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Middle East News and Discussion

Post by Rakesh »

Philip
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Post by Philip »

The dramatic elimination of the Middle East's most wanted terorist,Imad Mughnieh is a cause for celebration as he was responsible for many of the most outrageous attacks and was on the list of the most wanted for decades.It underscores the message to all "ungodlies",that terror never pays.However,the massive blow to the international Islamist terror movement does not mean that the war is won.There will be many more who will willingly take his place.While we celebrate this victory against terror,there must also be a positive movement in the peace process,as the moderates do need something to show their longsuffering people too.This is the other side of the coin that we seldom see and is more difficult to achieve than this brilliantly executed military operation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... lah214.xml

Hizbollah leader threatens "open war" with Israel
By Tim Butcher, Middle East Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:07pm GMT 14/02/2008

The leader of Hizbollah threatened Israel with “open warâ€
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Post by shyamd »

Kuwait according to Debka will allow Israel to pass through its airspace to attack iranian nuclear targets.

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The bomb that claimed the life of captain Wissam Eid has sparked a crisis between Damascus and Riyadh relations.

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In addition to Phillips post. Jewish establishments as well as Israeli interests worldwide are under high alert as of last night.

Israel’s army chief orders IDF land, sea and air forces to prepare to defend the country’s northern borders and interests
February 14, 2008, 4:43 PM (GMT+02:00)

Defense minister Ehud Barak said the entire national defense system is fully prepared and alert as heavy Israeli reinforcements, including homeland defense units, were rushed Thursday to northern Israel.

Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi gave these orders Thursday, Feb. 14, 24 hours after a bomb killed Hizballah’s military commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that he took these unprecedented steps following a stream of incoming intelligence updates reporting that Iran, Syria and Hizballah had decided not to let Mughniyeh’s death pass without an immediate response.

Israeli forces have been placed on the highest level of preparedness against possible Syrian or Hizballah cross-border strikes. Rocket attacks by Hizballah against Israeli civilians are also taken into account, as well as possible Syrian air force incursions into Israel air space.

Jerusalem has denied Hizballah and Iranian allegations of responsibility for the death of the Lebanese master terrorist.

DEBKAfile reported earlier Tehran, Damascus, Hizballah leadership are coordinating efforts to wreak their revenge for Mughniyeh’s death, convinced that Israel’s Mossad planted the small bomb in the master terrorist’s Mitsubishi Pajero in the heart of the Syrian capital. Wednesday night, all Hizballah’s top leaders went to ground. Hassan Nasrallah did not attend the funeral Thursday but broadcast his eulogy by video. He declared if Israel wants war, so be it. "The blood of slain commander will lead to Israel's demise."

Our sources report that the long-sought terrorist was finally dispatched by a small explosive inserted between the driver’s seat and the back seats, which destroyed only one part of the vehicle, leaving the front and rear intact. Mughniyeh was driving alone to a reception marking Islamic Revolution Day at the Iranian embassy in the Romana district.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts note that the way the explosion was set up recalled the method used by the hit team which killed the Jihad Islami senior operative Ghaleb Ghali in Damascus in October 2004. Then, too, Syria held Israel responsible.
Most of the Hezbollah commanders have now gone underground, meaning they are now planning something big.
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Post by Scofield »

^^^
Nice setup to drag Iran into conflict???? :?:
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Post by Philip »

The public support for the Hiz and its slain leader by pres.Ahmed-in-a jacket,highlight the concern in many quarters about Iran's MIddle East intentions,especially espousing the cause and suppo=ort to terror forces like Hiz and Hamas.Israel has every right to be concerned about such active involvement of Iran in terrorist cells.It also calls into question India's realtionship with Iran,how close can we get?

Traditionally,we have alsways had a good relationship with Iran,as it also has doubts aout Pak's intentions,that too a Shia nation.The joint pipeline project is till not signed and China is muddying the waters offering to Iran itself as a partner if India backs out.Some serious diplomatic iniiiatives are needed,whereby we assure Iran of large gas purchases,perhaps thorugh a tanker fleet,instead of through an increasingly unstable Pak.If British reports are to be true,the comigng elections are going to be a farce,as the ISI has already put its rigging plans into motion,whereby the ballot boxes will be stuffed in Gen.bandicoot's party's favour.

A fitting death for terrorist Imad Mughniyeh
By Con Coughlin
http//www.telegrah.co.uk

Inside Abroad

As a young reporter working in Beirut 25 years ago, when my daily routine consisted of dodging car bombs and the attentions of Shia kidnappers, one name guaranteed to spread terror throughout the beleaguered community of foreign nationals was that of Imad Mughniyeh.

Three Line Whip: We are at war, and it is against terror
The 1980s were the heyday of the celebrity terrorist. There was Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born Marxist who led the team that took 42 Opec ministers hostage during a conference in Vienna in 1975; he was then living under the protection of Syria in Damascus.

Members of Hezbollah mourn over Imad Moughniyah's coffin
And there was Abu Nidal, the radical Palestinian terrorist, who thought nothing of machine-gunning innocent women and children as they waited to board their flights, as happened at Rome and Vienna in 1985.

But they were both amateurs when compared with the murderous effectiveness of the terror campaign Mughniyeh, the Hizbollah security chief killed in Damascus this week, orchestrated in Beirut from the early 1980s.

Mughniyeh might not have been either as famous or as glamorous as the other terrorist masterminds of his generation, but in terms of achieving his ultimate objective of spreading terror throughout the civilian population, he was without peer.

One of the more chilling aspects of Mughniyeh's legacy of violence was the introduction of the suicide bomber as an effective terrorist tool.

With suicide bombings these days almost a daily occurrence throughout the Middle East, whether in Baghdad or Israel, it is easy to forget that the suicide bomber is a relatively recent addition to the region's battle-scarred landscape.

The first time the concept of the suicide bomber really impinged on the West's consciousness was on April 18, 1983, when Mughniyeh arranged for a Hizbollah volunteer to drive a truck laden with explosives into the American embassy in Beirut.

Among the 60 people killed when the building was reduced to rubble were an estimated 20 CIA officers at a special regional conference. Not only had Mughniyeh demonstrated his ability to conduct major terror operations, but the timing of the attack meant that the CIA suffered the single most devastating loss of personnel in its history.

Mughniyeh went on to develop kidnapping as an effective terrorist tactic. The abduction of scores of Westerners - including the British hostages Terry Waite and John McCarthy - together with the incessant suicide car bombings, which culminated in the destruction of the American and French military bases in Beirut with the loss of more than 300 lives in October 1983, resulted in the Americans undertaking a humiliating withdrawal of their forces from Beirut.

