Chief-of-staff Gabi Ashkenazi of the Israel Defense Forces, confirmed Thursday that early intelligence led to the seizure of the ship that carried weapons from Iran destined for Hizbullah terrorists. The lieutenant general told a Tel Aviv news conference that the work that went into the capture of the ship came out of a widespread network. He added that without the Mossad intelligence agency the navy would not have had the exact information that led to the ship.

Ashkenazi's statement contradicted earlier ones that indicated that the capture of the Francop was the coincidental matter of an Israeli naval boat being in the right place at the right time.