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DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 4, 2011, 12:32 PM (GMT+02:00)

Hizballah terrorists hear sentencing by Egyptian court

A joint Hizballah-Hamas unit used the havoc in Egypt to storm the Wadi Natrun prison north of Cairo Sunday, Jan. 30, and break out 22 members of the Hizballah’s spy-cum-terror network, tried and convicted in Egypt for plotting terrorist attacks in Cairo, the Suez Canal and Suez cities and on Israeli vacationers in Sinai in 2007-2008. This is reported by debkafile‘s counter-terror sources.

The second object of the break-in was to release Muslim Brotherhood inmates to boost the anti-Mubarak street protests now in their second week across Egypt.

In April 2009, Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted he had sent Sami Shehab to Egypt to establish the network. It soon became one of the most dangerous terrorist cells ever to be exposed in the region in recent years. Among its members were also combatants of the radical Palestinian Hamas.

Thursday, Feb. 3, Mahmoud Qmati, Hizballah member of the Lebanese parliament, was glad to announce that all 22 members of the network, including its leader Sami Shehab, had been freed from jail and returned home safely. He provided no information on how this happened.

debkafile rounds out the picture.

The unit assigned by Nasrallah for the jail-break consisted of 25 trained Hizballah and Hamas gunmen. When the riots erupted in Egypt, they started making their way from Gaza to Egypt via smuggling tunnels. On the way, they picked up weapons and explosives in El Arish, northern Sinai, under cover of an onslaught armed Palestinians and Bedouin had launched against Egyptian security forces – partly for this purpose.

The break-out team was met at the Suez Canal by Muslim Brotherhood activists who ferried them across to Ismailia on the western bank by Egyptian smuggling boats. From there, they were driven to the Wadi Natrun prison, one of the largest in Egypt, to be briefed outside by former MB inmates on the guard and security arrangements in the jail and the locations of the cells holding the Hizballah, Hamas and Brotherhood convicts.

After days of surveillance, the team struck.

Explosives and missile-launched grenades flattened the outer gates killing at least 30 Egyptian prison guards who tried to fight them off. Small explosive devices were used to smash internal gates and clear the way to the cells. To expedite the escape of a large number of prisoners, they also blew big holes in the prison’s outer walls.

Outside, they were collected by a large convoy of trucks and buses brought in by the Muslim Brotherhood which distributed its freed members around the disturbance hubs in Cairo.

A smaller convoy of minivans carrying the 22 Hizballah and Hamas convicts and their liberators made its way by various routes past Egyptian security forces, who were fully engaged with the protest riots, to Sinai and onto the Gaza Strip. As soon as the escape was discovered, Egyptian forces in Sinai and Israeli forces on the Egyptian border deployed in an effort to stop them entering Gaza, but were too late.

This audacious Hizballah-Hamas attack on the Egyptian prison was the first major quasi-military operation they had ever carried out deep inside Egypt.

Thousands support ‘day of rage’ against Hamas – Israel News, Ynetnews.

(Video) Facebook group ‘ Revolution of Honor’ urges Gaza’s residents to take to streets. Fatah lauds initiative, Hamas says not aware of any protest plans

VIDEO – Inspired by the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, a Facebook group called “The Revolution of Honor – Gaza” has called for a “day of rage” next Friday to protest against the Hamas government which rules the coastal enclave.

The group has grown to some 10,000 members just three days after it was launched.

The group’s Facebook page features hate slogans directed against Hamas and its leader Ismail Haniyeh, a photo Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas beside another photo of Che Guevara, as well as detailed instructions on how to promote the ‘day of rage’ using YouTube, Twitter, emails and banners.

Tawfiq Tirawi, a former intelligence chief in the Palestinian Authority and a current member of Fatah’s Central Committee, supported the group’s cause. “We are a nation which fights with all means at its disposal to gain freedom and independence from the Israeli occupation, so how can we accept Hamas’ despotic regime?” he said.

Anti-Mubarak activists pour into Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Protesters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday with supplies of food and water in an attempt to drive out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with a massive protest after a week and half of pro-democracy demonstrations.

Soldiers were checking IDs and performing body searches at entrances to the square. Then human chains of protesters perform secondary searches. The atmosphere was relaxed.

Pro-Mubarak crowds that have attacked demonstrators and foreign journalists did not have a visible presence in or near the square Friday morning.

Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Tantawi and other top army officials visited Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday as protesters amassed for demonstrations, according to Egyptian state television.

After opponents and supporters of Mubarak clashed for a second straight day on Thursday, protesters vowed to intensify their battle to oust Mubarak on Friday.

