West Asia News and Discussions

[shyamd]

Oman Navigates Between Iran and Arab Nations

[shyamd]

You will all love this!! After the Al Jazeera expose, here is number 2.
Bible quotes adorned covers of top-secret Rumsfeld intelligence reports
There are a few more images, which you can find on the link provided. Didn't post due to bandwith.

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Further to my earlier messages regarding a Hezbollah crackdown against Israeli spies. Hezbollah via the Lebanese army arrested Ziad Humsi who is an ex Hariri party official. Hariri party came out saying he had nothing to do with the family (cough cough).

Lebanese media reported that he confessed his ties with Israel and that he met his Israeli handlers in Thailand. He was identified by his own lawyer as Information Official in the Future Movement (the movement of the Hariri family). The Hariri family issued a statement in which it denied that Humsi had any ties to the Hariri movement. There are numerous picture with him and Hariri himself in meetings.

Hezbollah counter intel is doing pretty well at the moment.

[shyamd]

2 alleged spies flee Lebanon to Israel

Mathematics professor suspected of being part of Israeli espionage ring slips under border fence with his family; another suspect also escapes. Lebanese internal security chief: We have begun to crack the infrastructure of Israeli spy rings

"There is a common factor which has helped us track down the rings," Rifi said without giving details.

The crackdown comes as the current parliamentary majority led by Prime Minister Fuoad Siniora's party faces a tight contest with a rival alliance led by Shiite militant group Hizbullah in elections June 7.

Among those detained as part of the espionage investigation in recent weeks are a former general in the security service along with his wife and a nephew, whom officials say have confessed to working as Israeli agents for the past 15 years.

[shyamd]

Inclusiveness was need of hour for Kuwaitis of old; Kuwait democracy has deteriorated

An Arab who dares to disabuse the myths about the glories of the Arab civilization, Adel Hassan, speaks out his mind on a variety of topics related to Kuwait and the region. It’s very rarely that you will bump into a personality with more checkered facets than him: a self-taught astronomer, an author, historian, art collector and above all a beautiful human being. His house in Fintas, apart from its exotic architecture, is a treasure house of some of the rarest relics in the world, including ancient maps, scriptures, currencies, art and a slew of other valuable antique pieces, sure to stir the envy of any collector.

Q: You said your book is about the firsts in Kuwait’s history. What were some of the fascinating firsts that you came across in your research?
A: Fascinating firsts ... there are many. There was an Indian who came to Kuwait in 1910 who toured the whole of Kuwait. In those days, it was rare for Indians to come to Kuwait. Europeans and Americans had arrived in Kuwait by then, but not many from Asia.
This Indian made a trip to the Middle East, and he authored a book on Kuwait and the Middle East. That was the first Indian to write a book on Kuwait. I am trying to locate a copy of this book from somewhere. In fact this is a dream relic I am seeking to procure for my collection.

Further down the road, pearl was found in this part, and it drew a lot more people. It was a sort of a gold rush. Pearl had a big market in India, which was easily accessible from Kuwait.
Even Kuwait’s geographical proximity to India greatly influenced the history of Kuwait. Gradually, a full fledged pearl-diving industry spawned in Kuwait and the society became a seafaring society with captains, sailors and divers.
Indian merchants were our main customers. There were Maharajahs who bought pearls. There were also merchants who re-exported pearls to European markets.
Then, Kuwait did not have direct trade links with Europe. It was only in 1930’s that a sea route straight to Europe from Kuwait was established.
By the 30’s, Kuwait’s pearl industry almost ended because of competition from Japan’s artificial pearls.
Kuwait was also an important exporter of dates to Africa and India. The dates mainly came from Iraq, which for some reason did not export to these regions directly. Iraq did not have advanced ships like us for long distance exports. So, we took advantage of that and brought dates from Iraq, which we then exported to other countries.

In Africa and India, the dates were used to brew liquor. That’s the irony. Kuwait’s economy prospered on the back of liquor business, indirectly though.

Q: How were the religious sentiments of the people in Kuwait? Were Kuwaitis always tolerant of and open to other cultures?
A: When you are dependent on other people for your livelihood, then you have no choice but to be open. You would only be prejudicing your opportunities by holding hostile views about others.
So, more than openness, it was about your existence. Being inclusive was the need of the hour.
But when Kuwaitis became rich and others became dependent on them… that’s when all the minor sentiments of religion and sectarianism began to surface. Now Kuwaitis are very keen about Halal and Haram and are finicky about so many things in life.


However, in the olden days they didn’t mind if you were a Hindu or a Sikh. They would make all compromises to ensure that their livelihoods continued uninterrupted.
Let me give a small example. The Kuwaitis, in those days, followed not the Hijri Calendar, but Roznama. It was a calendar followed by Persians, and the new year according to this calendar started on March 21.
On the other hand, the Kuwaiti seamen used the calendar of the Hindus for navigation in the sea. According this calendar, the New Year began on August 20.
This was originally created by the Magis. Do you know who the Magis were? The Magis were fire worshippers.
In India they are called Parsis. They follow Zoroaster, a prophet. When Islam came to Iran, these people were persecuted and so they moved out of Iran. They later settled in India.
The Kuwaiti seamen used the calendar of the Magis. From an Islamic perspective, Magis are considered polytheists. And so traditionally, they are not accorded the same respect due to Christians and Jews, who are called ‘people of the book.’
Yet, Kuwaitis followed their calendar, because it was very useful to them on voyages.

Q: Was it these seafaring traditions that made Kuwaitis very broadminded in their outlook?
A: Traveling has been traditionally endemic to the Kuwaiti culture. In the old, Kuwaitis used to travel to India, Iran and Africa and they saw new cultures and civilizations. This made them worldly wiser than nomads. As seafarers, Kuwaitis always interacted with others and they took new ideas from the people they interacted with. Families of seamen are very open minded in Kuwait.

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Kashmir Times the propaganda newspaper of ISI claims that Kuwait has become a stomping ground for India and US.

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Yemeni Jews to immigrate secretly

By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
Published: May 16, 2009, 18:14
Sana'a: A group of Yemeni Jews will emigrate from Yemen to Israel this week in a secret trip organised by a Jewish agency, sources close to Jews said on Saturday.

