(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 28, 2009: Israeli warplanes bombed a convoy of trucks in Sudan in January that was believed to be carrying arms to be sm
uggled into Gaza, American officials say.
An Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel would not comment, The Associated Press reported. But the departing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, hinted that Israel had carried out the strikes. ‘‘We operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure,’’ he said in a speech Thursday, without directly mentioning Sudan.
Reuters reported Friday that Sudan now believed Israel was behind two attacks on convoys that killed up to 40 people in the remote north of the country in January and February.
‘‘The first thought is that it was the Americans that did it,’’ said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali al-Sadig, according to Reuters. ‘‘We contacted the Americans and they categorically denied they were involved. We are still trying to verify it. Most probably it involved Israel.’’
Intelligence analysts noted that the strike was consistent with other measures Israel has taken to secure its borders. U.S. officials said the airstrike took place as Israel sought to stop the flow of weapons to Gaza during the weeks it was fighting a war with Hamas there.
Two U.S. officials who are privy to classified intelligence assessments said that Iran had been involved in the effort to smuggle weapons to Gaza. They also noted that there had been intelligence reports that an operative with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had gone to Sudan to coordinate the effort.
The Sudanese said the reports emerged now because it took time to fully investigate the strike. But an accusation from one government official that the attack was an American act of genocide raised the possibility that the Sudanese were lashing out because the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for the arrest of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges in the conflict in Darfur.
The U.S. officials who described the Israeli role declined to be identified because they were discussing classified information and were not authorized to speak for the Obama administration. A U.S. military official said the January strike was one of a series of Israeli attacks against arms shipments bound for Gaza.
uggled into Gaza, American officials say.
An Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel would not comment, The Associated Press reported. But the departing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, hinted that Israel had carried out the strikes. ‘‘We operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure,’’ he said in a speech Thursday, without directly mentioning Sudan.
Reuters reported Friday that Sudan now believed Israel was behind two attacks on convoys that killed up to 40 people in the remote north of the country in January and February.
‘‘The first thought is that it was the Americans that did it,’’ said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali al-Sadig, according to Reuters. ‘‘We contacted the Americans and they categorically denied they were involved. We are still trying to verify it. Most probably it involved Israel.’’
Intelligence analysts noted that the strike was consistent with other measures Israel has taken to secure its borders. U.S. officials said the airstrike took place as Israel sought to stop the flow of weapons to Gaza during the weeks it was fighting a war with Hamas there.
Two U.S. officials who are privy to classified intelligence assessments said that Iran had been involved in the effort to smuggle weapons to Gaza. They also noted that there had been intelligence reports that an operative with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had gone to Sudan to coordinate the effort.
The Sudanese said the reports emerged now because it took time to fully investigate the strike. But an accusation from one government official that the attack was an American act of genocide raised the possibility that the Sudanese were lashing out because the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for the arrest of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges in the conflict in Darfur.
The U.S. officials who described the Israeli role declined to be identified because they were discussing classified information and were not authorized to speak for the Obama administration. A U.S. military official said the January strike was one of a series of Israeli attacks against arms shipments bound for Gaza.
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