Mubarak struck a defiant tone Thursday, telling ABC News’s Christiane Amanpour he would “never run away” and would “die on the soil of Egypt.”

The embattled president said in an interview Thursday that he was ready to leave office, but could not, for fear his country would sink deeper into chaos.

“I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go,” Mubarak said in an interview at the presidential palace.

Amanpour said Mubarak had told her he was troubled by the deadly violence between anti- and pro-government groups in Tahrir Square and that the government was not responsible for it. The president blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for the violence and said he did not intend to have his son Gamal assume the presidency after him.

Mubarak said that in a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama earlier this week, he had told his American counterpart, “You don’t understand the Egyptian culture,” and asked, “What would happen if I step down now?” Looting and arson erupted throughout the capital Thursday, as gangs of thugs supporting Mubarak attacked reporters, foreigners and rights workers while the army rounded up foreign journalists. The government seemed to be advancing a narrative whereby foreigners had been fueling the turmoil and supporting the tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets.

Pro-government mobs beat foreign journalists with sticks on the streets outside downtown Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests. Dozens of journalists, including ones from The Washington Post and The New York Times, were reported detained by security forces. One Greek print journalist was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and a photographer was punched in the face by attackers who smashed some of his equipment.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 2, 2011, 11:16 PM (GMT+02:00)

Pro-Mubarak activists ride into Tahrir Square

Wednesday, Feb. 2, President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and the army and security chiefs: Mubarak must be removed in the coming hours or else US aid to Egypt will be cut off, debkafile‘s Washington sources exclusively report. Pressure on the Egyptian armed forces to oust the president forthwith was further applied by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who called Vice President Omar Suleiman, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who called Egyptian defense minister Mohamed Tantawi, and US armed forces chief Adm. Mike Mullen in a telephone call to the Egyptian chief of staff Gen. Sami Enan.,

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister David Cameron were recruited earlier to lean hard on Egyptian army chiefs to bring Mubarak’s presidency to an end in the coming hours.

Our sources report that all the Israelis remaining in Egypt, including news correspondents, were evacuated from Egypt Wednesday night in view of the danger of civil warfare spreading from the first confrontation in Tahrir Square between pro- and anti-Mubarak activists on the ninth day of the campaign for his overthrow.

It turned into a bloody collision with 30 confirmed dead and at least 2,000 injured – most of them protesters.
Obama slapped down his ultimatum when he saw Mubarak had unleashed the strong-arm squads of his National Democratic Party against the anti-government protesters, the day after he told the nation that he would stay for the remainder of his term as president.

The White House shot back: “President Barack Obama has been clear on Egypt that the transition must begin now, and now means now.”
Obama hardened his position following three more occurrences:
1.  The Egyptian army for the first time abandoned its neutrality and let 50,000 Mubarak supporters enter Tahrir Square where the protesters had been gathering without stopping them for inspection at the checkpoints outside. They stormed into the square on camels and horses, trampled protesters and beat about them with knives, swords, axes and petrol bombs.

Until that moment, the White House had been confident that the Egyptian army was solidly behind a peaceful transition process for displacing the president. But then, alarm signals started flashing.

debkafile sources report that the US administration is trying to find out if the army has switched its support to the president on the initiative of a local commander,  or the entire military command has backtracked and laid the country open to a civil conflict. An Egyptian source told debkafile Wednesday night: The country may be descending into a bloodbath.

2.   Information reached Washington that the first appearance of violent Mubarak loyalists in Tahrir Square was not the Egyptian president’s final throw but his first. More are planned for the coming days in other parts of the country too, climaxing on Friday, Feb. 4.

The Americans have begun to understand that the 82-year old Egyptian president, although seriously ill, has no plans to go quietly as he promised in his speech to the nation Tuesday night. It is even possible that he may not go voluntarily at all.
3.  The first fissures appeared Wednesday in opposition ranks. All ten secular parties agreed to respond positively to the Vice President’s invitation to dialogue on constitutional reform, excepting the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the largest and best organized of them all. Its leaders refused to have any truck with the regime or any of its leaders and demanded that Mubarak step down without further delay.
The Brotherhood also heated up its denunciations of America, Britain and Israel.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Iranian challenges West with scientific innovations.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Iranian supercomputer. New space rockets and satellites carrying the flag of the Islamic Republic. Biotech innovations that include artificial tendons.