"About 30-35 Jewish persons, from six families, from Raidah and Kharef, are scheduled to leave Yemen forever on May 19, 2009," said the sources, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"A delegation from a Jewish agency has been convincing these families and arranging the trip in Sana'a since the beginning of this month," the sources told Gulf News.

The Jews will be transferred from Sana'a to Tel Aviv via Amman, the sources added.

................

"We'll live and die here in our homeland, we cannot live with the Zionists in Israel; we disagree with them in a lot of things," the rabbi Yahya Yousef Mousa told Gulf News.

Mousa is the rabbi of a group of 65 Jews who have been living in a luxurious compound "tourist city" in the capital Sana'a at the expense of the government since March 2007 after receiving death threats from Al Houthi armed rebels in Al Salem in Sa'ada province. Each person receives 5,000 YR (25US$) monthly in addition to food stuff.

"By virtue of Allah and virtue of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, we are very fine here in Sana'a," the rabbi Yahya Yousef said.

However, those who are not transferred yet, are very disgruntled and their position, in terms of wanting or not to immigrate, is not as clear as their brothers who seem comfortable and relatively safe in Sana'a.

[shyamd]

One positive of UPA coming to power is that, GCC relations will be in very good shape.

The Times of Oman (like most GCC news papers) have run specials about UPA winning in India.

Here is the Omani reaction:
General feeling of well-being among NRIs

Relationship

The UPA government coming back to power means great news for the India-Oman relationship.

“It was under the UPA that we had Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said visiting India, and later we had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visiting Oman. So it was a step forward in strengthening of our ties,” said Wadhwa.

Since then, the two governments have moved on in terms of setting up an Oman-India Joint Investment fund. “We can now move quickly to sign it,” he said. “Once it is signed, we can look for investments from Oman. The Omani side will also have the confidence that it is the same government that it is dealing with.”

FTA

The signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) may also see the light of the day under the new government.

“Prime Minister Singh had given his assurance to His Majesty the Sultan that an FTA would be signed with the GCC under Oman’s chairmanship. Since he will be at the helm in India again, there is a very good chance of the FTA being signed,” Wadhwa said.

There are more areas India and Oman will now cooperate.

“We have set up a high-level committee with Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Mohammed bin Al Zubair, HM’s Adviser for Economic Planning, heading it. They are looking at nearly six areas of cooperation.

[Baljeet]

Here is Ummah on Ummah Story. All these paki and Afghanis who think they are descendants of Great Arabs, this is how Arabs treat you....

Ummah on Ummah

[shyamd]

Okay brothers and sisters: IOL new issue is out. Short of time so here is a summary:

The Hezbollah and Israel are at each others knecks again in a covert war from the South of Beirut all the way to the Israeli lebanese border. "Who can put in more spies in each others countries" is pretty much what is happening according to IOL. I have posted articles on some of the events. The arabic media is reporting more and more Israeli spies that have been ccaught and their confessions. Debka had reported that Hezbollah had moved its forces closer to the border.

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South of Yemen and KSA border has become a war zone once again. Zaidi militants funded by Iran are taking on the Yemeni's. KSA Prince Nayef who is the new number 2 in KSA, has signed off the cheques sent to the Yemeni interior ministry to purchase whatever weapons they want to take on the Zaidi's.

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Thales and MBDA are fighting it out with each other with the Royal Guard of Oman contract for short range missiles to cover the palaces and the important offices. Thales have offered the Crotale NG missile which are already equipped in the Omani Navy.

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Western intel is worried about the Tehran Caracas relationship, they reckon some proliferation of tech is occurring. Read (nooks).

[shyamd]

Rumour swirling that Mubarak(egypt) is dead. But it is just a rumour.

[pgbhat]

Egyptian President Mubarak cancels US trip

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has cancelled a trip to Washington due to the death of his 12-year-old grandson, the White House says.
Muhammad Mubarak, 12, died on Monday in a hospital in Paris and was buried on Tuesday in Cairo. The cause of death was not publically released.

[ramana]

Shyamd, Its the heresies that will bring Rome down for they are also the same.

[shyamd]

Ramana, Is that in reference to KSA?

Pgbhat, thanks.

UAE decision to withdraw can still be reconsidered, says minister
The pull out of UAE (the 2nd biggest economy in GCC has strained relations between KSA. KSA's relations with Oman have been strained for a while now. The UAE is expressing criticisms of the Saudi role in the wake of the announcement of the headquarters of the new GCC fund because UAE wanted the HQ for the central bank to be in Abu Dhabi which is what they agreed when they envisaged the plan.

KSA - Qatar relations are not so great either. Prince Salman is against the KSA - Qatar talks and aint happy about Prince Nayef making relations with Qatar again. Nayef is worried about Al Jazeera. Especially since AL Jazeera started talking to Saudi dissidents. And now the Egyptian govt's relations with Qatar are very strained although AlJazeera is playing it safe and the Qatari are not interested in allowing AlJazeera the freedoms that it once had because of the american threats probably posted previously.

UAE, US sign Bilateral Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Energy Cooperation

Oman strips Yemeni dissident of citizenship for returning to politics
Former President of Yemen wants to split the nation up again, so Oman rightfully tells him to F off! So the guy is now talking from Germany.

Israel lured spies with money, women - Rifi

By Agence France Presse (AFP)
"Beautiful women, clandestine trips abroad and a hurried escape across a mine-infested border ... All are aspects of alleged Israeli espionage networks unraveling in Lebanon and worthy of a spy novel. Nearly 20 suspected spies, including a butcher, a mobile phone salesman and a retired general, have been detained in recent months as part of a long-running probe by Lebanese intelligence into Israeli sleeper cells. And more arrests are expected, security officials say.

"The suspects arrested were part of different cells, each numbering three people at the most, and were not connected," General Ashraf Rifi, head of the Internal Security Forces, told AFP in an interview.

"What helped us a lot is that we managed to uncover a technological secret which allowed us to put together the puzzle."

The general said agents would fly to Paris, Turkey, Hungary or other countries to deliver information, and that all would travel at least once to Israel on forged passports for training or debriefing.

