WarSclerotic

Libya: 2,000 reported killed in Benghazi, 1,000 in Tripoli.

Militiamen loyal to Moammar Gaddafi clamped down in Tripoli, with the sound of gunfire ringing in the air, while protesters who control much of the eastern half of Libya claimed new gains in cities and towns closer to the heart of Gaddafi’s regime in the capital.

Protesters said they had taken over Misrata, which would be the largest city in the western half in the country to fall into their hands. Clashes broke out over the past two days in the town of Sabratha, west of the capital, where the army and militiamen were trying to put down protesters who overwhelmed security headquarters and government buildings, a news website close to the government reported.

A French doctor working in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi told Le Point Magazine that over 2,000 people were killed in that city alone in the past days of fighting, AFP reported.

“From Tobruk to Darna, they carried out a real massacre… In total, I think there are more than 2,000 deaths,” he said.

The 60-year-old anesthetist who has been living in the Libyan city for over a year, said that one the first day of fighting in Benghazi, “out ambulances counted 75 bodies…200 on the second [day], then more than 500.” On the third day, he added, “I ran out of morphine and medications,” according to the report.

Two air force pilots jumped from parachutes from their Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet and let it crash, rather than carry out orders to bomb Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, which is now in opposition hands, the website Quryna reported, citing an unidentified officer in the air force control room.

One of the pilots was from Gaddafi’s tribe, the Gadhadhfa, said Farag al-Maghrabi, a local resident who saw the pilots and the wreckage of the jet, which crashed in a deserted area outside the key oil port of Breqa.

International outrage mounted after Gaddafi on Tuesday went on state TV and in a fist-pounding speech called on his supporters to take to the streets to fight protesters. Gaddafi’s retaliation has already been the harshest in the Arab world to the wave of anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed in the violence in Libya were “credible,” although he stressed information about casualties was incomplete. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at nearly 300, according to a partial count.

Gaddafi’s speech appeared to have brought out a heavy force of supporters and militiamen that largely prevented major protests in the capital Tuesday night or Wednesday. Through the night, gunfire was heard, said one woman who lives near downtown.

“Mercenaries are everywhere with weapons. You can’t open a window or door. Snipers hunt people,” she said. “We are under siege, at the mercy of a man who is not a Muslim.”

During the day Wednesday, more gunfire was heard near Gaddafi’s residence, but in many parts of the city of 2 million residents were venturing out to stores, some residents said. The government sent out text messages urging people to go back to their jobs, aiming to show that life was returning to normal. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

But Libya’s upheaval, just over a week old, has shattered the hold of Gaddafi’s regime across much of the country. Protesters claim to hold towns and cities along nearly the entire eastern half of the 1,000-mile Mediterranean coastline, from the Egyptian border. In parts, they have set up their own jury-rigged self-administrations.

At the Egyptian border, guards had fled, and local tribal elders have formed local committees to take their place. “Welcome to the new Libya,” a graffiti spray-painted at the crossing proclaimed. Fawzy Ignashy, a former soldier, now in civilian clothes at the border, said that early in the protests, some commanders ordered troops to fire on protesters, but then tribal leaders stepped in and ordered them to stop.

“They did because they were from here. So the officers fled,” he said.

Protesters have claimed control all the way to the city of Ajdabiya, about 480 miles (800 kilometers) east of Tripoli, encroaching on the key oil fields around the Gulf of Sidra.

That has left Gaddafi’s power centered around Tripoli, in the far west and parts of the country’s center. But that appeared to be weakening in parts.

Protesters in Misrata were claiming victory after several days of fighting with Gaddafi loyalists in the city, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli.

Residents were honking horns in celebration and raising the pre-Gaddafi flags of the Libyan monarchy, said Faraj al-Misrati, a local doctor. He said six people had been killed and 200 wounded in clashes that began Feb. 18 and eventually drove out pro-Gaddafi militiamen.

An audio statement posted on the Internet was reportedly from armed forces officers in Misrata proclaiming “our total support” for the protesters.

New videos posted by Libya’s opposition on Facebook also showed scores of anti-government protesters raising the flag from the pre-Gaddafi monarchy on a building in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli. Another showed protesters lining up cement blocks and setting tires ablaze to fortify positions on a square inside the capital.

