Navy vessel (archives)
Photo: Zvika Israeli, GPO
Trucks attacked in Sudan
Report: Naval commando forces involved in Sudan strike
American source tells Yedioth Ahronoth daily special unit's fighters took part in January operation, which included attack on Iranian arms ship docking in northeast African country
Further details revealed on IDF operation in Sudan: Naval commando forces of the Navy's Shayetet 13 unit were involved in the January operation, which included an attack on an Iranian arms ship docking in Sudan, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Wednesday, quoting an American source.
Two days later, the ABC network reported
that Israel
had struck three times in the northeast African country in an attempt to thwart the smuggling of weapons to the Hamas
organization in Gaza.
American television network CBS reported in late March that Israel Air Force planes had attacked in Sudan 17 trucks carrying weapons from Iran to the Gaza, leaving 39 people killed.
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Sudanese officials said in response that the convoy of trucks attacked was transferring goods, not weapons, and that there was no proof that Israel was the one to strike on its territory.
Senior Hamas member Salah al-Bardawil said that the allegations that the convoy was transferring weapons to Gaza were "false claims aimed at permitting the strike in Sudan."
Israel refused to comment on the publications, but former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after the first reports about the strike emerged that "we are operating in any place where the terror infrastructures can be hit. In close places, in distant places, we're hitting them in a way which strengthens and reinforces the deterrence."
The London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported about a week ago that an American source had telephoned a high-ranking Sudanese official before the strike and warned him that a third party was monitoring the smuggling of weapons from Sudan to Gaza and that the smuggling must stop immediately.
The paper reported that the strikes took place shortly after the warning, causing Sudanese officials to believe that the United States was behind them, although this was denied by Washington.