As head of security for Hizbollah, Mughniyeh's terrorist expertise was in great demand, and his trademark suicide truck bomb was employed to devastating effect in the bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community centre (1994), the attack on the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1996) and the suicide bomb attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania (1998).

Not surprisingly Mughniyeh featured as prominently on the FBI's most wanted list as Osama bin Laden, and a $25 million reward was placed on his head - dead or alive.

That he managed to evade detection for so long was primarily down to his Iranian paymasters, who provided him with a sanctuary in Teheran.

But the growing crisis over Iran's nuclear programme meant the Iranians had to reactivate their most valuable terrorist asset, and in recent months Mughniyeh is believed to have been busy arranging the assassinations of a number of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians as part of Teheran's regional campaign of destabilisation, which would explain his presence in the Syrian capital at the time of his long overdue demise.

For all the international pressure that has been applied to stop their uranium enrichment programme, the Iranians are now reaching a critical stage in their attempts to acquire weapons-grade material.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, this week reported that Iran was now producing uranium gas, a crucial component in the production of highly enriched uranium.

Western experts also believe the Iranians are taking advantage of Russian nuclear shipments to their controversial Bushehr power plant to set up a plutonium separating facility that would enable them to produce a different source of weapons-grade material once Bushehr comes on stream.

Apart from fomenting political discord in Lebanon, where the Iranians are blocking Lebanese attempts to form an anti-Syrian government, Teheran is attempting to breathe new life into the anti-coalition insurgency in Iraq.

The success of the US military surge has seen a drastic reduction in the level of violence, and al-Qa'eda forced to withdraw its forces to the north of the country. While al-Qa'eda's Sunni leadership is not normally well-disposed to Iran's Shia mullahs, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Iraq's al-Qa'eda leader, has had several meetings with senior Revolutionary Guards commanders to revive the insurgency.

All this activity meant that, after years in the shadows, Mughniyeh was forced to break cover and become fully involved in Iran's attempts to destabilise the region in a cynical ploy to deflect attention away from its nuclear programme. But his attempts to resurrect his career of violence proved to be a step too far.

Ronald Reagan, who presided over the Lebanon debacle in the 1980s, once warned Mughniyeh and his ilk, "You can run, but can't hide", and so it has proved, although the manner of his death suggests Israel's Mossad was more likely to have been responsible for the assassination, rather than Washington.

Although Mughniyeh inflicted more carnage against America than he did against Israel, the Israelis have never forgotten his involvement in the Buenos Aires bombings and, just as they hunted down the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre, they were never going to allow Mughniyeh to die peacefully of old age in his bed.

So far as the Israelis are concerned, he who lives by the car bomb, dies by the car bomb.
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Post by shyamd »

A western intelligence agency(Most likely either CIA/MI6 or the french) was able to obtain a 60 page document detailing Hamas's war plans. Predicts that Hezbollah or Iran will not step in to help open a 2nd front. They are counting on a massive suicide bombing offensive on Israeli tanks and front line troops, to stop any advance. Hamas reckons, Israel will not enter Gaza city, but lay seige and conduct hit operations on terrorists there.
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Post by shyamd »

Saudi Arabia advises citizens not to go to Lebanon. This is an escalation of what I said earlier about the crisis in relations between Riyadh and Damascus.
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Post by shyamd »

The strain in relations is mainly due to Riyadh arming Syria’s Lebanese enemies. Riyadh also appears to be involved in some sort of conspiracy in the Syrian armed forces to overthrow him.
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Post by shyamd »

Abu Dhabi naval base for France: newspaper

Update to above news:

France, UAE, Qatar and Saud El Arab are taking part in a secret launched war games.

France is fielding Rafale B and naval units. UAE providing 1,500 and Qatar 3,000 troops.

While Iran is not explicitly targeted, the objectives of the maneuver are to practice repulsing marine landings by sea on the Gulf participants’ shores and missile attacks from the east, i.e. Iran. The joint force is also drilling tactics to defend their oil and gas fields and oil ports.

While the Saudi army is not directly participating in the maneuver, King Abdullah has permitted some of the air and naval movements to take place in the kingdom’s territorial waters and over its air space.

Some of the participating French units will stay on as part of the 400-strong contingent to permanently man the new French base under construction in Abu Dhabi opposite the Strait of Hormuz.

The base is going to be an "inter service" base. It stemmed from the 1995 agreement UAE France Agreement.

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Worried over the spate of car bomb attacks against Lebanese security officials, Western embassies in Beirut are equipping themselves with explosive detection systems.

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Obama and Clinton’s senior advisers visit Syrian president Assad
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Imad Mughniyeh was the brains behind the establishment of Iranian sleeper cells in the Gulf region
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Fatah al Islam was created by the Saud El Arab.
The discovery by Lebanon’s military intelligence agency that Shaker Absi, head of the small Fatah al Islam group, hadn’t been killed as his supporters maintained but had made his escape could well raise new questions on foreign backing for the group.
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Post by rajkhalsa »

Turkey offers oil pipe lifeline to India
Feb 27, 2008
By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - Turkey has offered - during a visit by Foreign Minister Ali Babacan to India this month - to facilitate the supply of oil to India from Central Asia via Israel through a combination of overland pipelines and super tankers.

Under the plan, oil transported through Turkey's extensive pipeline infrastructure from Central Asia to its Ceyhan port would be sent across the Mediterranean Sea by tanker to Israel's port of Ashkelon. There it would be fed into Israel's Ashkelon-Eilat 254-kilometer pipeline. From Eilat port, again by tanker, it would be sent through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea via the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to India. Neither Israel nor the US have commented on the proposal.

The Turkish offer holds out the promise of a well-established route by which energy-hungry India could access Central Asian reserves, in contrast to less-practical alternatives.

Image

India imports about 70% of its oil requirements, a dependence that may increase to over 91% by 2020. About 45% of present needs comes from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - according to Indian Planning Commission figures, and if one includes oil imports from other parts of the Middle East, the region accounts for about 67% of India's oil imports.

India, anxious to reduce this dependence on the Middle East for its fuel, given the political volatility of the region, is looking to Myanmar and Vietnam in its more immediate neighborhood, Sudan and Nigeria in Africa, and Turkmenistan in Central Asia to secure oil and also gas supplies.

Image

The success of those efforts have been mixed. It won significant stakes in Russia's Sakhalin I oilfields, but lost out - often to China - in bids for assets in Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Myanmar and Canada over the past two years. No less easy have been India's efforts to clinch oil pipeline deals.

A plan to bring gas from Myanmar, to the east, by pipeline through Bangladesh fell apart when Dhaka wanted India in return to agree to a free-trade corridor to Nepal and to remove existing trade barriers between India and Bangladesh. It also demanded what India saw as exorbitant transit fees. India now hopes to route a pipeline from Myanmar that bypasses Bangladesh, running through India's northeastern states before reaching Kolkata.