"One of those arrested told us that the Israelis would tell him to show up at a meeting point along the Lebanese border where they would guide him through the minefields in that area and he would return the same way," he said.

Rifi said Israel recruited most of the agents - Christians, Sunnis or Shiites - in the 1980s and 1990s during its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. "They used beautiful women, money and other bait to lure people into working for them," he said.

"They would pay them handsomely, say $5,000 to $7,000 for their first mission. After that, Israel would drop the price significantly as it had these people hooked and would threaten to expose them unless they cooperated.

"Families and friends of most of the agents had no clue as to their double life."


A key suspect arrested last week was Nasser Nader, a married Lebanese man who runs a mobile phone shop in Jounieh, north of Beirut. He was allegedly recruited by Israel using a Lebanese woman who seduced him in a "honey trap."

In April retired general Adib al-Aalam was arrested, and officials say he has admitted to spying for Israel for more than 15 years. He ran a housekeeping service in Beirut that was allegedly used as a front.

Rifi said Aalam at one point suspected that he had been exposed and sent a message to his Israeli handlers, but it was intercepted. "They answered back, telling him he had nothing to fear and that he should go on living normally," Rifi said.

Lebanon remains in a state of war with Israel, and any citizen convicted of high treason faces the death penalty or up to life in prison.

Rifi said that as more and more networks were exposed recently, some agents are thought to have fled Lebanon by air, by sea or by slipping through the heavily fortified southern border with Israel.

"We know of at least three who fled this month to Israel which probably aided them at the border with their escape," he said. "We have asked the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to seek their return from Israel." - AFP, with The Daily Star

Some of you are probably thinking Butcher? Why the F*** would Mossad or Israaeli's recruit a F-ing butcher? Well this is, believe it or not classic intel. Basically Hezbollah like to celebrate with a lot of meat (Yes you westerners love to buy champagne, red wine etc etc, your arab jihadi loves his meat) and a grand dinner when an operation is successful. So, quite often Israeli's have been able to predict and stop attacks by looking at these signs, when they see that your terrorists have just ordered a truck load of meat. The Israeli's know something is up or is near completion.

[ramana]

No its to the report of nexus between Darius and the corpse. The second heretics tried with the cigar guy and failed. So now the first heretics are trying again.

[shyamd]

Flight from Muscat to Chennai delayed after hoax bomb threat

CHENNAI: A hoax bomb note created a flutter amongst the passengers of an Oman Air flight bound to Chennai from Muscat on Monday afternoon.

The flight WY 857 had taken off from Muscat at 09:15 (local time there) and was scheduled to arrive in Chennai by 2:30 pm.

Enroute, the crew came across a note on the flight that supposedly announced, “You all are going to die, bye!” The note had been found in the toilet.

The captain of the flight then called for an emergency landing in Mumbai at about 1.15 pm where all the 135 passengers and four infants disembarked.
A bomb squad was pressed into service. It combed the aircraft but found nothing. The flight was then delayed due to some procedural formalities and took off from Mumbai at about 9.45pm.“Such pranks have cost a lot in terms of both time and money. This same flight was to take off from Chennai at about 4 pm,” an airport source said.

“More than 130 Muscat-bound passengers who were to take this flight at 4 pm will now be accommodated in hotels at the expense of Oman Air. They will take off tomorrow at 7 am,” an airport source told The New Indian Express.

Folks the word in Oman is that crew found a suspect package and a note in ze toilet.
Pilots decided on a divert to Mumbai.
Package removed by Indian bomb disposal team. Who did a very professional job in all accounts according to Omani sources
It was a complete elaborate hoax.

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Saudi-Indian naval drill today

“The passage exercise aims to promote greater interoperability and foster synergy between the two navies by mutual interaction in the practical aspects of seamanship, ship handling and various other naval solutions,” Rear Adm. S.P.S. Cheema, flag officer commanding India’s Western Fleet, told a press conference aboard the INS Aditya at the Jeddah Islamic Port on Saturday.

He said the Indian Navy had been increasingly cooperating with its maritime neighbors to deal with common and transnational maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), such as piracy and sea-borne terrorism. In 2006, India spearheaded the launch of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, a cooperative security initiative for the IOR, with active participation from the Royal Saudi Naval Forces. The Royal Saudi Naval Forces visited India for the first time when the HMS Dammam and the HMS Yanbu sailed into Mumbai in July 2008. Earlier in August 2007, two Indian naval ships the INS Rajput and the INS Betwa undertook a goodwill visit to Jubail.

Cheema said India has made substantial progress in terms of designing and building warships “and the visiting ships are testimony to these capabilities.”

The INS Delhi is equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, while the INS Aditya, a replenishment ship, is capable of sustaining warships for prolonged durations at sea.

GCC-India maritime co-operation agreement very likely looks like. Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, then UAE, KSA. Pretty much all of them looks like. Wonder what happened to the PAK-KSA deal. Rumour has it that India will be setting up a base in the near future.

[shyamd]

Russia's first Persian Gulf naval presence coordinated with Tehran

Russian warships are due to call Wednesday, May 27, at the Bahrain port of Manama, seat of the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, DEBKAfile's military sources reveal. They will be following in the wake of the Russian vessels already docked at the Omani port of Salalah, the first to avail themselves of facilities at Gulf ports. (I suggested that Russia may be involved in developing a port called Duqm, East of Salalah)
Their arrival is fully coordinated between the Russian and Iranian naval commands.
According to our sources, this is the first time a Russian flotilla will have taken on provisions and fuel at the same Gulf ports which hitherto serviced only the US Navy. Moscow has thus gained its first maritime foothold in the Persian Gulf.
The flotilla consists of four vessels from Russia's Pacific Fleet: The submarine fighter Admiral Panteleyev is due at Manama Wednesday, escorted by the refueling-supply ship Izhorai, The supply-battleship Irkut and the rescue craft BM-37 are already docked in Salalah.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that the Russians, like the Iranians, cover their stealthy advance into new waters by apparent movements for joining the international task force combating Somali pirates. While Iranian warships have taken up positions in the Gulf of Aden, the Russians are moving naval units southeast into the Persian Gulf.
Monday, May 25, the Iranian naval chief, Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, announced that six Iranian warships had been dispatched to "the international waters" of the Gulf of Aden in a "historically unprecedented move… to show its ability to confront any foreign threats." He did not bother to mention the pirates.
Russian and Iranian naval movements in the two strategic seas are clearly synchronized at the highest levels in Tehran and Moscow.
Our military analysts find Russia and Iran seizing the moment for supplanting positions held exclusively by the US and other western fleets. They are taking advantage of two developments:
1. The number of US warships maintained in the Gulf has been reduced to its lowest level in two years; President Obama quietly reduced their presence near Iran's shores in order to generate a positive atmosphere for the coming US dialogue with the Islamic Republic. Not a single US aircraft carrier is consequently to be found anywhere in the Gulf region.
2. Monday, May 25, President Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated France's first naval facility in the Gulf in Abu Dhabi. The Russian and Iranian policy-makers see no reason why Moscow cannot set up a military presence in the region if Paris can.