The footage couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Further west, armed forces deployed in Sabratha, a town famed for nearby ancient Roman ruins, in a bid to regain control after protesters burned government buildings and police stations, the Quryna news website reported. It said clashes had erupted between soldiers and residents in the past nights and that residents were also reporting an influx of pro-Gaddafi militias that have led heaviest crackdown on protesters.

The opposition also claimed control in Zwara, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Tunisian border in the west, after local army units sided with the protesters and police fled.

“The situation here is very secure, the people here have organized security committees, and there are people who have joined us from the army,” said a 25-year-old unemployed university graduate in Zwara. “This man (Gaddafi) has reached the point that he’s saying he will bring armies from African (to fight protesters). That means he is isolated,” he said.

The division of the country — and defection of some army units to the protesters — raises the possibility the opposition could try an assault on the capital. On the Internet, there were calls by protesters for all policemen, armed forces and youth to march to Tripoli on Friday.

In his speech Tuesday night, Gaddafi defiantly vowed to fight to his “last drop of blood” and roared at supporters to strike back against Libyan protesters to defend his embattled regime.

“You men and women who love Gaddafi… get out of your homes and fill the streets,” Gaddafi said. “Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs.”

Gaddafi appears to have lost the support of several tribes and his own diplomats, including Libya’s ambassador in Washington, Ali Adjali, and deputy UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi.

International alarm has risen over the crisis, which sent oil prices soaring to the highest level in more than two years on Tuesday and sparked a scramble by European and other countries to get their citizens out of the North African nation. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting that ended with a statement condemning the crackdown, expressing “grave concern” and calling for an “immediate end to the violence” and steps to address the legitimate demands of the Libyan people.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also pressed Wednesday for European Union sanctions against Libya’s regime because of its violent crackdown on protesters, and raised the possibility of cutting all economic and business ties between the EU and the North African nation.

“The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the Libyan civilian population is revolting,” Sarkozy said in a statement. “The international community cannot remain a spectator to these massive violations of human rights.”

Italian news reports have said witnesses and hospital sources in Libya are estimating there are 1,000 dead in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, alone.

“We have no complete information about the number of people who have died,” Frattini said in a speech to a Catholic organization in Rome ahead of a briefing in Parliament on Libya. “We believe that the estimates of about 1,000 are credible.”

Libya is the biggest supplier of oil to Italy, which has extensive energy, construction and other business interests in the north African country and decades of strong ties.

Frattini said the Italian government is asking that the “horrible bloodshed” cease immediately.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report February 23, 2011, 8:28 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tripoli lulled by Qaddafi’s iron fist, weak Western response

Muammar Qaddafi succeeded Wednesday, Feb. 23, in clearing the streets of Tripoli and southern and western Libya of demonstrations against his rule – partly by threats and partly thanks to American and European Union failure to put up a military or diplomatic strategy for cutting him down. For now, he has firmed up his control of those parts of the country.

The US State Department was reportedly “looking at” possible sanctions against the Qaddafi regime, but there were no specifics, and EU officials also decided on sanctions in principle but omitted to set a date for their enforcement.

Once again, outbreaks of violence and military mutinies were widely reported but not independently corroborated, except for desertions on a small scale. Libyan officials invited a group of European diplomats serving in Tripoli on a tour of the sites alleged to have been bombed by Libyan war planes to see for themselves if it was true.

The picture described by travelers flying out of Tripoli’s international airport Wednesday was one of tense calm in the cities they passed on their way out, as well as an unusual number of military and security checkpoints where soldiers screened them for weapons.

Passengers arriving in London, Valetta, Malta, and Paris from Tripoli reported the airport was operating normally. Many reported hearing a lot of gunfire in the streets during the week, but none had witnessed bomber planes or helicopter gunships firing heavy weapons at demonstrators.

debkafile‘s sources checking Tuesday’s reports of a total blockage of Libyan oil exports found that that one quarter of the regular amount of 1.8 million barrels a day was withheld from France and Spain; the rest went out.

Qaddafi’s threat to “hunt down the rats and hang them” in his televised speech Tuesday night is said by our sources to have had the effect of keeping protesters off the streets Wednesday. The heavy military presence in major cities was also effective. It demonstrated that claims of desertions by entire army units to join the protesters were exaggerated. During the day, the troops appeared to be obeying their officers’ orders and carrying out the security duties assigned by the leadership headed by Qaddafi.