If the pipeline to India's east has been a non-starter, a plan for one to its west - the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline - is looking almost as tenuous. Strongly opposed by the US because of Washington's differences with Tehran, the US$7.5 billion IPI pipeline also faces difficulties over Iran's pricing of the oil and transit fees demanded by Pakistan.

The prospects of a $4 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) project are slightly brighter, if only because it is backed by the US and international financial institutions. India was invited to join the project last year. On the down side, Turkmenistan, whose total gas output is about 60 billion cubic meters (bcm), recently agreed to increase gas deliveries to Russia's Gazprom to about 50 bcm. That would leave little gas for transport through the TAP pipeline, making it an unviable proposition.

In this context, Turkey's offer to India has considerable potential - at least the pipelines that might bring Central Asian oil to India already exist. The 1,768-kilometer Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries a million barrels of oil a day from Azeri and Kazakh oil fields and the Caspian Sea - the world's third-largest oil and gas reserve - to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, has been in operation since 2006.

The Ashkelon-Eilat pipeline, also known as the Trans-Israel pipeline or Tipline, has been functioning for several years. Built in 1968 to transport oil from Iran - then under the Shah - to Israel, it was largely unused except to carry transshipments of Egyptian oil. In other words, it carried oil from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The direction of the flow was reversed a few years ago when Russia began transporting oil through Israel's overland pipeline. It was then picked up by tankers that traveled through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to Asian markets.

Using the Ashkelon-Eilat pipeline and the Gulf of Aqaba would let India's supplies skip the Suez route, with several advantages.

Israeli ports, already supplied by super tankers, accommodate larger vessels than those that can pass through the Suez Canal, and tariffs for the Ashkelon-Eilat pipeline are lower than those charged by Egypt for shipping through the Suez, itself a more congested route than the Gulf of Aqaba. Costs could fall further if a proposed undersea pipeline connecting Ceyhan with Israel goes ahead. Babacan said in Delhi that a feasibility report on the project will be conducted soon.

Making Ankara's offer even more attractive to India is that the pipelines involved do not run through Pakistan and are not at risk of being disrupted in the event of a souring of India-Pakistan relations.

A supply deal with Turkey would extend India's links with both that country and Israel. The Indian Oil Corporation has picked up a 12.5% stake in a pipeline from Turkey's Black Sea port of Samsun to the Ceyhan pipeline, while India's ties with Israel have already deepened dramatically over the past decade or so.

Securing oil for the pipeline deal is another matter. India's ambitions to win stakes in the oilfields of Central Asian countries have so far outpaced its achievements.

OMEL, an Indian joint venture of state-run ONGC-Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Mittal Energy Ltd, has been looking for stakes in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. These are at different stages of progress and a finalization of any deals remains elusive.

In Kazakhstan, after losing to China in 2005 in its effort to buy a Canadian company, PetroKazakhstan, that had stakes in Kazakh oil fields, India is now eyeing a stake in the Satpayev oil block in the Caspian Sea. The Kazakh government is said to be willing to sell 50% to OMEL, with Kazakh national company KazMunaiGaz (KMG) holding the balance.

The Indian Mittal group last year acquired Russian oil firm Lukoil's 50% stake in Caspian Investments Resources for $980 million. The acquisition was initially proposed to be done by OMEL. Mittal has since said that it will transfer the assets to OMEL but ONGC officials are skeptical that it will do so.

In Azerbaijan, Tata Petrodyne Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's Tata Sons, has linked up with state refiner Indian Oil Corporation and exploration firm Oil India Ltd to make a bid for a 51% stake in Shivran Oil Operating Company held by Caspian Energy Group (CEG). Shivran runs the Kyurovdag oil field in Azerbaijan. Earlier, OMEL failed with a $300 million bid.

In Turkmenistan, OMEL has acquired a 30% stake in Block No 11 and 12 in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. Other stakeholders in the block are the Danish company Maersk Oil (36%) and the German company Wintershall 34%.

Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore.

Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Post by shyamd »

Raytheon and Lockheed rely on Cohen Group headed by former defence secretary William Cohen to help them sell their anti-missile defense systems in the Gulf. The Cohen Group is also actively involved in India's MRCA contract aswell and is expanding its footprint in India. Cohen recruited the Chief of USIBC(US-India Business Council) Ingrid Belton Henick 2 weeks ago.
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Iran wants to make Moqtada al Sadr(The guy can barely speak formal arabic properly and his speeches are attrocious according to Iraqi's) the uncontested leader of Iraq’s shiite community and of transforming his Mahdi army into an Iraqi version of Hezbollah.
My comment: Muqtada Al Sadr is nothing but a crook and a gangster. He enforces tax payments from local shops to him or else he will kidnap their kids etc and kill if necessary. It is unbelievable that Iran is choosing him.
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Staying on the topic of Iran and Iraq. It appears that NOT ONE western intelligence agency have succeeded in verifying American claims that IED's used in Iraq are manufactured in Iran.
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Imad Mughniyeh, served as the link between Damascus, Tehran and the Palestinian movements. Hezbollah is now seeking to replace him. The assassination appears to have drove a wedge into the alliance between Damascus, Tehran and Hezbollah.
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Now considered Egyptian intelligence’s main contact inGaza, Ziad Nakala, deputy secretary-general of islamic jihad, recently travelled to Cairo to negotiate with general Omar Suleiman(Head of Egyptian Intel) concerning the passage points between Egypt and West Bank that Palestinian terrorist groups can use to bring in equipment and munitions.
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A new IRAN in middle-east

Post by RamaY »

For gurus in this forum -

I read in some discussions in this forum that IRAN is trying to find its cultural roots and fighting the Arab domination psychology.

How true this is and could you please point any links or sources to that conclusion?

Also, wouldn't it be great to have a non-islamic Iran in the neighborhood geo-politically for India, and for that matter to Israel-west combine?

Thanks in advance
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Post by shyamd »

Saudi govt and the Kuwaiti govt have instructed its nationals to leave Lebanon.
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USS Cole guided missile destroyer have arrived at Lebanon. It was joined Monday by the USS Nassau amphibious warship and its strike group of six vessels carrying 2,800 marines, flight crews and sailors. US naval sources report that a third group will join them shortly.
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There is unusual activity amongst Hamas supporters in the UK. They may be putting together a response, could be political and discussing what is going in Gaza.
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All the leaders of Hamas have gone underground. They know what the re-vamped israeli plans are. All Hamas operatives have stopped using their cell phones and any communication which could betray their whereabouts. Orders and messages are carried by courier.
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The Gaza conflagration is more likely, the US & Israel believe, to stir Hizballah to ignite a fresh assault from Lebanon.
- US intel note that last week, the IDF deployed Patriot missile defense batteries around Haifa.

