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Israel’s navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said.

The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities.

In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident.

Iran and Syria have both rejected Israel’s allegations.

‘Disguised cargo’

The Israeli military said marines had boarded the 137m (450ft) Francop after its captain agreed to the search and no force was used.

The vessel was intercepted “near Cyprus”, the Israeli military said, though it gave no further details on where this took place.

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