According to our sources in Washington, there was no practical follow-up to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry’s call for sanctions against Libya to be considered, although he is often viewed as the Obama administration’s informal voice. The White House just echoed the UN Security Council’s condemnation.

High-ranking US officials confided off the record that, in view of the strong economic ties between Libya and at least three leading European countries – Italy, Germany and France – it would take years to formulate sanctions and get them off the ground, whereas the situation in Libya required instant remedies.

West Europe’s heavy dependence on Libyan oil and gas would have to be taken into account as well as the fear that sanctions might further jack up fuel prices which had already risen steeply enough to hazard fragile economies.

Regarding military action, US officials rejected a proposal to impose a total no-fly zone over Libyan airspace as a means of preventing Libyan planes or helicopters from attacking the demonstrators.

One senior US official said anonymously that no European air force was capable of enforcing a no-fly zone. If Washington was determined to impose one, it would have to be left to one of the US aircraft carriers posted opposite the Libyan coast. “In the meantime,” said the official,” there are no such military plans.”

debkafile‘s military sources report that the lull in the demonstrations and the stabilization of Qadafi’s hold on the capital Tripoli have freed him to assemble military strength for retaking the three port cities of Cyrenaica – Benghazi, Al Bayda and Tobruk – captured this week by rebels. (Click here for earlier debkafile report on this revolt.)

The Libyan ruler has the edge over the insurgents in that his army is relatively well organized and he has an air force and navy, while the rebels are essentially civilians with no professional command center who are armed only with the weapons plundered from Libyan military stores in those cities.
Even before the disturbances, Qaddafi made certain never to maintain advanced weapons at military facilities in Cyrenaica.

(Why is it only Israel that cares about the lives of the innocent Libyans being murdered by a madman? – JW)

Stop Gaddafi now – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Enlightened world’s continued silence in face cold blooded genocide in Libya is horrifying

Smadar Peri

Stop him now, immediately, with full force, before it’s too late. The enlightened world must pursue Muammar Gaddafi, detain him, and not kill him right away. He must first be put on trial for cold blooded genocide. What Saddam Hussein, who killed thousands in Iraq, deserved, is also what “Colonel” Gaddafi deserves.

There is no forgiveness and there are no excuses: A man who hired mercenaries and paid them thousands of dollars a day in order to kill his own citizens, and who ordered Libyan Air Force planes to bomb the despaired, frustrated and unemployed people who hit the streets because they have nothing to lose must pay a heavy price. The world’s silence in the face of the massacre is horrifying. Everyone saw the horrific images, yet it took the leaders four days to “be shocked,” and another day passed before they decided the time has come to resort to condemnations. Why the hell are you indifferent? Just give him the chance, and Gaddafi will murder the entire six million. Does that remind of you something? This is not the first time the madman from Tripoli imposes terror on the global front by threatening to curb the supply of oil. This is also not the first time he has murdered miserable souls without thinking twice. This time he crossed all the red lines. Listen to the leader who refers to the wretched souls in his own country as “dogs,” sends his son to threaten that worse bloodshed is yet to come, and swears that “you will be crying for 100,000 dead.” Believe Gaddafi; he means every word.

Look at the bodies

And what about the enlightened world? It maintains a scary silence. They sit by idly and nobody stands up and stops the madness. They read the reports and engage in pathetic calculations of how to peacefully navigate through the terrible tragedy that is taken place in broad daylight, and at night.

Listen to them, to the miserable Libyans who speak on al-Jazeera and cry for the world to “come and save us.” Listen to the two pilots who refused orders to murder and escaped to Malta. Stop reading the intelligence reports, listen to the testimonies, and look at the bodies lying on the streets with nobody there to pick them up.There is no reason to show forgiveness to a leader who calls his own people “dogs” and forbids hospitals to treat bleeding patients hurt by him. Come out against him with full force, and don’t convene emergency sessions in order to inform the cameras that you are siding with the Libyan people. If you really are siding with them, put a quick end to the massacre and don’t let Gaddafi escape. Give the colonel what he deserves: A court-martial and a bullet in the head.

Protesters approach Tripoli; ‘1,000 have been killed’.

Photo by: Associated Press

Libya — Militiamen loyal to Moammar Gaddafi clamped down in Tripoli, with the sound of gunfire ringing in the air, while protesters who control much of the eastern half of Libya claimed new gains in cities and towns closer to the heart of Gaddafi’s regime in the capital.