- Local authorities and private security firms responsible for public safety in northern Israel were instructed to inspect bomb shelters and ascertain they were ready for use by March 10.

- Bashar Assad and King Abdullah of Saudi arabia is spilling into Lebanon, both are sending arms and ammo to their militias. Hence why we saw yesterday the request for all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon ASAP. This is also because Assad maybe looking to cause an attack on Saudi targets in the region.
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At least 3 intel agencies operated along side Mossad in the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh. Hezbollah security services have started their own investigation, the syrians theirs and the iranians are working on their investigation.
He entered Syria by road on a passport which bore the name Sheikh Redwan, which confirms Debka's claims that he met with Palestinians, to plan on terrorist attacks, introducing himself as an iranian intel officer "Hajj Radwan". He did not inform Syria's security service that he would be arriving in Syria. He briefly poped into the cocktail party for the new Iranian ambassador to Damascus in a highly secure diplomatic neighbourhood. He told the new ambassador that he would be meeting him soon and decided to leave. As he was getting into his black mercedes, a pajero parked next to his car exploded, killing him instantly. The Head of Hezbollah's domestic intelligence service formally identified the body.

After the assassination, the iranian intel offered to send an officer to the board of investigation, as did hezbollah. But Syrians refused citing a matter of national security, furious at being shunted out, they have all started their own investigations. So the 3 are at odds with each other.

A consensus at certain arab and western intel services is that, the plan was hatched in iraq. Some say it was done by an Iraqi shi'ite group trained at Iraqi Kurdistan by Mossad's Caeseria unit. But it is a fact that the Mossad is using Kurdistan to mount operations and infiltrate agents into Iran and Syria, making use of the population. The same clan as the iraqi president(Talabani), peshmergas in kurdistan are providing the mos sad with security. In Baghdad mos sad is operating through protection from the CIA station.
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Update to the report about Muqtada al Sadr in my previous post. He is pursuing religious education at Qom. His militiamen are receiving training in the southern provinces by the Revolutionary guard. The iranians want to make him the leader of shi'ites in Iraq. The problem is that there are other powerful shia's groups that are against the idea and are generally opposed to Sadr and some against Iran. Khomeini has started a group, called the Circle of Revolutionary movements. Which represents all the armed shi'ite groups outside of Iran. These groups have strong welfare foundations, which sadr lacks, but would like to do with the help of iran, of which he has made a request.

The aim is to build the Mahdi army(Sadr's army) in to a strong organisation with a Intelligence wing and military wing as well as the political wing, just like the Hezbollah.
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Post by Philip »

The Middle East is in turmoil after the Jerusalem massacre of Israeli seminary students,itself coming ain the aftermath of the Gaza operation,where there was heavy loss of life.The tragic events only highlight the rockbottom state of any peace process and the utter failure of the Bush administration's two terms and absence of any determined effort at reducing tensions at the very least ,if not peace in the region.The Israeli civilians are fast becoming daily targets for terorist outfits like Hamas and the Hiz,who want nothing better than the destruction of the Israeli state.This impossibility has only resulted in the counter attacks by Israeli defence forces to legitimitely protect their citizens,but has also come with heavy collateral damage-the euphimism for civilain casualties,spurring on the ungodly to fruther acts of terror against Israel.Only a combined effort by the international community using those who have influence on both sides to pull back from the brink,will prevent another all out conflict.The daily rocket attacks into Israeli territory indicate that the first skirmishes have already begun.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 92745.html

Massacre in Jerusalem
Donald Macintyre and Eric Silver in Jerusalem
Friday, 7 March 2008


Eight Jewish students at a yeshiva seminary were shot dead last night by a Palestinian armed with a Kalashnikov AK47 rifle and a pistol in by far the worst attack on Israeli civilians in Jerusalem for more than four years. Six of the rabbinical students were studying in the crowded ground floor library of the MercazHarav yeshiva when the gunman burst in and fired what police said were "tens" of rounds from both weapons.


Two other students were shot dead near the main door of the building in the suburb of Kyriat Moshe. The attacker walked in at 8.40pm as some students were praying after their evening meal. Witnesses said up to 80 had been working in the library. The gunman, whom Israeli officialssuggested was from east Jerusalem, shot and wounded nine other students before he was shot dead by an off-duty army officer and two undercoverpolice, who rushed to the scene as the shooting started.

Last night’s carnage follows the recent escalation in violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, and puts the faltering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the attack, under further strain.

The Islamic faction Hamas, while not claiming responsibility for the shootings, said:"We bless the operation. It will not be the last." Later, about 7,000 Palestinians marched through the streets, firing guns in the air in "celebration" in rallies organised by several factions, the Associated Press reported.

The Hamas statement drew a swift response from Mark Regev, aspokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He said: "Tonight’s massacre in Jerusalem is a defining moment. It is clear that those people celebrating this bloodshed have shown themselves tobenot only theenemies of Israel but of all of humanity." Police forensic experts were still trying to identify some of the bodies at the yeshiva before they were taken away by ambulance. Across the main road from the building, more than 100 angry Yeshiva students and other protesters shouted "revenge", "death to Arabs" and "let the army go into Gaza" – but made no attempt to break through a police cordon holding them back.

The yeshiva, which belongs to the national religious stream of Judaism, teaches students of high school as well as college age. At least one of the wounded is reported to be young as 15. The studentswere preparing a celebration for the new month on the Jewish calendar, which includes the holiday of Purim. Apolice spokesman could not confirm a claim by one government official that the dead were mainly aged 15 to 16 and suggested they may have been mainly in their later teens or early 20s. He also refused to confirm reports that the gunman was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Police and troops, fearing other gunmenwere involved, cordoned of the area as they searched the yeshiva room by room, as well as neighbouring houses.

Yerach Tucker, a paramedic, said that when he arrived at the yeshiva there was shooting "even at the paramedics". He added: "There were people crying. When I got to the library, there were dead people lying on the floor. There were books everywhere and some of the dead students were holding Bibles. I have been to many attacks but thiswas the worst I have seen." Avi Katz, 23, a member of the Israeli rescue organisation Zaka, added: "I saw six bodies in the library. There was a wounded guystill alive and people went to help him. I don’t know what happened to him because I had to go to another room. It was terrible in there. This is the worst thing I have seen."

A Yeshiva student, Mikhail Kollett, 19, said: "We were just in the middle of prayers after eating when we heard shooting. At first I, thought it was firecrackers or someone dropping a table on the floor. But then I saw the police coming and I heard another round of shooting. Then I understood that it was an attack and I climbed out of the window to get out of there." The last serious attack on Israeli civilians in Jerusalem was in February 2004, when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus and killed eight people.