Iran’s claims of scientific advances are coming at a rapid-fire pace these days as the country begins events to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

It’s become part of annual celebrations of scholarship and military might. But this year, there is an added message to the West after the latest talks over Iran’s nuclear program fizzled in January: Teheran’s ability to make atomic fuel remains at the heart of the country’s drive for home-grown technology.

“The government’s support for science and technology is an unchangeable strategy,” said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month at a high-tech trade exhibition in Tehran. “This includes the nuclear efforts.”

It’s hardly a new statement from the Islamic Republic, which has repeatedly insisted it will not negotiate over its right for uranium enrichment under international pacts. This message, however, will be reinforced strongly in the coming days as officials boast about Iran’s innovations.

It also offers an important lesson in how much political capital is vested in Iran’s effort to stake its claim as the scientific vanguard of the Muslim world.

Iran plans a major tech exhibition beginning Saturday in Damascus, Syria, whose underlying purpose seeks to show that international sanctions have not crippled Iran’s labs.

The expo is expected to showcase an array of made-in-Iran innovations from more than 120 companies including precision industrial equipment, nanotechnology and aerospace-related items. No nuclear technology is on the list.

An Iranian diplomat in Syria told The Associated Press that the five-day exhibition — the first of its kind outside Iran — aims to show “friend and foe” that sanctions have not slowed Iran despite claims by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief reporters.

Ali Reza Khamesian, a journalist for the moderate newspaper Melleat-e Ma newspaper in Tehran, said the technology show seeks to project Iran as the “most powerful and independent country in the region.”

“It has a clear goal,” he said. “That is to show the regional countries that Iran is unique since it has achieved technological achievements” despite sanctions.

During the coming week, Iranian officials have promised to display a new range of rockets and satellites — which could raise more concern in the West that Iran’s space program spilling over into possible efforts at creating a long-range ballistic missile arsenal.

A year ago, Iran announced it launched some animals — including a mouse, two turtles and worms — briefly into space on a research rocket. In February 2009, Iran sent its first satellite into orbit.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have unveiled an array of purported advances in recent weeks, including a new gamma radiation units for medical treatments and a supercomputer billed as among the top 500 most powerful in the world.

Iran’s deputy president for science and technology, Salar Amuli, told state television that computer’s power will be used for areas that include nuclear physics.

On Kish Island in the Gulf, a biotech center is planned to make artificial tendons and ligaments , state-run Press TV reported.

Besides the jabs against sanctions, Ahmadinejad also plays heavily on the connection between technology and Persian pride. He frequently sprinkles his remarks about how Iran should reclaim the banner of scientific advancement it once held as the Persian Empire.

‘History has shown that the Iranian nation was pioneer of achieving scientific progress,’ he said last week.

WikiLeaks: Int’l carmakers linked to Iran nuke program.

Car manufacturers Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Fiat, Renault and Peugeot might not know it, but according to Israeli intelligence services they play a key role in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

An American diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks on Thursday summarized a meeting held in October 2007 between Patricia McNerney, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, and a group of officials from the Mossad, IDF Military Intelligence and the Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting, the Military Intelligence officer presented McNerney with photographs of vehicles made by Mercedes, Fiat, Toyota and Honda that were being used by Iranian regime elements associated with its missile program. The photographs were of vehicles with missile systems mounted on them or in tow.

The Mossad official present singled out Renault and Peugeot, which were at the time manufacturing cars in Iran.

“Legally they are not doing anything wrong, but it might be worthwhile to show them how their business is helping proliferators,” the Mossad official said.

The Foreign Ministry official suggested asking companies such as Renault and Peugeot to “join in the effort” to stop investments that helped the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as opposed to asking them to cease their operations in the country.

“This might be more palatable to them, and thus a more effective approach,” the official said.

The Military Intelligence officer claimed that 50 percent of the vehicles presented during the meeting with McNerney were bought and used by the Revolutionary Guard, which, he said, Israel could also link to dozens of construction companies that supply building materials to the Iranian programs.

The Revolutionary Guard, he gave as an example, was at the time the main contractor for Teheran’s metro system.

DEBKA.