Protesters said they had taken over Misrata, which would be the largest city in the western half in the country to fall into their hands. Clashes broke out over the past two days in the town of Sabratha, west of the capital, where the army and militiamen were trying to put down protesters who overwhelmed security headquarters and government buildings, a news website close to the government reported.

Two air force pilots jumped from parachutes from their Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet and let it crash, rather than carry out orders to bomb Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, which is now in opposition hands, the website Quryna reported, citing an unidentified officer in the air force control room.

One of the pilots was from Gaddafi’s tribe, the Gadhadhfa, said Farag al-Maghrabi, a local resident who saw the pilots and the wreckage of the jet, which crashed in a deserted area outside the key oil port of Breqa.

International outrage mounted after Gaddafi on Tuesday went on state TV and in a fist-pounding speech called on his supporters to take to the streets to fight protesters. Gaddafi’s retaliation has already been the harshest in the Arab world to the wave of anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed in the violence in Libya were “credible,” although he stressed information about casualties was incomplete. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at nearly 300, according to a partial count.

Gaddafi’s speech appeared to have brought out a heavy force of supporters and militiamen that largely prevented major protests in the capital Tuesday night or Wednesday. Through the night, gunfire was heard, said one woman who lives near downtown.

“Mercenaries are everywhere with weapons. You can’t open a window or door. Snipers hunt people,” she said. “We are under siege, at the mercy of a man who is not a Muslim.”

During the day Wednesday, more gunfire was heard near Gaddafi’s residence, but in many parts of the city of 2 million residents were venturing out to stores, some residents said. The government sent out text messages urging people to go back to their jobs, aiming to show that life was returning to normal. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

But Libya’s upheaval, just over a week old, has shattered the hold of Gaddafi’s regime across much of the country. Protesters claim to hold towns and cities along nearly the entire eastern half of the 1,000-mile Mediterranean coastline, from the Egyptian border. In parts, they have set up their own jury-rigged self-administrations.

At the Egyptian border, guards had fled, and local tribal elders have formed local committees to take their place. “Welcome to the new Libya,” a graffiti spray-painted at the crossing proclaimed. Fawzy Ignashy, a former soldier, now in civilian clothes at the border, said that early in the protests, some commanders ordered troops to fire on protesters, but then tribal leaders stepped in and ordered them to stop.

“They did because they were from here. So the officers fled,” he said.

A defense committee of local residents was even guarding one of Gaddafi’s once highly secretive anti-aircraft missile bases outside the city of Tobruk. “This is the first time I’ve seen missiles like these up close,” admitted Abdelsalam al-Gedani, one of the guards, dressed in an overcoat and carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle.

Protesters have claimed control all the way to the city of Ajdabiya, about 480 miles (800 kilometers) east of Tripoli, encroaching on the key oil fields around the Gulf of Sidra.

That has left Gaddafi’s power centered around Tripoli, in the far west and parts of the country’s center. But that appeared to be weakening in parts.

Protesters in Misrata were claiming victory after several days of fighting with Gaddafi loyalists in the city, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli.

Residents were honking horns in celebration and raising the pre-Gaddafi flags of the Libyan monarchy, said Faraj al-Misrati, a local doctor. He said six people had been killed and 200 wounded in clashes that began Feb. 18 and eventually drove out pro-Gaddafi militiamen.

Residents had formed committees to clean the streets, protect the city and treat the injured, he said. “The solidarity among the people here is amazing, even the disabled are helping out.”

An audio statement posted on the Internet was reportedly from armed forces officers in Misrata proclaiming “our total support” for the protesters.

New videos posted by Libya’s opposition on Facebook also showed scores of anti-government protesters raising the flag from the pre-Gaddafi monarchy on a building in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli. Another showed protesters lining up cement blocks and setting tires ablaze to fortify positions on a square inside the capital.

The footage couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Further west, armed forces deployed in Sabratha, a town famed for nearby ancient Roman ruins, in a bid to regain control after protesters burned government buildings and police stations, the Quryna news website reported. It said clashes had erupted between soldiers and residents in the past nights and that residents were also reporting an influx of pro-Gaddafi militias that have led heaviest crackdown on protesters.