Last night’s shooting came less than 24 hours after a visit by the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice aimed at reviving thepeace process. Aryeh Mekel, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, insisted that the talks would continue. But the ministry added in a statement: "Such abominable terrorist attacks must strengthen the free world’s understanding of the nature of the terrorist threat. A clear, decisive and uncompromising stand is necessary against such terrorism."

President George Bush, who telephoned the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to express his condolences, said: "This barbaric and vicious attack on innocent civilians deserves the condemnation of every nation." The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last night: "The reports of killings at a seminary are shocking. They are an arrow aimed at the heart of the peace process so recently revived. They should and will be deplored by all decent people."
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Post by shyamd »

Saudi Arabia recently sent police officers and intelligence officials to lend a hand to Kuwait's security services in a crackdown on Shi'ite movements in the country.
-------------------------------
Further to my earlier reports, more confirmation that Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the secret mediator in the Lebanese crisis, spending his time between Tehran, Damascus and Washington. One of the most prominent Arab brokers between the camp led by Iran, Syria and Hizballah, on the one hand, and the Lebanese anti-Syrian majority government and military chiefs, on the other, is the Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabr Al-Thani.
-------------------------------
Turkey's foreign intelligence agency received the active backing of Zaniari , the intelligence service of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), loyal to Iraqi president Jalal Talabani , during the Turkish military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan in late February. There also seems to be a leadership struggle in Erbil as the prime minister of Kurdistan and nephew of the province's president, Masoud Barzani, is said to be increasingly influential among the region’s Kurdish leadership.
-------------------------------
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency discretely informed the Senate of the difficulties that the Gulf nations had encountered in mounting the Patriot anti-missile shield. "Holes in the Anti-Iran Shield"
-------------------------------
Washington Aborts two Pro-US Offensives against Terrorists
The hands of Turkey and Israel were firmly tied behind their backs by US officials to prevent their anti-terror operations going all the way. The Moqawamah Doctrine was the winner. (My comment: Condi basically told the Israeli's, you can only do a limited incursion into Gaza, stay away from the main bases).

The “Moqawamahâ€
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Post by shyamd »

"That’s No Way to Fight Terror", Says Departing US Mid East Commander
Top US Middle East Commander Adm. William Fallon did not believe the “surgeâ€
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Post by Philip »

The author alleges a hardline plan for Gaza by hardline elelments in the Israeli govt.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=165018
Israel’s ultimate plan for Gaza
By Jonathan Cook

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai’s much publicized remark last week about Gaza facing a “shoahâ€
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Post by shyamd »

In addition to above about UAE - France agreement to set up a base: Provides for the deployment of up to 80,000 French troops if Abu Dhabi comes under threat (it is up to Abu Dhabi to decide the level of threat).
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Post by Tilak »

India rejects OIC statement on Kashmir
New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) India today rejected the observations of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) that Kashmir issue should be resolved as per the UN resolutions, saying the grouping had "no locus standi" to comment on India's internal affairs.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said India "regrets" that OIC has "once again chosen to comment on Jammu and Kashmir and issues internal to India." The 57-nation body, in the final communique adopted at the summit which concluded yesterday in Dakar, Senegal, suggested that the Kashmir dispute be resolved in accordance with "relevant UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people".

The meeting also extended the Islamic world's support for the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Reacting to the OIC document, Sarna said: "The OIC has no locus standi in matters concerning India's internal affairs including Jammu & Kashmir which is an integral part of India. We strongly reject all such comments." The OIC, at its meets, used to regularly comment on Kashmir issue but for the last few years it had been silent on the matter. PTI
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Post by shyamd »

Cheney is touring the Middle East. After visiting Iraq he is currently in Oman, this country is going to play a major role in the future conflict. The US's secret bases in the country hold all the major war supplies.

Debka sources report: US Vice President Dick Cheney is again talking about possible US military action to shut down Iran’s covert nuclear program.

Bush admin now admits that the september NIE was a mistake
The administration now buys British, German, French and Israeli intelligence estimates about Iran's nuklear program and about ballistic missile programs.

He is expected in Saudi arabia because they are obviously the trendsetter of policy for the others to follow.

On Saturday he is expected at Israel, which happens to be the only country ready to participate in military strikes.

Israeli ministers were convened today, to discuss which military plans to show Cheney.

Looks like Turkey will be playing the role of logistic facilitator after US gave the go ahead for the incursion against the PKK. Planes will have to transit its airspace and take off from air bases on its soil.
-----------------------------------------
Evidence in the Hariri murder case:
-Hariri, fearing threatened, was given a special pen enabling him to record the conversation by a Western secret service, probably France's DGSE. Copies of the recording have reportedly been handed to French, American and Pakistani leaders. According to a transcript, the Syrian president stated: "It's best that you know Lahoud will be confirmed in his post, whatever happens. (..) I won't let you replace him with anybody else (..)You ought to understand that I'm capable of destroying Lebanon, and you along with it (..) And if I'm forced to leave Lebanon, I'll leave it in ruins. (..) Your ally, Walid Jumblatt, should know the fate that awaits him. The death of his father should be a good lesson to him."
-Fingerprints in the Beirut apartment in which the attack was planned, transcripts of encrypted telephone conversations intercepted before and after Hariri's assassination by an American listening post on the British base at Akrotiri in Cyprus
-The 1,000 kg of RDX explosive used in the attack were bought from a Slovak company, Chemko AS, located in the small town of Strazske.
-The Syrians bought a large quantity of the explosive through the intermediary of a Syrian businessman close to military intelligence who has an office in Istanbul. As the sale of RDX is highly regulated, it could only have been done on a government-to-government basis. Mehlis' investigators traveled to Straszke to get the firm to hand over the sales documents with Syria.
-A defector of the Syrian Military intelligence, in 2005 gave more details.
Last edited by shyamd on 19 Mar 2008 23:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Singha »

hilarious excerpt from a newsweek article named "the petraeus generation"..right out the US-Pak relationship playbook - dont kill
americans, you are free to kill anyone else!

---

For three months, Wright and his fellow soldiers fruitlessly searched an area the size of Vermont for Taliban insurgents. "Chasing guys through the mountains of Afghanistan at 10,000 feet didn't [work]. The intel people always talk about 'ratlines'," Wright says, wriggling his fingers. "The 'ratlines' are bulls––t. Why would a guy hike over a snowy mountain with a bag of IEDs when they can drive it in a truck?" Wright realized that what he needed was an ally who could identify the jihadists who were right in front of him.

