A military tribunal in Lod has imposed stiff sentences on 10 terrorists captured in an attempted sea-borne attack on Eilat last September. The leader of the group, Abdollah Daud Jaroud, and his second in command, were each sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. The others received sentences of 8-11 years.
Eight of the men were crew members of a Panamanian-flag vessel that sailed from the Syrian port of Latakia where senior Syrian army officers installed Katyusha rocket launchers on the deck. The mission was to fire the rockets into Eilat and then beach the vessel which was loaded with 40 tons of high explosives, set to detonate as soon as the terrorists escaped. The blast would have levelled the town Israeli authorities said.
The ship called at a Lebanese port where the terrorist leaders boarded. After another call at Cyprus, it passed through the Suez Canal and approached Eilat on Sept. 30. There it was intercepted by an alerted Israeli naval patrol and its entire complement was captured. The sentences were handed down by the military tribunal last Monday.
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