Like most other authoritarian Middle East leaders, the ayatollahs of Iran are looking nervously over their shoulders for fear the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt may infect their own disaffected population.
They have successfully suppressed the Green opposition which first challenged the Islamic regime in mid-2009 and, in the last two months, put down the street protests against rising prices and spreading unemployment.
They achieved this by having the security forces keep a close eye on organized activity and judicious government handouts to offset soaring prices. But they are not sure for how long they can keep the lid on all Iran’s cities and villages where so many of the ingredients of the revolts that put Tunisia’s Zine Ben Ali to flight and almost felled Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak are present.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s sources in Tehran report that senior political and security officials have been in conference since last Tuesday, Jan. 25, the day the Egyptian troubles flared, to work on instantaneous measures for nipping similar waves of protest in the bud.
Hanging over their heads is the imminent approach of the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Shiite Revolution on Feb. 12, for which the regime is traditionally eager to bring millions of celebrants out on the streets. This time, the authorities have received intelligence that opposition groups plan to take advantage of the event and turn it into a massive protest against the regime, primarily in Tehran. This will be hard to control when the regime itself encourages a large popular display of support for the revolution.
The regime can normally count on an army of informers to alert it in good time to avert emerging opposition activities. Following the latest tip-off, the Interior Ministry’s emergency command center has posted legions of security personnel to patrol city high streets and keep people away from the main squares. Keeping the town centers deserted is not an option for Revolution Day in eight days – or even for much longer.
Iran depends on the massive presence of informants and thugs
The emergency center plans to deploy security officials in civilian dress at strategic points inside the town squares, ready to identify and arrest on the spot instigators of anti-regime slogans and cheerleaders calling on demonstrators to chant denunciations of the regime – before any real demonstration gets underway.
From the beginning of next week, about 100,000 Basij “volunteers” – the reserve force of the Revolutionary Guards – will be brought to Tehran from villages and outlying cities. Mostly illiterate religious fanatics, these toughs have received special guidance in methods for suppressing anti-government outbreaks. They were told that enemies of the regime were essentially enemies of the Koran, Muhammad and Allah. Still they were instructed not to shoot into crowds or kill anyone – only cause enough injuries to break up a demonstration.
Tuesday, Jan. 31, Internet and mobile telephone users ran into difficulties as the authorities, like the Mubarak regime before them began disrupting the communications tools serving potential protest organizers.
The noted jurist Ardeshir Amir-Arjmand, a law professor at Tehran University and adviser to the opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mussawi, said this week: “A dictatorship is a dictatorship, whether it’s in Cairo or Tehran. He revealed something of the opposition’s secret tactics for Revolution Day when he said: “If the authorities claim that their regime is not a dictatorship, they must allow free demonstrations on the anniversary of the revolution. They will then see for themselves how little support their regime commands.” He advised Iran’s rulers “to relinquish power before it is too late.”
The conditions which infuriated Tunisians and Egyptians are present in Iran
Many of the conditions which stirred the Tunisian and Egyptian peoples into mass protest exist ostensibly in Iran too – economic hardship, for instance.
In recent months, the cancellation of subsidies caused the prices of goods and services to skyrocket. Fuel prices shot up tenfold, electricity was seven times higher and the price of bread quintupled.
To offset them, President Ahmed Ahmadinejad transferred a derisory 44,000 toman ($40) into every citizen’s bank account each month. This covers a small fraction of the price increases and so people are poorer and hungrier than ever before.
The jobless rate is much higher than in Tunisia, Egypt or any other Arab country. It is officially admitted to be 12 percent, but estimated by experts as closer to 30 percent in Tehran and among young people and university graduates as high as 50 percent.
The prevalence of galloping corruption in every government department is an open secret to the people. The regime is also weakened by a growing rupture between Ahmadinejad and parliament. It is less than seven weeks until the end of the budget year, yet the president has not yet submitted the annual budget bill to the Majlis, an unprecedented delay and an expression of Ahmadinejad’s contempt for the lawmakers.
They are more than ready for revenge for the many humiliations they have suffered at his hands. Tuesday, they mustered a majority to sack Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani, holding him responsible for several airliner crashes in which hundreds of people were killed.
Israeli spy scare covers extreme unease
The outcry against alleged Israeli spies in recent weeks is another symptom of the regime’s extreme unease.
This week, Iranian intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi again broadcast the arrest of “dozens of spies on behalf of the Zionist regime.”
Our sources say he was referring to contacts between Iranian citizens and the Born for Freedom foundation which is investigating the mystery of the Israeli navigator’s disappearance in 1986 after being shot down by Hizballah over Lebanon and other missing persons believed to have vanished in Iran. The foundation is offering a $10 million award for reliable information leading to discovering what happened to them.
The Iranian citizens who contacted the foundation were accused of spying for Israel.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s Iranian sources expect the Iranian authorities in the end to crush any opposition attempts to take over Revolution Day rallies for demonstrations massive enough to imperil the Islamic regime. However, Tunisia and Egypt have taught everyone that no one can tell when the next upheaval will erupt in the streets and squares of Tehran.

Israel: A tale of two demonstrations – Bikya Masr.