Friday, August 20, 2010

Israelis conducting covert maritime operations in Persian Gulf


AN IMPORTANT PIECE
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Aug 20, 2010, 00:16

"Chinese and Japanese intelligence agencies, which closely monitor events in the Persian Gulf due to the dependence of both countries on oil from the region, report that Israeli Navy commandos have recently been active in creating maritime incidents in the Gulf that could be blamed on Iran.

The five incidents that have Israel under the scrutiny of the intelligence services of China and Japan, the world’s second and third largest economic powers, respectively, are the “robbery” attacks on four merchant ships off Basra, Iraq on August 8 and the July 28 explosion on the Japanese supertanker MV M. Star in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Last month, the Israeli Navy deployed older U-209 and newer U-212 Dolphin-class diesel submarines, obtained from Germany, to the Persian Gulf. The submarines are known to have on board a number of Shayetet 13 naval commando squadrons trained to carry out sabotage against sea and shore targets.

On August 17, Japan’s NHK news network reported that the Voyage Data Recorder radar on board the M. Starspotted a small boat engaged in “suspicious movements” shortly before an explosion damaged the ship’s hull and injured one seaman. On August 4, a virtual unknown group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said to be linked to “Al Qaeda,” claimed responsibility for the attack, but intelligence sources scoffed at the notion that such a group could have carried out such a stealth-like attack.

Japanese intelligence believes what damaged the M. Star was an underwater remotely-piloted drone, similar to the airborne variety used extensively by the United States and Israel in the Middle East......"

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