Lebanese authorities on Friday detained and questioned the crew of the ship aboard which Israeli forces discovered hundreds of tons of weapons on Wednesday, believed to be an Iranian shipment meant for Hezbollah, the French news agency AFP reported.

The Antigua-flagged Fracop was released by Israeli authorities on Thursday, and permitted to resume its original route, which let the ship to the port in Beirut.

"The Francop ship entered Lebanese territorial waters at noon today and, upon its arrival off Beirut port, the navy in cooperation with UN naval forces searched the vessel," read a statement issued by the Lebanese army.

"Military intelligence began interrogating the crew on the motives for the seizure of the vessel while the concerned authorities... will take all the necessary measures to ensure it does not carry banned goods," the statement went on to say.

A massive amount of weapons and ammunition were discovered aboard the Fracop earlier this week when Israeli navy commandos raided the commercial vessel some 180 kilometers from Israel's coast, in the Mediterranean.

A search of the vessel turned up dozens of containers holding over 3,000 rockets, shells, and light ammunition. Navy officials believe that the shipment - which was destined for Syria - included enough weaponry to allow Hezbollah a month's worth of fighting against Israel.

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