The opposition also claimed control in Zwara, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Tunisian border in the west, after local army units sided with the protesters and police fled.

“The situation here is very secure, the people here have organized security committees, and there are people who have joined us from the army,” said a 25-year-old unemployed university graduate in Zwara. “This man (Gaddafi) has reached the point that he’s saying he will bring armies from African (to fight protesters). That means he is isolated,” he said.

The division of the country — and defection of some army units to the protesters — raises the possibility the opposition could try an assault on the capital. On the Internet, there were calls by protesters for all policemen, armed forces and youth to march to Tripoli on Friday.

In his speech Tuesday night, Gaddafi defiantly vowed to fight to his “last drop of blood” and roared at supporters to strike back against Libyan protesters to defend his embattled regime.

“You men and women who love Gaddafi… get out of your homes and fill the streets,” Gaddafi said. “Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs.”

Gaddafi appears to have lost the support of several tribes and his own diplomats, including Libya’s ambassador in Washington, Ali Adjali, and deputy UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi.

The Libyan Embassy in Austria also condemned the use of “excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators” and said in a statement Wednesday that it was representing the Libyan people.

International alarm has risen over the crisis, which sent oil prices soaring to the highest level in more than two years on Tuesday and sparked a scramble by European and other countries to get their citizens out of the North African nation. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting that ended with a statement condemning the crackdown, expressing “grave concern” and calling for an “immediate end to the violence” and steps to address the legitimate demands of the Libyan people.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also pressed Wednesday for European Union sanctions against Libya’s regime because of its violent crackdown on protesters, and raised the possibility of cutting all economic and business ties between the EU and the North African nation.

“The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the Libyan civilian population is revolting,” Sarkozy said in a statement. “The international community cannot remain a spectator to these massive violations of human rights.”

Italian news reports have said witnesses and hospital sources in Libya are estimating there are 1,000 dead in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, alone.

“We have no complete information about the number of people who have died,” Frattini said in a speech to a Catholic organization in Rome ahead of a briefing in Parliament on Libya. “We believe that the estimates of about 1,000 are credible.”

Libya is the biggest supplier of oil to Italy, which has extensive energy, construction and other business interests in the north African country and decades of strong ties.

Frattini said the Italian government is asking that the “horrible bloodshed” cease immediately.

Israeli president: Suez ships a ‘cheap provocation’ – CNN.com.

Madrid, Spain (CNN) — Israel’s president called the presence of Iranian warships in the Suez Canal a “provocation” and not a serious “threat,” but he warned an audience of Europeans that they face an “existential” danger from the regime’s nuclear program.

In Iran, a military commander expressed patriotic pride over the development: the first Iranian vessels to sail through the Suez since the Islamic republic’s 1979 revolution.

The rhetoric from the two Mideast enemies flowed after two Iranian ships sailed through the Suez Canal Tuesday on their way to the Mediterranean Sea.

The move, which occurred four days after Egypt’s post-Hosni Mubarak government gave the green light to their passage, put Egypt’s new military regime in a prickly position with its Israeli neighbor.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, speaking on Wednesday at a meeting with government leaders, diplomats and journalists in Madrid, said that while Iran’s Suez trip was a “cheap provocation,” it is not by itself a serious “threat.”

“The real threat stands as a clear warning sign to you and the entire world — Iran is developing nuclear weapons of mass destruction,” Peres said, according to a statement from his office citing his comments.

“When nuclear weapons fall into the hands of terror organizations, or Iranian proxies, European capitals will be under an existential threat. Spain has suffered terribly from terror attacks and this will be the lot of many other countries in the world if they do not take drastic measures against Iran. Iran desires to take over the entire Middle East and impose its radical religious hegemony on the inhabitants of the Middle East,” he said, according to the statement.

The commander of Iran’s navy said Tuesday that “the presence” of the ships in the Suez means Iran can “turn threats into opportunities.”

“Iran has always proved that, with guidance of the supreme leader and awareness and intelligence of young people, has reached self-confidence, and the presence of Iran’s Navy flotilla in the Suez Canal is another proof,” Fars News Agency reported.

The vessels, a frigate and supply ship, are on a yearlong intelligence-gathering mission to prepare cadets to defend Iran’s cargo ships and oil tankers from the threat of attack by Somali pirates, Iranian officials have said, according to Fars.

