program and arsenal of long-range missiles to make Iran the Jewish state's most formidable foe.

Israel shares the West's fears that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, despite its assertions to the contrary. Neutralising the Iranian nuclear threat remains Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top priority and Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Admiral Ben-Yehuda said weapons, including Katyusha rockets, were stashed on a commercial vessel operating under the guise of an aid ship, captained by a Pole and flying an Antiguan flag.

Based on intelligence reports, a naval unit patrolling the area intercepted and boarded the vessel without incident, defence officials said.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called the interception "another success against the relentless attempts to smuggle weapons to bolster terrorist elements threatening Israel's security".