[svinayak]

Turkey's Role in Regional and Global Security

Turkey is “a staunch ally located at the center of the world’s hotspots and an active regional power that plays a significant role in mediating area disputes.” In addition to participating in regional initiatives, Turkey is an active member of NATO, has begun the EU accession process, and has been elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Turkey is working actively to achieve peaceful relations with all of its neighbors.
- Iraq. It supports Iraq’s stabilization and economic development, although it is deeply concerned by the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq.
- Israel-Palestine. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved according to the “roadmap” that will permit the two states to live side-by-side. Turkey has promised to contribute $150 million to assist in rebuilding a future Palestinian state, while Turkish companies, together with Israeli and Palestinian firms, have formed “The Industry for Peace Projects” of the “Ankara Forum.”
- Turkey-Arab relations. By establishing relations with the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—as well as the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), Turkey hopes to help strengthen NATO ties with Arab and Gulf countries.
- Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, seven years of military operations and vast financial contributions have not achieved stabilization, which can only be attained by the full use of political, diplomatic, and economic means. Turkey has initiated a trilateral summit with Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
- Cyprus. The Cyprus issue needs to be resolved with the UN Secretary-General’s assistance and based on the long-established UN guidelines. The 3 September initiation of a dialogue by the two leaders on Cyprus gives reason for optimism.
- South Caucasus. Unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus—as shown by the recent Georgia-Russia conflict—are an obstacle to achieving regional peace and stability. Turkey has launched the “Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform” (CSCP) which will hopefully contribute to regional peace by augmenting existing mechanisms.

[shyamd]

How Lashkar funded transnational terror campaign

Mumbai terror trail leads to Muscat

Praveen Swami
Lashkar financier Ali al-Hooti was in India days before the November attack
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Investigators have determined that a top Oman-based jihad financier was in Mumbai days before the November terror attacks, raising the possibility that elements of the operation might have been paid for by Lashkar-e-Taiba supporters in West Asia.

Muscat businessman Ali Abdul Aziz al-Hooti, who was sentenced to life by an Oman court last month for his role in plotting the bombing of offices, hotels and a spa, visited Mumbai between November 10 and 17, sources in the Maharashtra police told The Hindu. In his visa application, al-Hooti claimed that he wanted to visit relatives in the town of Miraj. Al-Hooti’s mother, the sources said, was of Maharashtra origin.

The police in Oman and India have determined that al-Hooti had direct links with several key suspects in the attack.

Most significant among them is Fahim Arshad Ansari, the alleged Lashkar intelligence officer, who is being tried on charges of having generated the videotape of Mumbai’s streetscapes used to train the assault team.

In a statement made to the Uttar Pradesh police early last year, which the Indian law excludes from use as evidence, Mumbai resident Ansari said his training had been facilitated by a Lashkar operative he identified as Mohammad Jassem.

Jassem, Ansari allegedly said, arranged his transit through Dubai and Oman on his way to a Lashkar camp in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Oman authorities have now discovered that Jassem was the link between al-Hooti and the Lashkar headquarters in Pakistan.

Jassem was held, along with al-Hooti, in raids carried out in Muscat early this year, but there has been no public word on his trial.

Al-Hooti and Jassem are also thought to have arranged the training of Ali Asshama, a Maldivian national who, along with Bangladesh-based Lashkar commander Faisal Haroun, helped to set up the Lashkar’s Indian Ocean networks. Haroun is thought to have played a key role in crafting the 2006 landing of assault rifles meant for use in a terror attack in Gujarat, as well as an abortive 2007 effort to land eight Lashkar fidayeen off Mumbai.

[Omar]

http://bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=10849

Nawaz was brought down to Bangalore in dramatic fashion. In total secrecy, officials of the Research and Analysis Wing brought Nawaz from Muscat to Bangalore in an operation that took even the Air Traffic Control by surprise. The scale of the operation indicates this man was a very important link.

Does India have an extradition treaty with Oman? If not, this is as impressive as RAW/Romesh Bhandari's extraction of Khalistan militants from the UAE in 1984.

[sum]

Please read Shyamd's earlier posts on this issue of Indo-Omani security arrangement and extradition of Nawaz..
It seems we do have some sort of arrangement with Oman and this snatch job was performed with the tactic understanding of the Omani rulers.

[Omar]

It seems we do have some sort of arrangement with Oman and this snatch job was performed with the tactic understanding of the Omani rulers.

Turns out, India has a well-defined extradition treaty with Oman. This is different from the "snatch job" accomplished by RAW/MeA in 1984 where a well defined extradition treaty was not in place and UAE allowed capture of Khalistani terrorist. I asked because B Raman previously stated that lack of a formal extradition between India & UAE coupled with Arab perception that BJP gov in power at the time was anti-Muslim, made UAE officials look the other way when India requested help in regaining control of IA 814. I felt that perhaps UPAs re-election had something to do with this new lead in 26/11.

http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis ... -8594.html

[ramana]

Omar, good job of ferreting out the extradiation treaty with Oman.

The real question should be why the drama to bring back the terrorist? Most likely the Omanis didnt want the publicity that they had complied with the treaty and told GOI to take the person back pronto and without fan fare.

