WarSclerotic

6 mortar shells fired from Gaza hit western Negev.

JPOST.COM STAFF
03/18/2011 17:09

No injuries, damage reported as projectiles hit Eshkol regional council; earlier 4 shells fired, IDF patrol comes under fire near border fence.

White House condemns Syrian crackdown on protesters.

The White House on Friday criticized attacks on protesters in Syria and urged the government to allow people to demonstrate freely.

“The United States strongly condemns the violence that has taken place in Syria today and calls on the Syrian government to allow demonstrations to take place peacefully,” White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said. “Those responsible for today’s violence must be held accountable.”

Syrian security forces killed three protesters in the southern city of Deraa on Friday, a resident said, in the first violent clashes to hit Syria since a wave of uprisings swept through the Arab world.

The demonstrators were taking part in a peaceful protest demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption in Syria, which has been ruled under emergency laws by President Bashar Assad’s Baath Party for nearly half a century.

Hussam Abdel Wali Ayyash, Akram Jawabreh and Ayhem al-Hariri were among several thousand people chanting “God, Syria, Freedom” and slogans accusing the family of the president of corruption, the resident said.

They were shot dead by security forces who were reinforced with troops flown in by helicopters, he added. Scores of other demonstrators were wounded.

“The confrontations are ongoing. They are heavy,” the resident told Reuters.

A video aired on Facebook showed what it described as demonstrators in Deraa shouting slogans earlier in the day against Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad’s who owns several large businesses.

“Makhlouf you thief!” shouted dozens of demonstrators marching in the streets.

Syria’s ruling hierarchy have indicated they believe they are immune from the uprisings which have toppled entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, but small nonviolent protests this week challenged their authority for the first time in years.

On Wednesday plain-clothed security forces wielding batons dispersed 150 demonstrators in central Damascus who had gathered outside the Interior Ministry to demand the release of political prisoners.

Assad, who succeeded his father 11 years ago, is also head of the Baath party, which has been in power since 1963, banning opposition and imposing the emergency law still in force.

He said in an interview published in January that Syria’s ruling hierarchy was “very closely linked to the beliefs of the people” and that there was no mass discontent against the state.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Syria’s authorities were among the worst violators of human rights in 2010, jailing lawyers, torturing opponents and using v

Yemen declares national emergency after dozens killed in protest crackdown – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Yemeni President Saleh bars weapons possession by civilians after as many as 50 demonstrators demanding his ouster were killed by plainclothes security.

By News Agencies and Natasha Mozgovaya

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced a national state of emergency after at least 25 people were killed and hundreds injured when police opened fire Friday at hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

Reports said at least 50 people were killed and 240 injured by government forces. Saleh expressed sorrow for the protester deaths, but claimed that no police forces were in the area at that time and that those who had fired weapons were civilians. Saleh also announced a ban on weapons possession by civilians.

	Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh addresses a gathering of university professors and students in Sanaa on March 1, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

Earlier, security men in civilian clothes on the rooftops of surrounding houses opened live fire on protesters, apparently shooting to kill by aiming at the head and chest, an eyewitness told the German Press Agency DPA.

They also used tear gas and water cannons hoping to disperse the protesters who were demonstrating to demand the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, he added.
Security men in civilian clothes also attacked protesters camping in the northern province of Dhamar and set ablaze a number of tents. Dozens were injured in the attack.

Yemeni Interior Minister Muttahar al-Masri said a curfew and other measures to prevent a further deterioration in the situation in Yemen were still being discussed.

Protesters have rejected proposals by Saleh that aim at appeasing demonstrators. His proposals include giving more power to parliament and amending the constitution in a way to meet the peoples’ aspirations.

Saleh, a key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, has been ruling the country for 32 years. He recently announced he will not run for re-election in 2013. U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the protesters’ deaths in Yemen and called for freedom of assembly to prevail.

“I strongly condemn the violence that has taken place in Yemen today and call on President Saleh to adhere to his public pledge to allow demonstrations to take place peacefully,” Obama said in a statement.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the Yemeni president must end the violence immediately. “President Saleh must stand by his commitments to uphold the right to peaceful protest, as he announced on 10 March. I ask him to stop violence now,” Ashton said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing by Yemen’s security forces. “The secretary general is deeply troubled by the continuing violence and instability in Yemen,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said. “He reiterates his call for utmost restraint and reminds the government of Yemen that it has an obligation to protect civilians.”

Following in the wake of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, anti-government protests and demonstrations began in Yemen on February 11. Up until Friday, more than 30 people were reported killed in government crackdowns on the demos.

U.S. denies report that it’s mulling strategic dialogue with Hezbollah – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor stressed the U.S.’s unwavering no-contact policy with Hezbollah, denying allegations otherwise reported in a Washington Post article published Friday.

By Haaretz Service and Natasha Mozgovaya

The U.S. has denied allegations that the U.S. is considering reaching out to political elements in Hezbollah, reported the Washington Post Friday.

White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Haaretz that “U.S. policy toward Hezbollah has not changed and is not changing. Hezbollah is a designated foreign terrorist organization and our efforts against the group are in line with that status.”

