Sunday, March 29, 2009

. IAF Attacked Sudan Three Times


Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu IAF Attacked Sudan Three Times

The Israel Air Force (IAF) bombed Iranian-funded weapons convoys in Sudan three times since mid-January, according to foreign news sources. The attacks were in a remote desert area not far from the border with Egypt and in the Red Sea.
Sudan was not aware of the first strike until after the second aerial bombardment, according to the Arabic-language Al Jazeera satellite television network. "We didn't know about the first attack until after the second one. They were in an area close to the border with Egypt, a remote area, desert, with no towns, no people,” a Sudanese foreign ministry official said.

Al Jazeera obtained footage that showed several twisted and burned vehicles that were in the convoy carrying arms destined for Hamas in Gaza. Sudan has claimed that the convoy included smugglers, but that they were not carrying weapons.



Hamas has been trying to replenish its stockpile of weapons, including rockets, that were used or were destroyed during Israel’s three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign that ended in mid-January.



CBS News reported last week that the IAF attacked Sudan in mid-January, but ABC followed up with a report Friday night that Israel carried out three aerial bombings, basing its information on comments made by an unnamed United States official.

Sudanese officials added that one strike sank a ship in the Red Sea that was loaded with weapons; Hamas smuggles by sea as well as through smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian-Gaza border.



Thirty-nine people reportedly were killed in the aerial strikes, the first of which took place January 27, slightly more than a week after the end of Operation Cast Lead. A second strike followed on February 11, and the ship was sunk in another bombing.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert obliquely confirmed the attack, stating that “Israel hits every place it can in order to stop terror, near and far.”



Hizbullah denounced Israel for the attacks on Saturday, calling them a “new Israeli crime.” The terrorist organization, which is part of the Lebanese cabinet, urged Arab League leaders to condemn the attack when they meet in Qatar this week.

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