For weeks, Wright and his fellow soldiers had been hunting for a militant leader named Jan Baz. Finally Wright's boss, Lt. Col. Walter Piatt, decided that if they couldn't kill or capture the fugitive, they'd co-opt him. Piatt asked the local Afghan governor to set up a face-to-face meeting, where the American colonel offered Jan Baz the job of local police chief. The militant, eager to cement his authority in the area, accepted. "Was there some shadiness going on there?" Wright asks. "Yes. But it worked." After Jan Baz was put on the American payroll, attacks dropped.

When Wright wrapped up his tour in 2005, he wrote an article in Infantry Magazine, an Army publication, criticizing the traditional "light infantry" tactics that had flopped in Afghanistan. He recommended more-flexible approaches, like mixing with the locals and (more implied than directly stated) buying off the enemy. When Petraeus drafted his counterinsurgency doctrine in 2006, he was able to draw on the experiences of resourceful frontline officers like Piatt and Wright. "All the stuff in the Petraeus manual, we had kind of figured it out there [in Afghanistan]," says Wright. "It was all the stuff we had seen work on the ground."
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Post by Johann »

shyamd wrote:In addition to above about UAE - France agreement to set up a base: Provides for the deployment of up to 80,000 French troops if Abu Dhabi comes under threat (it is up to Abu Dhabi to decide the level of threat).
This is the usual debka-style hyperbole; the French would be very hard-pressed to deploy even half that number to the Gulf.

However it is true that Sarkozy's govt in its desire to persuade the Arab states that its safe to pursue a tough line on Iran is looking at security guarantees for small Gulf states.
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Post by shyamd »

Johann, They are definetly setting up a base, that is for sure. I actually thought much the same, 80,000 is too much, could be a typo, probably 8000. I think the UAE has too much to lose if they do go to war. As far as I have heard they are discretely talking to the Iranians and are trying to avoid it. The idea is "we are growing, please don't stop us".

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti King has dissolved the parliament, cabinet and ordered fresh elections. Sectarian tensions rose after members of the Shiite minority held a rally to mourn former Lebanese Hezbollah leader Imad Mughnieh who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus last month. Hence as I reported above, Saudi intel sent a team to help Kuwait out.

Kuwait dissolves parliament, sets May 17 election date
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Post by Johann »

Shyam,

The French contribution is not going to be land-force centric.

The UAE is a federation, and is therefore a mixed bag.

Dubai stayed neutral even at the height of Iran-Iraq war, and the result was that they made a huge amount of money. They have never wavered from that fundamentally commercial focus.

Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, etc on the other hand have feared and resented the growth of Iranian power right from the 1971 when the Shah seized Abu Tunb following British withdrawal.
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Post by shyamd »

Johann, Interesting views. Makes sense if it is mainly Naval centric.

Meanwhile, Syria and its "extension in Lebanon" as Assad put it to King Abdullah of Jordan, Hezbollah are preparing for attack against Israel.

Israel is expecting attacks abroad, and has dedicated 2 Command and Control centre planes for its special forces to be on the ready in the case of any problems abroad, to be taken direct to the site as soon as the news breaks out. Israel is in full red alert, extra medical teams have been deployed around the country.

Barak: Israel’s army and intelligence poised for instant response to Hizballah attack

Syria has reportedly moved its troops to the borders, and has sped up arms deliveries to Hezbullah. Nasrallah has been promising action in his speeches.

There has long been a plan to boycott the arab summit in Damascus. Egypt is going to send low ranking officials as is Saudi Arabia.

----------------------------------------
Spoke to my hamas source, I asked him about the present situation: Very bad, people are starving etc due to the blockade. They knocked down the Egypt wall, so that the people can get food and supplies.

About Hamas rule:
They are ruling with religious principles and serving the people with full honesty, and ZERO corruption, people are happy. Hamas has cleaned up the Gaza's streets, Gaza is now Drug free! Is the UK/US etc drug free? No.

About sending rockets:
They don't make a big effect at all. Damaged buildings and that is it. But the media blows it up out of proportion.

About locating rocket factories in populated areas:
Lies, Israeli's don't know where we produce them, even the people who make them don't know where they are making them. People say it is made in a kitchen. People say they use commonly available stuff to make them.

About Peace:
We have openly said we want peace, but are the Israeli's ready? They want to make us look like we are extremists etc, they want people to think that! My comment: It is just like how the western media views RSS as "Hindu Fanatics".
My Comment: "But they pulled out of Gaza"
They pulled out of Gaza but they control A - Z of everything, they are practically still there.

At the end of the day, there is no difference with Fatah in power or Hamas in power, both have military/terrorist arms. At least this way, Hamas is doing good for the Palestinian people.
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Post by Kalantak »

shyamd wrote: Spoke to my hamas source, I asked him about the present situation:About Hamas rule:
So you have contacts with terror orgs. Where do you work?
shyamd wrote:They are ruling with religious principles and serving the people with full honesty,


Like kidnapping non-muslims women and forcibly coverting them to the Islam(religion of piss), blowing up security fences and making it possible for terrorists to sneak in and conduct terror attacks.
shyamd wrote:and ZERO corruption, people are happy. Hamas has cleaned up the Gaza's streets, Gaza is now Drug free! Is the UK/US etc drug free? No.
You want US/UK to hire terror org to clean up their cities of drugs. Lahori logic at its best.
shyamd wrote:About sending rockets:
They don't make a big effect at all
. Damaged buildings and that is it. But the media blows it up out of proportion.
The rockets are killing people. What more big effect is needed?
shyamd wrote:About locating rocket factories in populated areas:
Lies, Israeli's don't know where we produce them, even the people who make them don't know where they are making them.


Can you talk sensibly? Do the rockets sprout out of soil then if the rocket makers dont know were they come from?
shyamd wrote:About Peace:
We have openly said we want peace, but are the Israeli's ready? They want to make us look like we are extremists etc, they want people to think that! My comment: It is just like how the western media views RSS as "Hindu Fanatics".
:evil:
Another round of equal-equal bull $hit.