The Khark and the Alvand, which passed through the canal without incident, are headed to Syria, Fars said, citing officials. The Khark has 250 crew members and can carry three helicopters. Alvand is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, Fars said.

Egypt has sovereignty over the canal. But the country also is bound by the 1978 Camp David Accords, which guarantee the right of free passage by ships belonging to Israel and all other nations on the basis of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Before that, Egypt did not allow Israeli ships to sail through the canal.

The Suez Canal is a key waterway for international trade. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, allowing ships to navigate between Europe and Asia without having to go around Africa. Millions of barrels of oil move through the Suez every day en route to Europe and North America.

PM: Promote democracy in Arab world and in Iran.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that supporters of democracy should be strengthened the world over, speaking at an event marking 25 years since Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky arrived in Israel.

“Supporters of democracy should be strengthened not only in the Arab world, but also particularly in Iran,” Netanyahu said.

Iran, he said, “is trying to exploit the earthquake destabilizing the entire area between Afghanistan to the Maghreb (North Africa) and it is trying to destroy the advancement of reform and democracy, to turn off the lights and bring about a dark age like in Tehran,” Army Radio reported.

The prime minister continued, “The foundations of democracy are stronger, like the strong foundations of peace.”

He said, “We all want to freedom and democracy flower in the Arab world,” not tyrannical regimes that trample on human rights, curb democratic reforms and constitute a danger to peace.

“Nothing would please us more than the advancement of democracy in our region,” he said. “It’s good for peace, prosperity and security.”

Peres: Google and Facebook will bring Mideast peace – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Unlike other Israeli leaders who have voiced apprehension over the unrest in the Middle East, Peres describes revolutions that toppled the Egyptian and Tunisian regimes as ‘opportunities for peace.’

By News Agencies and Ora Coren

President Shimon Peres called on the West to push leading software and internet companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook to help Middle Eastern countries reform, and said the recent events in the region were an opportunity for peace.

Peres was speaking before the Spanish Parliament yesterday, the first day of a four-day trip to Spain.

	President Shimon Peres speaking to the 11th annual Herzliya Conference on February 6, 2011.
	Photo by: Uri Porat

As opposed to many other Israeli leaders, who have voiced apprehension over the unrest in the Middle East, Peres described the revolutions that toppled the Egyptian and Tunisian regimes as “opportunities for peace.”

“We believe the biggest guarantee of peace is having democratic neighbors.

We are happy to witness this democratic revolution taking place in the Arab world,” said Peres, observing, “Now is the time to resume the talks with the Palestinians.”

Analysts discussing how the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings could affect Palestinian politics have said they could inspire people to try to topple the Fatah-led government in the West Bank.

Earlier this month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for general parliamentary and presidential elections in the Palestinian Authority no later than September. Hamas has said it will boycott the polls.

In his wide-ranging remarks, Peres said Israel aspired to a lasting peace with its neighbors, including Syria and Lebanon.

“I turn to Syria and ask that it not become hostage to Iran. Iran is not seeking peace,” Peres said. He accused Iran of “creating terrorist cells in other nations, in the Middle East and even in Latin America.”

Regarding the role of internet and software giants, Peres said that these companies have more available cash than many states, which are going through a financial crisis, and are therefore in a better position to assist.

“These companies have the means and they can help,” he said. “Aid is currently directed mainly at sick people in poorer countries. It’s better to cure the state and let it treat its own ills.”

Joining Peres in Spain is a delegation of Israeli businessmen.

Large international companies need to be called on to join the mission, he said.

“They can set up modern economic networks based on information and technology nearly anywhere in the world,” he said. “They can establish high-tech outlets and provide jobs for the young and unemployed, and provide hope for an entire people.”

Report: Gadhafi ordered sabotaging oil pipelines to Mediterranean – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Gadhafi has ordered security services to start sabotaging oil pipelines, cutting off flow to Mediterranean ports, Time Magazine reported Wednesday.

Time reported that an insider in the Libyan leadership said that the sabotage was meant to serve as a message to Libya’s rebellious tribes.

	Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi gestures with a green cane as he takes his seat behind bulletproof glass for a military parade in Green Square, Tripoli, Libya, September 1, 2009.
	Photo by: AP

On Tuesday the Arab League suspended Libya from its sessions in light of a violent crackdown on anti-government protests, Qatari news network Al Jazeera reported.

