Europe

  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
  • Send to Kindle

Italian Security Officers Seize Cache of Egypt-Bound Weapons

Acting on a tip from Israel, Italian security officers seized a cache of Egypt-bound weapons, including rocket launchers, at the Port of Naples. The final destination of the weapons has not been identified, but the majority of weapons smuggled into the Gaza Strip for use by Hamas come through tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The cache would then likely constitute only a tiny part of the constant stream of arms that Iran dispatches to its proxies — Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The smuggling regime has forced Israel and its regional allies to heighten regional surveillance, and the Italian enforcement was by no means the first time a ship loaded with Gaza-bound weapons has been interdicted in and around the eastern Mediterranean.