Posted on 09/17/2007 12:57:00 PM PDT by blam
N Korean ship 'linked to Israel's strike on Syria'
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 4:52pm BST 17/09/2007
A suspicious North Korean freighter that re-flagged itself as South Korean before off-loading an unknown cargo at the Syrian port of Tartous is at the centre of efforts today to investigate Israel's recent airstrike on Syria.
Israel has not given any details on the operation in Syria
An Israeli on-line data analyst, Ronen Solomon, found an internet trace for the 1,700-tonne cargo ship, Al Hamed, which showed the vessel started to off-load what Syrian officials categorised as "cement" on Sept 3.
This was three days before Israeli jets attacked a site in the north eastern desert of Syria, not far from its border with Iraq.
Since leaving Tartous, one of Syria's main ports on the Mediterranean, the ship's trace has disappeared and it is not known whether western intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel.
"I became suspicious after the first reports from Syria about the attack so I traced all traffic into Syrian ports in the days prior to the incident," Mr Solomon said.
"There were five ships but the interesting one was the one with a connection to North Korea - the Al Hamed."
He said he cross-referred to other maritime databases to establish the ship was not a regular visitor to the Mediterranean but had come through the Suez Canal in late June.
It had registered itself for the Suez transit as a South Korean vessel but Mr Solomon said this was standard procedure for North Korean ships seeking to avoid international constraints on North Korea.
Records showed the vessel docked at Tartous on July 28 before going back to sea and then returning to the port on Sept 3. "Since then there is no trace so I have no idea if she has gone up into the Black Sea or is still in the Mediterranean or whatever," Mr Solomon said.
Israel has not given any details on the operation.
Last week, US officials suggested that North Korea had sought to export some of its nuclear technology and equipment to Syria but the Israelis had been tipped off, so they arranged a pre-emptive strike on a sensitive shipment.
Mr Solomon said the Al Hamed was owned by a North Korean business until a few months ago when ownership changed hands to an as yet unidentified new owner.
Read more here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903955.html
Good find Blam
BTTT
this is unusually detailed.
Feel free to Freep these freaks here: http://www.tartousport.com/main/english/contact.php?
How can anyone in Western Journalism write this and get away with it?
There are no "businesses" in NK.
Elementary, my dear Watson.....
No trace? Maybe it didn’t have time to send a distress signal after several Mark-48’s acquired their target.
Why would Syria need cement from North Korea? It is EXCEEDINGLY heavy, and the economics of importing it from halfway around the world make no sense.
Of course, I didn’t expect anything involving the Norks and the Syrians to make sense from the surface. But you think that they couldv’e come up with a better lie than that.
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From here: http://www.papernet.hu/?l=sdetails⟨=hun&i=1121
I wish the Lone Gunman had lived to see this...absolutely everything is somewhere in the data stream if you know how to look.
There is a link here with both that boat and Syria, spelled in a different language. For research purposes:
These photos document the North Korean “Al Hamed” passing through the Bosphorous (sp?) beyond which are ports in Russia, Turkey, etc., but not Iran.
Where is that photo from? Nice castle in the background.
LOL!!!.........
2004 6419629 AL HAMED HMZB6 General Cargo Ship 1718 1965 07 Korea (North)
http://www.e-ships.net/index/A5.shtml
Also known as, under previous owners:
1965 OTEPAA
1994-SMARAGD
1996-HASAN M
1998-REIS
2004-AL HAMED (Szíria) még üzemel
That last bit, where it is listed with “Sziria” is interesting.
... kinda like Eskimos importing snowballs.
Is it that big of a lie? What else would the North Koreans have to export? Food? Now that would be a lie...
U.S. confirms Syria-N. Korea nuke link
********************************EXCERPT INTRO*****************************
"We do know that there are a number of foreign technicians that have been in Syria," Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Semmel said. "We do know that there may have been contact between Syria and some secret suppliers for nuclear equipment. Whether anything transpired remains to be seen."
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