JERUSALEM:Israeli naval commandos seized an arms ship

today near Cyprus that was carrying missiles and anti-tank weapons from Iran to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, defence officials said.

The pre-dawn seizure highlighted Israel’s accusations that Iran is arming its enemies. Israel offered no evidence to back up its claim that the weapons were meant for Hezbollah.

The arms cache, including anti-tank missiles and Katyusha rockets, was stashed aboard a commercial vessel operating under the guise of an aid boat, captained by a Pole and flying an Antiguan flag, Israeli defence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the military had not yet officially released the information.

A naval unit patrolling the area spotted the vessel and on the basis of

intelligence reports, intercepted and boarded it, defence officials said.

The takeover of the boat occurred without incident, said military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich.

She gave no details about the weapons and munitions. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said the crew was not involved in any arms-smuggling effort.

The boat was towed

to the southern Israeli

port of Ashdod, where

the weapons were

being unloaded.

A senior Lebanese army official refused to comment on the report, saying it happened outside Lebanon’s borders and outside the country’s national waters. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

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.”

The boat was the second major arms ship Israel

has seized in its campaign to quash the smuggling

of weapons to Palestinian and Lebanese militants.

In January 2002, Israeli forces stormed the Karine

A freighter on the Red

Sea, and confiscated what the military said was 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The Lebanon-Israel

border has been largely quiet since Israel and Hezbollah fought a fierce war in the summer of

2006. But Israel has long warned that Hezbollah fighters have been rearming and now possess

some 40,000 rockets. Gaza militants also have

dramatically reduced their rocket attacks on southern Israel since a bruising

winter war. But militants continue to smuggle in rockets and components through underground tunnels with Egypt, the Israeli military says.

On Tuesday, the head of military intelligence said Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers recently test-fired a missile capable of striking Israel’s largest urban centre, metropolitan Tel Aviv.