Hamas is an terrorist org using rockets,aks to kill people(including palestinians) while rss is an social org not armed with weapons. Get this simple fact.
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Post by ranganathan »

shyamd wrote:
----------------------------------------
Spoke to my hamas source, I asked him about the present situation: Very bad, people are starving etc due to the blockade. They knocked down the Egypt wall, so that the people can get food and supplies.
Good, maybe Hamas will learn not to fire missiles into other countries. Or they could just die of starvation and save the world the trouble of wiping them out.
shyamd wrote: About Hamas rule:
They are ruling with religious principles and serving the people with full honesty, and ZERO corruption, people are happy. Hamas has cleaned up the Gaza's streets, Gaza is now Drug free! Is the UK/US etc drug free? No.
OH grand let have sharia so we can avoid drugs and alcohol !!!!!!! How stupid are you??? Taliban did the same, why are we so against them?? They also had no drug no alcohol policy. Wait till they start beheading people. I hope israel acts humanely and sends that bunch of retards to meet their pedophile prophet.
shyamd wrote: About sending rockets:
They don't make a big effect at all. Damaged buildings and that is it. But the media blows it up out of proportion.
Yeah right, just like the liberal media blows up Israel killing any terrorist into humanitarian crisis. Israel just needs to respond to rockets with more fire power. Finally there will be no Palestinians left.
shyamd wrote: About locating rocket factories in populated areas:
Lies, Israeli's don't know where we produce them, even the people who make them don't know where they are making them. People say it is made in a kitchen. People say they use commonly available stuff to make them.
Which means all the palis are making them in the kitchen?? Which atleast to me is residential area. I hope Israel hits back where ever it pleases. All these filthy ******** who cry about disproportionate response and punishing the "innocent" seem to conveniently forget that no country believes in proportionate response, its always overwhelming and meant to finish the opponent. Israel has been very mild with these pigs.
shyamd wrote: About Peace:
We have openly said we want peace, but are the Israeli's ready? They want to make us look like we are extremists etc, they want people to think that! My comment: It is just like how the western media views RSS as "Hindu Fanatics".
My Comment: "But they pulled out of Gaza"
They pulled out of Gaza but they control A - Z of everything, they are practically still there.
Hamas wants peace :rotfl: :rotfl: . Osama must be the next mother teresa. I agree Israel should not control everything and should cut off all supplies, food, electricity water etc and ask the arabs to supply the palis through Egypt. After all they are the same people why is Israel subsidizing the palis.
shyamd wrote: At the end of the day, there is no difference with Fatah in power or Hamas in power, both have military/terrorist arms. At least this way, Hamas is doing good for the Palestinian people.
I agree Hamas will bring about faster anhilation of palestine than Fatah. So more power to them.
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Post by vsudhir »

Ranganathan ,

Dunno how appropriate it is to openly wish for the annihilation of a people on BRF. Granted, those same people have been openly advocating the annihilation of their neighbours.

Shyamd,

might be worthwhile to re-examine some fiction that you've accepted as fact as fed to you by your Hamas 'source'. Hamas wanting 'peace' with Israel? Sure, which world are you in, I wonder....

But sure looks like the Iran war will happen. When is the question. Under a lame duck Dubya? That sounds unlikely, somehow. Unless Israel precipitates the crisis flash point with unkil's pvt blessings.

JMTs and all that.
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Post by shyamd »

Firstly, those views ain't mine, it represents the Hamas view of what is going on.

Ranganathan wrote:
Which means all the palis are making them in the kitchen?? Which atleast to me is residential area.
I said something similar about it, he says, in a small place which is filled with 1.5 million people, there is no place where there aren't people, and we can't do anything without civilians being around.

Total deaths as a result of the Qassam rocket fire is 22 as of Feb 08 according to this Israeli source.

Talked about the Yeshiva massacre aswell, his response was: That is the biggest university that preaches zionism and the annhialation of palestinians.

Kalantak wrote:
Can you talk sensibly? Do the rockets sprout out of soil then if the rocket makers dont know were they come from
He means, It is made of simple parts and the whole process of making them is kept so secretive.
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Post by Kalantak »

Where did you meet this Hamas source? At the Nukkad?
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Post by ranganathan »

shyamd wrote:Firstly, those views ain't mine, it represents the Hamas view of what is going on.
Then why are you publishing the views of terrorists in this forum? Maybe we should also publish views of osama and Hitler?
shyamd wrote: Ranganathan wrote:
Which means all the palis are making them in the kitchen?? Which atleast to me is residential area.
I said something similar about it, he says, in a small place which is filled with 1.5 million people, there is no place where there aren't people, and we can't do anything without civilians being around.
Then they simply don't care about their civilians and neither should the rest of the world. Why mention their casualities when their elected govt doesn't seem to care? Frankly if 1 million palis got wiped out it is no loss to humanity.
shyamd wrote: Total deaths as a result of the Qassam rocket fire is 22 as of Feb 08 according to this Israeli source.
How does that make it right? Are you bemoaning the fact that only Israeli 22 civilians died? Like you don't care about 22 Israelis dying, I don't care about 1 million Palis being starved to death. Israeli govt was elected by Israelis to protect themselves not palis and if the response to killing 22 is killing 5000 palis then so be it.
shyamd wrote: Talked about the Yeshiva massacre aswell, his response was: That is the biggest university that preaches zionism and the annhialation of palestinians.
Whole of gaza is taught to fight for annihilation of Israel, Jews and non-muslims. So whats the difference? Why bitch and moan about palestinian deaths. Its terrorists and their supporters going to meet their pedophile prophet. Kudos to IDF.
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Post by shyamd »

ranganathan wrote: Then why are you publishing the views of terrorists in this forum? Maybe we should also publish views of osama and Hitler?
That is the palestinian view of the people on the ground and he ain't no terrorist. If you don't like his views, express your view as to why (I don't have a problem, with some of the things you said but don't direct it at me as If it is my views). People post what Syed Salahideen said, are you going shout at the messenger, or are you going to talk about what was actually said by Syed Salahidin.
How does that make it right? Are you bemoaning the fact that only Israeli 22 civilians died? Like you don't care about 22 Israelis dying, I don't care about 1 million Palis being starved to death. Israeli govt was elected by Israelis to protect themselves not palis and if the response to killing 22 is killing 5000 palis then so be it.
I am not saying it is right. I am just proving that it ain't murder by the hundreds. It is 22 civilians since 2001. I agree it is 22 too many.
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Post by Johann »

Hamas is deeply factionalised between Gazan political leadership, the Damascus political leadership, and the Gazan'military' leadership...but they are less deeply factionalised than Fatah.

The local political leadership (Ismail Haniyah, etc) want to trade an end to the Qassam rocket attacks for concessions, but the 'military' units and the Damascus leadership under Khalid Meshaal are opposed to any negotiations.

Meshaal has the money, the 'military' units have the guns, but Haniyah has Gazan public support. It is a stalemate that drags on at the cost of Palestinian and Israeli lives.

Gaza has been a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold right from the 1930s onwards. It has always been more radical than the West Bank.

But even so, it is a common Gazan perception is that PLO/Fatah commanders are in it for the money, and sold the struggle out to Israel and the West for cash.

That Hamas on the other hand is guided by faith and commitment rather than greed, and that Hamas unlike Fatah always took its social responsibilities seriously.

