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VIENNA – The EU and
Syria
are engaged in a tug-of-war over an intercepted ship
suspected of transporting explosives from
Iran to
Palestinian militants in Gaza, European diplomats say.
Cyprus is caught
in the middle, they say, because the vessel docked there
after the U.S.
military boarded it.
Two diplomats recently told The Associated
Press that Syria, described by the U.S. as the port of
destination for the vessel, is pressuring Cyprus over what
it should do with the ship's cargo.
It was unclear how much pressure and what
kind the
Syrians were exerting.
Syrian Justice Minister Mohammed al-Ghufari
visited Cyprus late last month on a little-publicized visit
weeks after the
U.S. Navy
boarded the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk off the island
nation and found what Washington suspects were weapons from
Iran meant for
Hamas militants in Gaza.
The U.S. military said it could not
legally detain the ship, which it said was headed for Syria.
The vessel continued on to
Port Said,
Egypt, and then on Jan. 29 docked in Cyprus, where
its cargo — described by Cypriot officials as material that
could be used to manufacture munitions — was offloaded. The
Cypriot government says the ship breached a U.N. ban on
Iranian arms exports.
Israel and the
United States accuse Iran and Syria of supplying Hamas with
weapons, something both Mideast nations deny. Israel
launched a 22-day offensive on Hamas-controlled Gaza in late
December to halt militants' rocket fire on Israelis and the
smuggling of arms that turned Hamas into a threat to much of
southern Israel.
A government official from a country in
the region told the AP that Ghufari's delegation "was
instructed to reach secret agreements with Cyprus" that
would allow the Syrians to receive at least part of the
cargo at the Syrian port of
Latakia.
Two Cypriot government employees familiar with Ghufari's
visit could not confirm that, saying the subject was not
broached at least in formal meetings the Syrian official had
with his Cypriot hosts.
But one of the European diplomats said the
Cypriots
made it known to the European powers,
Britain,
France and Germany, that they feel under pressure from the
Syrians over the incident. And both told the AP that Cyprus
in turn is being urged by
European
Union governments to heed guidance from the
U.N. Security
Council Sanctions Committee set up in 2006 to oversee
a Security
Council embargo on Iran's nuclear and
ballistic
missile programs and an export ban on arms and
related material.
All of the officials spoke on the issue
only on condition of anonymity because their information was
confidential.
Syrian officials have been unreachable for
comment in recent days.
Cyprus, with its nearest coastal point
only 60 miles(less than 100 kilometers) west of Syria, has
traditionally been close to the Arab world. But the
Greek-majority island is geographically part of
Europe
and joined the
European
Union in 2004, a move formally aligning it with the
26 other nations of the bloc.
Britain has signaled that it is ready to
help Cyprus dispose of the Monchegorsk's cargo.
Caroline
Flint, London's minister for Europe, told Damascus
officials that Britain and other nations "will want to help
in whatever way we can."
But while acknowledging that the cargo
contravened the U.N. ban, Cypriot officials have not yet
taken steps to destroy it;
Foreign
Minister Markos Kyprianou said last month that such a
move is a "technical matter" to be examined "at the
appropriate time."
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