December 1, 2014 4:30 pm
Author:
Egypt Al Sisi Egyptian missile boat Egyptian Navy IS ISIS Islamic state Israeli - Egyptian relations Israeli Navy
Ambassador III class Egyptian missile boat. Photo: Pensacola News Journal.
ISIS
terrorists were behind an attempted hijacking of an Egyptian missile
boat in the Mediterranean last month, and planned to strike Israeli
maritime targets, Ch. 2 News said Monday.
The
craft was to be used to attack Israeli vessels and offshore gas
drilling rigs, located further up the coast, according to the report.
Fears
of exactly such an attack have prompted Israel’s Defense Ministry and
navy to deploy new seacraft and other resources, including new patrol
boats and frigates, drones and anti-missile systems, to protect against
such seaborne attacks against drilling platforms in its 36 trillion
cu.-ft. Tamar and Leviathan gas fields, worth an estimated $60 billion.
In
the first-ever such attack against Egyptian forces, the military ship
came under fire by four smaller craft on Nov. 12, while it was in the
midst of what the Al Ahram
daily called “a combat exercise” in the Mediterranean near the Suez
Canal, some 40 nautical miles north of the port of Damietta.
According
to the Israeli account, the terrorists even managed to put one of their
own on the bridge of the missile boat, after “staging an accident” at
sea with the naval craft.
After
commandeering the craft as it exited the northern end of the Canal, the
Egyptian fleet understood that something was amiss when the missile
boat did not respond to requests to identify itself. Apparently, at one
point, the hijackers used the radio system, giving away their identity.
Once
the Egyptian forces realized that the ship had been hijacked, several
other vessels entered the chase after the abducted missile boat. After
an exchange of fire between the parties, the ship was hit and
“neutralized,” according to the Israeli account.
Eight
sailors are still missing at sea, and five naval personnel were
hospitalized in the bold raid, in which military forces clashed with and
destroyed four boats used by the assailants and arrested 32 suspects.
No comments:
Post a Comment