[aristeides]

Speaking of boats, I think I've read that some of the terrorist attacks in recent weeks on Israeli coastal towns might have been mounted through boats.

Today's Washington Post has an article on the Passover bombing in Netanya (a coastal resort), A Short Journey From Friend to Foe: Cities Linked by Attack Shared Hopes for Peace . It contains this interesting paragraph:

Investigators do not know for certain how Odeh made his way to Netanya that day, according to Lt. Col. Avi Biran, the city's police chief. He could have walked from Tulkarm to Taibe, then taken a taxi west, as did Mahmoud Ahmad Marmash, the man who bombed the Sharon Mall. Or someone could have driven him down an unguarded road from any number of West Bank towns and villages. There was nothing to stop him, no way to elude his fatal embrace. "If somebody wants to get in, there's no border, no fences," Biran said.

No mention of a sea route, but the bomber Odeh had disappeared from his home town of Tulkarm several months before the bombing. Who's to say he was located in a place that require movement over land?

[Lion's Cub]

Your #13 is a very valid point. One of the thoughts in the back of my mind when I first read this was the Iranian purchase of the subs last year. You could move a lot of things--and people--with subs and small boats to meet them out in the open water.

OTOH, I would think our electronic intel would be tracking at least some of this if such things are happening.