Iranian aid ship arrives in Lebanon

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:45:06 GMT | PressTV

Iranian Red Crescent aid workers load medical aid onto the 'Iran Shahed' ship in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in late December. An Iranian ship carrying aid for the people in Gaza has been forced away from Egypt after Cairo prohibited the unloading of the ship. For two weeks, the Iran Shahed carrying two-thousand tons of medical and food supplies was held 50km off the coast of Gaza by Egyptian authorities. The Iran Shahed arrived in the Lebanese capital port city of Beirut at 7:14 pm (17:14 GMT) local time, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday. Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi, the spokesman for the Gaza Reconstruction Committee of Iran, explained on Thursday that the ship was forced to change course after Egypt denied it entry. "We gave the Egyptians a 24-hour deadline to conclude the matter. After they refused to accommodate, the ship changed its course to Lebanon," he said. The Egyptian government has officially refused to give the relief ship permission to unload aid at the Egyptian seaport of Al-Areesh, an informed source at the Organization of the Islamic Conference confirmed on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Egyptian officials justified their decision to deny the ship entry by accusing the Iranian ship of carrying weapons for the Hamas resistance movement. Israel also joined Egypt, which neighbors the Gaza Strip, in its anti-Iran efforts on the issue, claiming that Tehran was trying to supply Hamas with new Grad-model Katyusha rockets. Cairo is seen throughout the Middle East as Tel Aviv's main accomplice in denying the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip vital supplies such as food and medicine.