[shyamd]

Omar, good job of ferreting out the extradiation treaty with Oman.

The real question should be why the drama to bring back the terrorist? Most likely the Omanis didnt want the publicity that they had complied with the treaty and told GOI to take the person back pronto and without fan fare.

I already posted about the extradition treaty on 11th April on this thread.

Safraz Nawaz arrest: India and Oman do have an extradition treaty by the way folks! I think it was because Oman had requested it to be kept on a low profile. A lot of their support that they give is usually kept low profile.

Natwar Singh’s Gulf tour : India-Oman ink extradition pact

Based on news reports, Nawaz was arrested related to some racket in November. He sends his family back to Kerala. More raids early this year, gets Al Hooti. Bangalore police/IB learn about Nawaz's activities, asks Royal Omani Police to look for him in Oman. Probably embassy confirmed that this guy is under arrest already. Nawaz talks and agreed to talk to Indian authorities prior to the flight out of Muscat, so my sources tell me. Omani's probably say take him away for investigation and he can do time in India instead of here. Sultan likes to keep such things in the quiet. So the Jet stream flies in to Muscat and so on and so forth.

The people involved here were probably the RAW/IB, MEA, possibly Pranab M and Lt Gen Ma'amari (looks after security issues in Oman). One of the occupants of the flight had diplomatic passports.

Rumour in Oman is that there were more people who were arrested in the raids but are still being held without charge.

[sum]

So, our agencies didnt have any hand in tracking him and he was just a lucky catch in a routine Omani raid?

[shyamd]

They got his name from investigations of suspects in the BLR blast case. Then they knew they had to track him down, so found out that he was working in Muscat. Then when they asked the embassy to investigate, they realised that he was already under arrest. This could have been what happened.

[Philip]

Spy vs spy in Lebanon.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 93844.html

Robert Fisk: The mysterious case of the Israeli spy ring, Hizbollah and the Lebanese ballot
Monday, 1 June 2009

Hizbollah's chairman, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, demands the execution of all Lebanese people who have been collaborating with Israel

enlarge
Spying is as familiar in Beirut as it was in post-war Vienna – there's even a giant "Third Man"-type ferris wheel here – but the events of the last few days are growing more mysterious by the hour. Over the past two weeks, a special unit of Lebanon's Internal Security Force (ISF) has been arresting a clutch of Lebanese allegedly working as spies for Israel.


There are least 21 men and one woman under interrogation and the ISF has been regaling us all with the highly sophisticated Israeli communications equipment found hidden at their homes.

Those detained include a local journalist in the Bekaa Valley and a senior officer in the Lebanese army, a man who was wounded by Islamist gunmen at the battle of Nahr el-Bared in 2007. They've even picked up a retired general and his wife. Colonel Maurice Diab is a much respected soldier, although military officers say that questions were first raised some time ago when he was sent for training to the United States on a government grant but in a photograph taken on the course could be seen standing next to uniformed Israeli officers. He lives in the north Beirut coastal suburb of Antelias, although other arrests are spread across eastern Lebanon and the border village of Rmeish.

Related articles
Andrew Keen: Hizbollah and the Palm Pre
So far so good. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that some of the "intelligence" behind these detentions – and more than 50 people in all have so far been questioned – came from the Shiite Hizbollah, who are, of course, Syria's and Iran's best friends in Lebanon. This comes just a couple of weeks after four senior pro-Syrian Lebanese security officers were released from jail after being held on suspicion of helping to plan the assassination of ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri and 21 others in 2005. So are the intelligence authorities in the country back to their old tricks of hooking up with Hizbollah?

This is not an idle question, because Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's chairman, is now demanding that Lebanese "collaborators" of Israel be executed. Mr Nasrallah, it should be remembered, is the man who kicked off a war with Israel in 2006, in which more than a thousand Lebanese were killed, and then called it a "divine victory".

He enraged many Lebanese even more last week by describing the Hizbollah's temporary armed takeover of West Beirut last year as a "glorious day", even though dozens of Lebanese were killed.

Indeed for Sunni Muslims and a good many Christians, Mr Nasrallah – who appears on a giant Big Brother screen at Hizbollah rallies, speaking from his various hiding places – is talking as if he is the president of Lebanon rather than the actual office holder, the ex-general Michel Suleiman. Add to this the growing belief that the Lebanese opposition, whose backbone is Hizbollah, might win next week's national elections, and the arrest of an Israeli spy network takes on a much darker complexion.

The Israelis have indeed been trying to re-recruit some of their former Lebanese collaborators in order to re-establish their intelligence service there after their debacle in the 2006 Hizbollah war. The best sources say that some of these men worked for Israel before the Israeli army left Lebanon in 2000 and that several of them turned the Israeli offer down flat while others actually informed the Lebanese authorities of the approach from Israel and may even have snitched to them on the identity of the men and the woman who have just been arrested.

Now the Americans are gently warning that if Hizbollah and its chums, including the Christian former General Michel Aoun, win the elections, it will have to "re-examine" its aid package to Lebanon which includes substantial, though largely out-of-date, equipment for the Lebanese army. "Why are you worried?" Mr Nasrallah asked another of his interminable rallies last week. "Iran and Syria can give equipment to the Lebanese army."

The pot has now been further stirred by an incendiary and highly contentious article in Der Spiegel. It reported that the UN Tribunal set up in the Hague to find ex-prime minister Hariri's killers – the same tribunal that ordered the four generals released two weeks ago – is focusing on Hizbollah as the potential murderers. A lie, says Mr Nasrallah, an "Israeli plot". The tribunal says it gave no such information to the German magazine. And sure enough, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak has now warned the world that if Hizbollah and its allies win the elections, Israel will have "greater freedom of action". Not without more spies it won't.

Israel's intelligence performance in 2006 was lamentable. It turned out that Hizbollah had actually got their hands on Israel's own aerial photo-reconnaissance pictures of Lebanon, clearly showing which of Hizbollah's bunkers had been identified and which had not. If this latest spy network is real, the Israelis are not going to do much better next time round.