The decision came at an emergency meeting held by the Arab League in Cairo to discuss the situation in Libya.

Earlier on Tuesday, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa spoke of “Arab anger about what is happening to civilians in Libya.”

The announcement came after Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi gave a televised speech saying he had no intention of stepping down and that “any use of force against the authority of the state will be sentenced to death.”

Libya’s representative to the League Abdel-Moneim al-Honi resigned from his post on Sunday in protest against the crackdowns, which have reportedly left hundreds of people dead.

Meanwhile at least three Muslim countries joined a call for the UN’s premier human rights body to hold an urgent meeting on the situation in Libya.

Jordan, Qatar and the Maldives were among the 16 signatories needed to call an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, according to a list obtained by The Associated Press.

The decision to convene an urgent meeting on Libya is unusual for the Geneva-based council as it rarely votes to scrutinize the record of its own members. Libya has a seat on the 47-nation body.

It comes after the UN’s top human rights official called Tuesday for an international probe into the violent crackdown by Libyan security forces against peaceful protesters.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said widespread and systematic attacks against the civilians in the North African country may amount to crimes against humanity. Her office said more than 250 people have been killed in Libya in recent days.

Britain led the move to hold a special session of the council, gaining support from a broad range of countries including the United States, Brazil and the European Union.

In the past, Muslim countries have been reluctant to add their names to such calls except when the country facing scrutiny was Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the Libyan leader’s violent attacks against his people and said that “the United States continues to watch the situation in Libya with alarm.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have been lost and their loved ones, and we join the international community in strongly condemning the violence, as we’ve received reports of hundreds killed and many more injured. This bloodshed is completely unacceptable. It is the responsibility of the government of Libya to respect the universal rights of their own people, including their right to free expression and assembly,” CLinton said.

“The United States is also gravely concerned by reports of violence in Yemen and elsewhere. We urge restraint and for the governments in the region to respect the rights of their people,” Clinton added.

Iran’s Great Fright Fleet: Will Information Warfare Meet Davy Jones’ Locker?.

by Austin Bay
February 22, 2011

2011’s great cascade of Arab rebellions continues, and even China’s oligarchs are feeling its effects. Libya may be next. Meanwhile, back in Iran, the rebellions have energized the opposition Green Movement. Iran’s Khomeinist dictators have placed its leaders under house arrest.

As this astonishing spring proceeds, Iran’s clerical tyrants have also ordered an Iranian naval task force to sail the Mediterranean Sea for the first time since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

On Feb. 22, the task force, consisting of two warships — the frigate Alvand and support ship Kharg — entered the Suez Canal. Iran maintains its warships are training their crews to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates — but their destination is Syria.

What does Iran intend to do with its Great Fright Fleet?

If sending the fleet through Suez is supposed to probe Egypt’s post-Mubarak relationship with Israel, so far the result is very murky. As a diplomatic maneuver signaling Iran’s commitment to its Syrian or Lebanese Hezbollah clients, the fleet’s cruise is gutsy, but its technology is feeble. Iran can show its flag, but its flag flies from the masts of rust-buckets. The warships do not present a meaningful threat to shipping. The frigate carries anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. Its life expectancy in a naval engagement with Israeli or NATO air-sea forces is desperately short.

Tehran regularly threatens Israel with the holocaust of nuclear destruction. The Israelis allegedly deploy submarines in waters near Iran. The Iranian task force sends the message that Iran might eventually place vessels carrying missiles with nuclear or chemical warheads in the Med — which would complicate Israeli missile defense efforts.

Delivering weapons to Syria or to Lebanon’s Hezbollah is a grim possibility. An Israeli intelligence website (Debkafile) claims the Kharg’s cargo includes weapons for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah rocket attacks kicked off the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, so more rockets present a genuine threat to Israel. If the Kharg offloads weapons, and the Israelis don’t respond, Hezbollah gets munitions. If the Israelis do respond, the world will be swamped with headlines accusing the Israelis of aggression.

The global television news orgasm will last at least a couple of weeks. Iran will portray itself as the frontline Muslim state confronting Israel. Here’s Tehran’s big message: Let’s forget about this democracy ruckus and create a united front (led by the Khomeinists, of course) to defeat the Israelis, our common enemy.

In this respect, Iran’s Great Fright Fleet is an attempt to change the subject. The warships are an information warfare task force. Their mission is strategic information diversion.