	The Hezbollah flag

The spokesman reiterated the United States’ no-contact policy with Hezbollah as with other terrorist organizations, and the policy is not being considered for change.”

According to the Washington Post report, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is considering reaching out to the political elements in Hezbollah, stressing that the at this stage it was an intelligence effort, not a policymaking one.

In an opinion piece appearing on the newspaper’s online edition, columnist David Ignatius indicated that Washington was considering an effort similar to the one the U.K, implemented “during the 1990s with Sinn Fein, the legal political wing of the terrorist Irish Republican Army.”

“That outreach led to breakthrough peace talks and settlement of a conflict that had been raging for more than a century,” Ignatius wrote, adding that several U.S. officials were expected to endorse dialogue with political elements of both Hezbollah and the Taliban in an upcoming intelligence report.

Writing of the effect recent Mideast turmoil may have had on Obama’s decision to accept these recommendations, the Washington Post writer said that the “political time bomb ticking away in the [intelligence report] is the question of whether the United States should seek some kind of direct or indirect engagement with Hezbollah — at least with its political wing.”
“Officials who support this course argue that the organization is like the IRA or the PLO — with nonmilitary components that can be drawn into a dialogue,” Ignatius added.

Ignatius quotes in his article one intelligence official, John Brennan, known for supporting a move toward dialogue with the Lebanese militant group, as saying that while “Hezbollah started out as purely a terrorist organization back in the early ’80s,” it has “evolved significantly over time.”

“The bottom line,” the Washington Post article concluded, “is that after a decade of American wars in the Middle East, the Obama administration is increasingly looking for ways to talk with adversaries and draw them into a process of dialogue.”

“The world is changing, and perhaps so should U.S. policy,” he added.

DEBKA.

For Iran’s Islamic rulers, Bahrain is not just a backyard but a lost territory which the Shah ceded in the 1970s. They therefore own a direct interest in regaining what they consider theirs.
Whereas the Sunni Palestinian Hamas was hired to help Tehran’s grab for Egypt, for Bahrain, Iran has recruited its Lebanese Shiite proxy, Hizballah.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s military and intelligence sources report that Hizballah political and military advisers spirited into the Sunni-ruled island of just 750 square kilometers are working alongside at least four of the six main opposition groups, including the biggest Shiite alliance al-Wefaq.
Hizballah advisers are especially close to Hassan Mashaima, the hardline Shiite Al-Haq party chief, who returned from self-imposed exile in London the last week of February to become the most prominent ringleader of the Bahraini Shiite revolt.
Tehran has assigned Hizballah three tasks for the small island kingdom:
1. To build military cells to execute the sabotage and assassination operations directed from Tehran.
2. To set up a popular paramilitary infrastructure, to be held ready for the right moment to seize Bahrain’s strategic facilities, such as the port where the US Fifth Fleet command headquarters is located, oil refineries and key traffic arteries.
3. To create a Shiite skeleton government for replacing King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa in the event of a coup or Iranian military occupation of the island.
Americans kept abreast of Hizballah involvement in Bahrain
None of this is news to the Bahraini king or the United States government.
Ever since 2008, King Hamid has put the facts in front of every high-ranking American he met with, from Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen.
He gave them all detailed lists of Bahrainis trained by Hizballah in Lebanon and copies of the false passports Syrian military intelligence cooked up to allow them to move freely around the Middle East.
Last Saturday, March 12, when Gates arrived in Manama, he was presented with intelligence information on the work of Hizballah agents and evidence that the Shiite networks they had trained were pulling the wires behind the protest demonstrations in Bahrain. Those networks had been directed explicitly by their masters in Tehran and Beirut to topple the royal family, cut off the King Fahd Causeway – Bahrain’s 25-kilometer lifeline link to Saudi Arabia – and proclaim Manama the capital of a new revolutionary Islamic republic.
This scenario was destined for execution the day after the US defense secretary’s visit. He was told that the Shiite “protesters” directed by Hizballah had been ordered to seize control of Bahrain’s financial district and shut it down Monday, the day after he left and place three zones under siege – the financial district, the port and the refineries area. On Tuesday they were to surround the Ar Rifa Ash Sharqi district where the palaces and royal family’s private residences are located.
Gates tells Bahraini king “to exercise restraint”
Then, late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the networks would be told to open fire for the first time on Bahraini security forces.
The pro-democracy protest movement was clearly configured to morph into an armed Shiite uprising against the royal family of Bahrain.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s military sources say Gates was also shown the plan Hizballah advisers had drawn up for dealing with Saudi military intervention: The Shiite networks were to launch a campaign of terror on Saudi and Bahraini forces alike and turn on key points like refineries, the port, police stations, army camps, electricity and water stations and main roads and bridges.
Defense Secretary Gates is described by our Gulf sources as unmoved by this information. He followed the Obama administration script to the letter, calling on the Bahraini royal rulers to exercise restraint against violent Shiite-led protesters and engage them in dialogue.
He ignored Hizballah’s role in the unrest. As for Iran, Gates said: “I expressed the view that we had no evidence that suggested that Iran started any of these popular revolutions or demonstrations across the region. But there is clear evidence that as the process is protracted, particularly in Bahrain, the Iranians are looking for ways to exploit it and create problems,”
The offer he made to travel to Riyadh to try and chart a common course of action between Washington, Saudi King Abdullah and Manama was rejected out of hand by the Saudi and Bahraini monarchs.
Saudis pick up the Iranian gauntlet
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s Persian Gulf sources report that this was the Saudi king’s second rebuff of senior US officials. At the end of last week, the White House asked Abdullah to receive Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after her visit to Cairo, together with Gates, who would be coming from Kabul.
A Saudi official said stiffly: “We are not willing to discuss with the administration the situation in Bahrain. We will act as we see fit.”
Monday March 14, King Abdullah sent Saudi military contingents into Bahrain after learning that the Shiite networks were implementing the Hizballah plan that was shown to Gates. Riyadh cited 1,100 troops, whereas debkafile‘s sources disclosed that same night that two Saudi brigades of the National Guard and the Infantry Corps, as well as a tank battalion had been consigned to Bahrain – 3,500 troops in all.
Tuesday, after the Shiites shot live rounds for the first time, killing a Saudi officer by sniper fire (Riyadh at first confirmed and later denied that a Saudi officer was killed, claiming the victim was a Bahraini officer) – signaling the start of guerilla warfare against the invaders, Riyadh countered by topping up its expeditionary force in Bahrain with another tank battalion.
Riyadh’s response to the Shiites was therefore a challenge to come out and fight – regardless of the American position.
Small Bahrain thus found itself at the epicenter of two fresh Middle East wars, both of which had erupted in the course of the Arab Revolt – one waged by Saudi Arabia against Iran and Hizballah, and the second, Sunnis versus Shiites in the Persian Gulf.
The party which was foisting the two wars on the region was Iran. And, for the first time, Saudi Arabia picked up the gauntlet that Tehran threw down.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 17, 2011, 8:00 PM (GMT+02:00)