[Gerard]

Lebanese Writer Farid Salman: Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State, Which Will Absorb the Refugees

link

"Jordan is An Invention... I Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry When I Hear a Jordanian Say That He is Jordanian... He Has Forgotten That He's Palestinian"

Farid Salman: "Jordan is an invention. Transjordan, which was an emirate, and later became the Hashemite Kingdom, is part of Palestine. Britain created it in order to crown one of the sons of Hussein, from the Arabian Peninsula, over part of Greater Syria - over Palestine. This continues to be the perpetual reason... Without removing it, the Palestinian issue will not be resolved. It's impossible."

[Vishal_Bhatia]

Lebanese Writer Farid Salman: Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State, Which Will Absorb the Refugees

Passing the buck I guess. Sir, in my view, the people who have effed the Palestinians way more than anybody else are their Arab brothers.

[Philip]

Sensational revealtions from Natanyahu about a "secret deal" with Bush to allow Israel new settlements.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 95486.html

Netanyahu cites secret deal with Bush to justify more settlements

The Israelis claim that Ariel Sharon reached an agreement with the Bush administration that West Bank settlements, such as Beitar Illit, above, could be expanded

The Israeli government of Benjmain Netanyahu is seeking to deflect Washington's demand for a total settlement freeze by complaining that it ignores secret agreements between his predecessors and the Bush administration that construction in existing Jewish settlements could continue.

The rift between Mr Netanyahu's government and the US appeared to deepen yesterday, with a clear declaration by President Barack Obama that a freeze – including on "natural growth" of West Bank settlements – was among Israeli "obligations".

But Mr Netanyahu's government – which has made it clear it will not accept a total freeze – is pushing to restore at least part of the private "understandings" which it is emerging were struck between Israel and the previous US administration despite the Bush team's repeatedly stated opposition to settlement construction.

Related articles

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Leading article: President Obama's ambitious realism

The Israeli government is arguing that Ariel Sharon, with reservations, agreed in 2003 to the internationally endorsed Road Map and the withdrawal of 8,000 settlers from Gaza in 2005, only on condition that Israel could proceed with expansion within the physical boundaries of existing West Bank settlements. A senior Israeli official familiar with the current talks with the US said: "When the government of Israel adopted the Road Map... it was based on understandings reached with the US. It is hard for the US to say we have to keep to our commitments but ignore the understandings."

The argument was being pressed in talks that Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak was holding in Washington yesterday and is likely to feature in discussions that the US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is expected to have with the Israeli leadership here on Monday. Israeli officials are braced for President Obama to repeat his call for a settlement freeze when he makes his major speech on US relations with the Muslim world in Cairo tomorrow.

Israeli officials also complain that the new team in Washington is making "no distinction" between settlements in the larger blocs that Mr Bush told Mr Sharon in 2004 he expected would be in Israeli territory in any final status deal with the Palestinians, and those elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. Although the Bush administration later "clarified" that borders were a matter for negotiation, Israel swiftly assumed it was entitled to continue building within such blocs.

There is no sign that President Obama sees himself bound by any such covert oral understandings reached with his predecessor's administration – the status and durability of which has reportedly been challenged with vigour by US officials. Mr Obama told National Public Radio: "I've said very clearly to the Israelis both privately and publicly that a freeze on settlements, including natural growth, is part of those obligations." He added that Palestinians also had parallel obligations to improve security and end incitement.

The senior Israeli official suggested that Mr Netanyahu was ready to reach an agreement with the US precluding settlement-building that would in his view prejudice final status negotiations with the Palestinians, and that this would include not building on E1, the bitterly controversial planned corridor linking Jerusalem to the large settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. The official rejected reports of a secret coalition agreement between Mr Netanyahu and his hard-right Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to resume E1-building.

But the Palestinians – and for now at least the US – argue that any further settlement construction would prejudice negotiations, not least in Arab East Jerusalem where Mr Netanyahu is determined to keep a free hand in building settlements. Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the Six Day War in 1967, but this has never been accepted by the international community.

Haaretz reported yesterday that Washington was "furious" over plans by the Jerusalem municipality, backed by the Interior Ministry, to build a nine-storey 200-room hotel in East Jerusalem, just 100 metres from the Old City, which includes a Palestinian market and kindergarten.

The row has exposed the extent that the Bush administration was willing to sanction settlement-building, despite its publicly stated policy. Dov Weisglass, who was the closest lieutenant of then-prime minister Sharon, said in a newspaper yesterday that the deals originated in a 1990s agreement on "natural growth" which was further refined in 2002, "though the Americans completely denied the existence of the understandings". They have been confirmed by Bush administration assistant secretary of state Elliott Abrams.

Mr Weisglass said it had been agreed between Mr Sharon, himself, Mr Abrams and another US official, Stephen Hadley, that settlement growth could continue provided it did not involve new settlements, that no further "Palestinian land" would be expropriated, that expansion would be within the "existing construction line" and that public funds would not be used to encourage settlements. The Bush administration's secretary of state, Condoleeza Rice, confirmed the agreement, he said.

[IndraD]

Why there is so much of fuss about Obama bowing to Saudi King?
http://www.drudge.com/news/119825/did-o ... saudi-king
In the news today: Obama recieved huge amount of gold gift from Saudi King
More: Obama praises Saudi king's 'wisdom and graciousness'
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Obama+prai ... story.html

[chetak]

Culture of cruelty

[Philip]

Osama trumps Obama!

Osama Bin Laden neatly trumped Pres.Obama's ME visit by warning Muslim nations in a tape that he was no better than Bush & co. There will be jubilation among the ungodly who will celebrate the fact that he's still alive and verbally "kicking". As for Pres. Obama,his task is cut out in trying to kickstart the ME peace process with an intransigent Israel unwilling to stop settlement expansion,quoting a secret deal with Bush and a Palestinian people divided between militant Hamas and the Abbas led Fatah.The "contours" of a future Palestinian state is the crux of the matter.The Israelis want their security to be foolproof if such a state is created and the Palestinians do not want postage stamp sized plots of land linked by narrow corridors under Israeli security passing off as a "state".The return of the Palestinian refugees is another sticking point and the deal must have Syria's backing and blessing as it wants the Golan Heights returned too.A simultaneous process of negotiating with all those involved is the only way forward as any incremental progress ultimately helps in inching closer to wards the goal of a full and final settlement.