Hamas as a Muslim Brotherhood outfit is in some ways caught in the middle; on the one hand they face competition and suspicion of the *relatively* secular players like Fatah and Egypt, while on the other hand they have the Salafis who see the MB movement as opportunists and pseudo-Islamists. And yet it is the MB's political acumen and organisation that has allowed them to survive and thrive for so long despite such immense pressure from every quarter.

In any case Gaza is a laboratory well worth watching - after almost 80 years, it is the *first* and only place where the Muslim Brotherhood (or any of its relatives like the Pak/BD/Kashmiri JeI or Turkish Milli Gorus) has taken real power. Gaza may hold the key to the future of the worldwide MB movement.
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Post by shyamd »

Johann wrote:Hamas is deeply factionalised between Gazan political leadership, the Damascus political leadership, and the Gazan'military' leadership...but they are less deeply factionalised than Fatah.

The local political leadership (Ismail Haniyah, etc) want to trade an end to the Qassam rocket attacks for concessions, but the 'military' units and the Damascus leadership under Khalid Meshaal are opposed to any negotiations.

Meshaal has the money, the 'military' units have the guns, but Haniyah has Gazan public support. It is a stalemate that drags on at the cost of Palestinian and Israeli lives.

Gaza has been a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold right from the 1930s onwards. It has always been more radical than the West Bank.

But even so, it is a common Gazan perception is that PLO/Fatah commanders are in it for the money, and sold the struggle out to Israel and the West for cash.

That Hamas on the other hand is guided by faith and commitment rather than greed, and that Hamas unlike Fatah always took its social responsibilities seriously.
Spot on there. My friend always says the same.
In any case Gaza is a laboratory well worth watching - after almost 80 years, it is the *first* and only place where the Muslim Brotherhood (or any of its relatives like the Pak/BD/Kashmiri JeI or Turkish Milli Gorus) has taken real power. Gaza may hold the key to the future of the worldwide MB movement.
Definetly, and the people in the region are watching, especially the Sheikhdoms. Some are scared, some happy. If the experiment is a hit, well, the sheikhs & Hosni have big reasons to be worried.
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Post by shyamd »

Lt-gen Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency,speaking of the GCC nations, Maples said they had been “unsuccessfulâ€
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Post by svinayak »

[quote]
U.S. “aim is to divide Arab worldâ€
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Post by Kalantak »

Mugniyah murder probe points to Saudi involvement
04.09.08
A senior Saudi official was directly involved in the assassination of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah, the Iranian news agency Fars reported Tuesday.

According to the report, the man, who works at the Saudi embassy in Damascus, contacted a Syrian woman who purchased two cars under her name, which exploded during the assassination.

The report went on to say that the Syrian security forces had reached this conclusion two days after Mugniyah's assassination, but that Damascus decided to wait before making the announcement in order not to overcloud the Arab League summit.

The Syrian investigation findings are still being delayed. However, according to the Iranian news agency, the Syrians believe that senior officials in Riyadh – including the national security advisor and former ambassador to the US, Bandar bin Sultan – were involved in the murder.

"The Saudi security officials fled to Saudi Arabia following the assassination, but the Syrian security organizations arrested the woman, who was in touch with the senior Saudi official," the report said.

Israel, Fars added, was the main initiator of the assassination, which was reportedly carried out by local elements holding different citizenships, including Jordanians, Syrians and Palestinians. According to the report, these people purchased a number of apartments near Mugniyah's house in Damascus and lived there for some time.

As for Kuwait's efforts to mediate between Syria and Saudi Arabia, the news agency reported that a Kuwaiti prince had recently visited Riyadh in an effort to iron out the difficulties between the two countries.
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Post by shyamd »

Yup, that is what has been going on behind the scenes.

The Syrians believe Jordanian and Saudi int officers in Lebanon spotted Mugniyeh and told the US, with the intention that it would automatically be passed to the Moss ad.

Saudi Arabia shipped arms by air and ground routes to the Lebanese national army, as well as to three allied militias. This pissed the Syrians off.

The end-users are Maronite Christian Phalange headed by Samir Geagea, the majority leader Saad Hariri’s private Sunni army and the Druze militia of Walid Jumblatt.

Saad Hariri is sunni and is close with the Saudi's. Samir Geagea is being invited to Washington soon, and further confirms that they are re-activating the militia.

They tried to overthrow Bashar, the brains were named as two of the opposition leaders in exile, former vice president Khalim Haddam, who lives in Brussels, and the president’s tycoon uncle, Rifat Assad.

Hearing that his two enemies were royally hosted in Riyadh, the president concluded that the Saudi royal house had aided the conspirators with support, money and intelligence aid.

A few weeks ago Syrian intelligence officers, in briefings to local elite politicians and business leaders, said they had proof that the director of Saudi General Intelligence Prince Muqrin had personally run those confederates.

The jordanian and saudi intel trailed mugniyeh to damascus, filed the info, and prince muqrin passed the info to the US, with the intention that Mossad would receive the info.

Syrian allegations were brought to the attention of King Abdullah last month, he ordered all Saudi-Syrian contacts and communications cut off forthwith.
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Post by Kalantak »

shyamd wrote:Yup, that is what has been going on behind the scenes.

The Syrians believe Jordanian and Saudi int officers in Lebanon spotted Mugniyeh and told the US, with the intention that it would automatically be passed to the Moss ad.
Why cant you just type Mossad instead of leaving an space after the 2 S?
You are doing this repeatedly. Any top secret reasons for this behaviour?
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Post by shyamd »

Kalantak, correct.
--------------------------
Tehran exploits a weak moment in Saudi history to muscle in: With the king sinking and the crown prince ailing, the princes are fighting over their choice of the next king.
---------------------------
Riyadh Fears Fallout from an Attack on Iran – But Not an Iranian Bomb
Why is Riyadh sure it is safe from an Iranian bomb? Has it acquired a secret nuclear defense guarantee from a foreign friend, like Pakistan, or advancing towards its own nuclear device?
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Five years late, Washington determines Saddam did have a nuclear program and smuggled it to Syria ahead of the US invasion – a reversal of its previous estimate.
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Regarding the Gaza Strip, King Abdullah is still determined to patch up the quarrel between the two Palestinian factions and establish a national unity government, and the same in Lebanon. The two unity governments together, the Saudi ruler holds, will form a rampart to retard the spreading and deepening encroachment of the Iranian-Syrian axis on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean.
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From my last 2 posts about the deepening crisis between Saudi's and Syria: The saudi's have set out to expose Syria’s intelligence networks across the Middle East and demonstrate how closely they are interwoven with the most harmful terrorist organizations in retaliation against the syrian accusations(see previous post).

And indeed, hours after his neighbour, Jordan’s king Abdullah returned home from Riyadh last month, his security forces arrested five senior Hamas operatives. They were formally charged with spying for the Hamas leadership based in “a neighboring country,â€
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