Israel's Peres addresses weapons cache

JERUSALEM, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres blamed Iran and Syria on Wednesday for arming terrorist groups and undermining Middle East peace.

"Both Iran and Syria have been arming the terror organizations, chiefly Hezbollah and Hamas, and are clearly working towards destroying peace in the Middle East," he said.

The comments from the president follow what the Israelis described as an Iranian ship flying an Antigua flag carrying weapons to Syria for Hezbollah and other militant groups, including Hamas, Israeli news Web site Ynet reports.

Special Israeli forces on routine patrol boarded the ship before dawn Wednesday and discovered Katyusha rockets, grenades, assault rifles and mortar shells on board. The vessel was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod for further examination, the Israeli army said.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalated during the summer, with both Lebanon and Israel lodging complaints against one another with the United Nations.

Lebanon blames Israel for violating its sovereignty with aerial surveillance and other activity. Hezbollah claimed recently to have uncovered Israeli spy devices on its communications equipment in southern Lebanon.

Israel, for its part, points to a series of explosions, rocket fire and suspected weapons depots belonging to Hezbollah along its northern border.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising 34-day war in 2006.