Osama bin Laden tape overshadows Barack Obama's attempts to engage Middle East

President Barack Obama's arrival in the Middle East to build a better US relationship with the Muslim world has been overshadowed by the release of a new tape from Osama bin Laden.

By Richard Spencer in Cairo and Toby Harnden in Washington
Published: 7:11PM BST 03 Jun 2009

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Saudi King Abdullah Photo: AP
The recording emerged just as Mr Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia at the start of a Middle East tour aimed at improving ties with Middle East countries.

The al-Qaeda leader claimed United States policy had led to a campaign of "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction" in the Swat area of north-west Pakistan and Americans would "reap what the White House leaders have sown".

Bin Laden says Obama is 'planting seeds of hate'
Obama starts Middle East visit
Israeli leader's party rejects Palestinian state before talks with Barack Obama
Barack Obama vows to 'dismantle' al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The release of the audio tape appeared to be timed to undermine Mr Obama's attempts to restart the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Bin Laden said: "Elderly people, children and women fled their homes and lived in tents as refugees after they have lived in dignity in their homes. Let the American people be ready to reap what the White House leaders have sown.

"Obama and his administration have sown new seeds to increase hatred and revenge on America. The number of these seeds is equal to the number of displaced people from Swat Valley."

The message was broadcast across the Middle East on al-Jazeera television just as Air Force One touched down in Saudi Arabia. After meeting King Abdullah in Riyadh, Mr Obama was due to fly to Egypt to deliver a major speech to the Muslim world at Cairo University on Thursday.

White House aides said it was calculated to distract Muslims who would be receptive to Mr Obama's attempt to improve relations with the US after the Iraq invasion and President George W. Bush's eight years in office.

Opinion polls released in advance of Mr Obama's visit have shown improved attitudes towards American leadership in most Muslim and Arab countries since he took office.

"Obviously we've seen news reports of the message but not had an opportunity to review it in its entirety," said Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama's press secretary.

"I don't think it's surprising that al-Qaeda would want to shift attention away from the president's historic and continued efforts to have an open dialogue with the Muslim world."

Bin Laden's last message was released in March. He had previously been less critical of Mr Obama. In January, he said only that the new American president had bore a "heavy inheritance" from his predecessor.

After receiving a red-carpet welcome, Mr Obama sat beside King Abdullah in a gilded chair and sipped cardamom coffee before retreating to hold private talks at the monarch's desert stud.

There was no repeat, however, of Mr Obama's elaborate bow before the king a the G20 summit earlier this year, which prompted widespread criticism and some mockery in the US.

The discussions were expected to focus on ways reviving a 2002 Israeli-Palestinian peace plan formulated by the Kingdom, Mr Obama praised the monarch.

"I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness," said Mr Obama. "Obviously the United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship, we have a strategic relationship."

He added that it was "very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East."

Mr Obama's long-awaited "statement of intent" towards the Muslim world, is being anticipated with such high expectations that White House aides and analysts have begun to play down its likely contents.

It will not contain substantive new proposals on the Palestinian issue, they say, while it is not even certain that he will renew his call for Israel to stop the expansion of settlements in occupied territories, a minimum requirement for many Arabs.

Some Arab critics have already started suggesting that Mr Obama will follow his predecessor in allowing high-flown rhetoric to obscure continuing support for Israel.

But there remains excitement in Cairo, with market stalls selling souvenir pendants and other trinkets portraying the American president as a pharaoh.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/

[Philip]

Obama's dramatic speech in which he strongly criticises Israel for its settlement policy and acknowledges US mistakes in Iraq and Iran .It is bound to get severly criticised in Israel and in the US from the pro-Israeli lobby ,but could see much approval from the Arab street.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 430692.ece

From Times OnlineJune 4, 2009

Obama delivers strong attack on Israeli settlements in speech to Muslim world

(Nasser Nasser/AP)
President Obama is given a standing ovation after delivering his speech in Cairo
Jenny Booth

Barack Obama today delivered one of the strongest condemnations by an American president of Israeli settlement building and made a startling admission of past US foreign policy mistakes.

In an audacious speech at Al-Azhar university in Cairo to a worldwide audience of 1.5 billion Muslims, Mr Obama told the Israeli government that continuing to construct new Jewish homes in the occupied Palestinian territories was unacceptable and must stop.

Mr Obama went further than any US President in recent memory in conceding that America had sometimes been wrong, citing past policies towards Iran and recent reactions after 9/11. He implied that the invasion of Iraq had been a mistake.

He also made thinly-veiled criticisms of the authoritarian regimes in Middle Eastern countries to which America has in the past appeared uncritically supportive.

But perhaps his toughest words, and one of the most warmly received sections of the speech, were his rebuke for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, who has refused to halt West Bank settlement expansion.

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," said Mr Obama.

"This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."

Mr Obama did say that the US bond with Israel, the source of much Arab distrust of the United States, was unbreakable, and he rejected "baseless, ignorant and hateful" rants by those who deny the Nazi Holocaust.

To underline his point, Mr Obama is due to tour the former Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald tomorrow.

But he also voiced compassion for the millions of Palestinians who have lived for decades under Israeli occupation in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, and called on all parties to play their part in reviving stalled peace talks.

"Let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable," he said.

"The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security. That is in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest, and the world’s interest."

There was criticism for other Middle Eastern countries for failing to shoulder their responsibility.

"The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognise Israel ’s legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past."

He condemned the attitude of regimes who had grown rich extracting oil and gas but had not used the wealth to improve the education and living standards of their people - an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia, where Mr Obama stayed last night as the guest of King Abdullah.

He advocated education and rights for women.

Some of his words are set raise eyebrows in the United States. Despite an uncompromising defence of America's pursuit of al-Qaeda and of its invasion of Afghanistan, he went on to cast doubt on the US's actions in Iraq.

"Unlike Afghanistan , Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world," said Mr Obama.

"Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible."

Other surprising admissions include that "in the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government".

Mr Obama also appeared to make a direct appeal to Hamas, which is officially listed by America as a terrorist organisation. He suggested it should shoulder its responsibilities as the elected government of the Gaza Strip and renounce violence.