By baiting Israel into launching a military attack — in front of television cameras — the Khomeinists seek to divert attention from the Arab democratic rebellions. They also seek to affect the course of those rebellions by providing militant Islamists with an immensely powerful propaganda weapon and emotionally inflammatory imagery. They also see a domestic payoff. An Israeli attack on an Iranian warship would ignite Iranian nationalists. This would stymie (at least temporarily) the regime’s internal opposition.

Those are the Khomeinists’ goals. The results, however, are not guaranteed — not in the extraordinary spring of 2011.

Still, the Israelis face a predicament. Given the regional unrest, just observing the fleet’s Syrian and Lebanese activities may be the wisest of bad choices. Offloaded rockets can be dealt with later.

That’s not the case if the fleet chooses a riskier port of call: Gaza. If the Khomeinists really want to bait the Israelis into reacting, the fleet could reprise the May 2010 Gaza aid flotilla gambit, this time upping the ante by employing warships.

Would the Israelis stop a Gaza foray by Iranian naval vessels?

Yes.

The outcome? Iran will get headlines. As for the crews of the Alvand and the Kharg? Khomeinists will tout them as martyrs. Old salts will be more pragmatic: They got a permanent trip to Davy Jones’ locker.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 22, 2011, 1:22 PM (GMT+02:00)

Muammar Qaddafi in fighting speech from Tripoli

Even after two pilots defected to Malta, the 22,000-man strong Libyan Air Force with its 13 bases is Muammar Qaddafi’s mainstay for survival against massive popular and international dissent. debkafile‘s military sources report that 44 air transports and a like number of helicopters swiftly lifted loyal tribal militiamen fully armed from the Sahara and dropped them in the streets of Tripoli Monday, Feb. 21.
Qaddafi had mustered them to fill the gaps left by defecting army units and the large tribal militia which went over to the people.
One of the ruler’s sons, Mutassim Qaddafi, is in command of the Tripoli crackdown. Air Force planes, mostly from the Libyan Air Force’s inventory of 226 trainers, and helicopter gunships, bombed and fired heavy machine guns to scatter every attempt to stage a rally in the city’s districts.
In their wake, Mutassim’s “Libyan Popular Army” cleared the streets of protesters.

The tactics employed by Qaddafi and his sons was, first, to give the protesters free rein to rampage through the city, torch state TV and government buildings and so generate an impression among them and in the West that the Qaddafis were about to fall.

But when the demonstrators fanned out to seize the rest of the capital, they were bombed from the air and targeted by the tribal militias, who had no qualms about shooting directly at civilian crowds.

By the small hours of Tuesday, Feb. 22, when Qaddafi went on air to demonstrate he was still in Tripoli, he was again in control of the capital.

In a similar tactic, he first tried to gull his international critics by sending his urbane son, Saif al-Islami, who has convinced many influential people in the West that he is a moderate compared with his father, to state the Qaddafi case in a television interview Sunday, Feb. 20. Behind the scenes, another son, Mutassim, supreme commander of the Popular Army, designed a vicious crackdown in the capital. Deep in Sahara, their father raised a tribal army to fight for their survival.

When Muammar Qaddafi delivered his victory statement Tuesday, he sounded just like “the madman of the Middle East” – and epithet attached to him by the late Ronald Reagan. But in less than 60 seconds, he had conveyed his message that, although buildings were on fire in Tripoli, he was still standing and was determined to punish all his enemies, whom he dismissed scornfully as “foreign dogs” and “terrorist gangs of misguided youths, exploited and fed hallucinogenic pills.”
Our military sources report his strategy for staying in power rests first on consolidating his grip on Tripoli and then using it as a base for military operations to regain control of the rest of the country, including Cyrenaica.
The Libyan ruler has not yet thrown all this military resources into the battle for survival. His navy is still in reserve. But his substantial air might well be crucial fro his fight to recover Cyrenaica’s coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk from the rebels.

Qaddafi shows no sign of being cowed or deterred by international revulsion at his methods and the condemnations expected from the UN Security Council and the Arab League, both of which hold special meetings on Libya later Tuesday. Libya’s deputy ambassador to UN accused the ruler of “genocide” and war crimes against his own people” and several ambassadors have quit or refused to represent his government any longer. But Qaddafi is very much on the warpath.