He wove in quotations from the Koran and frequent praise of Islam's traditions of learning, culture and tolerance in building an appeal for all faiths and nationalities to make a fresh start, and work in co-operation with one another.

[IndraD]

In general the newspapers in Gulf (strictly controlled) are gloating over Obama's arrival.

Warm welcome to Barack Obama
Obama’s Redemption Endeavours

[AnimeshP]

Not sure if this has been posted before ...
From Syria, a call for 'Undivided India'

The RSS vision of an Akhand Bharat has an unlikely supporter, the Grand Mufti of Syria, Dr Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun. The Mufti feels "You need to bring back the idea of pre-independence India. An Indian continent which for over a thousand years was home to all civilisations -- Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sikhs. He believes that the barriers between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are unnatural and should be removed. The holy man cites the example of Europe, where boundary lines are becoming irrelevant.

...............

When taken around the Taj Mahal and told it was an "Islamic building" the holy man gently corrected his guide. "This is an Indian building, which may have been built with Islamic spirit."

Interesting ....

[shyamd]

First admission from Israeli's that they have been kicked in the ass. There are loads of cases that haven't been reported in the english media. It is massive.

Lebanon misuses French surveillance gear to crack alleged Israel spy rings

DEBKAfile's intelligence sources reveal that Lebanon is enabled to crack alleged Israeli spy rings with the help of ultra-sophisticated surveillance equipment recently consigned to Lebanon by French intelligence services. French president Nicolas Sarkozy handed it over against a personal pledge from Lebanese president Michel Suleiman that it would be used exclusively against subversive Syrian and Hizballah targets to help him weather the June 7 general election.

After their delivery and Lebanese officers were instructed by French technicians in their use, Gen. Ashraf Rifi, head of Lebanon's General Security Office, had the top-notch surveillance devices installed to snoop on suspected Western and Israeli assets; Syrian or Hizballah agents were left with a clear run.

Tuesday, June 2, Beirut announced 9 more suspected spies had been detained with another haul of communications equipment and encoded computers. Western intelligence experts say all the Lebanese counter-espionage officers have to do is install the French bugs in one sector after another, wait for it to signal the presence of electronic gear and then pick up its holder. This accounts for their sudden success in rounding up alleged spies. Suspects who have dumped their equipment in time have managed to escape detection.
The harm to Western intelligence from Lebanese president's breach of promise to Paris has ramifications: Beirut has just passed its findings together with the captured electronic paraphernalia to Syrian and Iranian intelligence, handing them the data for overhauling their defenses against foreign espionage.
Urgent inquiries are now flying between Washington and Paris to find out how Western spy agencies operating in Lebanon came to relax their guard and failed to discover their exposure to the French bugs misused against parties against which Sakrozy meant no harm.
Either way, both Washington and Paris are forced to admit that, in the final reckoning, no office-holder in Lebanon may be trusted.

[shyamd]

Army has busted '25 Mossad cells, 6 Al-Qaeda groups'

"The spy ring could be the most dangerous of all networks given its use of highly developed security techniques," the source told An-Nahar.

Furthermore, the army intelligence reportedly arrested a man identified as "H.S.F" from the southern town of Ain Qana on suspicion of spying for Israel. The man's arrest came after another alleged spy was seized from the same town at dawn Thursday.

The sources told An-Nahar that the army has been lately focusing on "fighting terrorism in its extremist and Israeli aspects" away from media spotlight.

"The army was able up to this date to uncover 25 cells spying for Israel and was able since early this year to arrest six very important extremist networks belonging to Al-Qaeda," the sources said.

Investigation with members of the Israeli cells represents a real challenge because the alleged spies are trained to face investigation and the rings are not connected. Another difficulty is that each person is himself a cell and more effort is required to receive information from him during questioning.

"The military command worked since assuming its duties to upgrade the intelligence directorate and improve its capabilities through security equipment. As a result of improved military security work in the past few months, suspicion fell on the two colonels who were placed under strict watch until their arrest."

As for the six terrorist networks, the sources said that they are dangerous because they function on the regional and international level in addition to Lebanon where they planned attacks to target stability, including in areas where UN peacekeepers are deployed.

Members of the networks are from Arab and non-Arab nationalities and the army is coordinating with their countries

[sum]

First admission from Israeli's that they have been kicked in the ass. There are loads of cases that haven't been reported in the english media. It is massive.

So, is this purge a massive setback to Israelis and are they left blind in Lebanon or do they have sufficient backups?

[Gerard]

Souvenirs of a quick trip to India

[Anujan]

Challenging Sex Taboos, With Help From the Koran



A Muslim and a native Emirati, she wears a full-length black niqab — with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits...Yet she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice in which she celebrates the female orgasm, confronts taboo topics like homosexuality and urges Arabs to transcend the backward traditions that limit their sexual happiness.


The book, “Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples,” ...became an instant scandal after it was published in Arabic in the Emirates in January, drawing praise from some liberals and death threats from conservatives

In Saudi Arabia and other countries where the genders are rigorously separated, many men have their first sexual experiences with other men, which affects their attitudes toward sex in marriage, Ms. Lootah said. “Many men who had anal sex with men before marriage want the same thing with their wives, because they don’t know anything else,” Ms. Lootah said. “This is one reason we need sex education in our schools.”

The prevalence of foreign women in Dubai and the ease of e-mail and text-message communication has made cheating easier (and easier to detect), Ms. Lootah said, helping push the divorce rate to 30 percent.

She reels off stories from her practice in rapid fire: the Emirati military officer whose wife had an affair because he was away from home too much; the woman who thought fellatio was against Islam (not true at all, Ms. Lootah notes); the wife who discovered her husband dressing up as a woman and going out to gay bars.

[shyamd]

First admission from Israeli's that they have been kicked in the ass. There are loads of cases that haven't been reported in the english media. It is massive.

So, is this purge a massive setback to Israelis and are they left blind in Lebanon or do they have sufficient backups?

Obviously, no one can answer that question. Wouldn't be surprised if high level lebanese who are probably exchanging info face to face in a third country.

[putnanja]

Movies come to Riyadh for first time in decades