USS Providence submarine

Shortly before the UN Security Council met Thursday, March 17, to discuss a no-fly zone resolution for Libya, Moscow promised Washington and other Western capitals not to apply a veto, debkafile‘s sources report exclusively. The US, British, French, UAE and Qatar air forces were on standby to attack Libyan army targets as soon as the resolution is passed. If attacked, Libya threatens retaliation against civilian and military targets in Europe and the Middle East, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry in Tripoli..
In Tunis, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained that a UN no-fly zone over Libya “would require the bombing of targets to take out the threat posed by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.”

She spoke after Cairo rejected Washington’s request for the use of Egyptian air bases to enforce the no fly zone against Libya and from which to launch US air attacks on Qaddafi’s army. This too is disclosed by debkafile‘s exclusive sources.

Earlier Thursday, March 17, debkafile reported: Shortly before she left Egypt for Tunis Wednesday, March 16, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urgently asked the head of Egypt’s military junta Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi for permission to use Egyptian air bases for American military jets to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. This is reported exclusively by debkafile‘s military and Washington sources.
Clinton told Tantawi she hoped for UN Security Council approval of the no-fly zone at its special session Thursday March 17. But this might not be enough to stop Muammar Qaddafi’s advance and the US might have to resort to military action against his army. She did not elaborate on this. In Tunis, she said later that a UN no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of targets to take out the threat posed by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.

debkafile‘s sources say the White House is weighing the option of US aerial strikes for halting Qaddafi’s march on Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city and the primary rebel stronghold. The point of this action would be less to preserve rebel control of the city and more to keep Qaddafi from proclaiming his victory over the opposition to his rule and its foreign champions.
Another part of the plan under consideration in Washington would entail strikes against Qaddafi’s government and military centers in Tripoli, the capital.
Tantawi promised Clinton to convene the Supreme Military Council Thursday before the Security Council session and inform her of its decision before she flies out of the Middle East.

According to our Washington sources, the Pentagon proposes to use the big Egyptian air base at El Mansoura in the Nile Delta for enforcing the no-fly zone and launching air attacks on Libya.

The Obama administration’s U-turn on direct military intervention in Libya was discernable early Thursday morning (Wednesday night Washington time) in the remarks of America’s UN Ambassador Susan Rice:
She said: “The US view is that we need to be prepared to contemplate steps that include, but perhaps go beyond, a no-fly zone, at this point, as the situation on the ground has evolved and as a no-fly zone has inherent limitations in terms of protection of civilians at immediate risk.”

By “the situation on the ground,” she was referring to Qaddafi’s three army columns, reinforced with thousands of fighters from the Warefla tribal federation, which are rapidly advancing on Benghazi.

debkafile‘s military sources report that the Saadi and Khamis brigades, the latter being the 32^nd Libyan Brigade most of whose troops move in APCs, are approaching the last rebel stronghold.
They are backed by an artillery brigade and a tank brigade. From the west, Libyan missile ships have blockaded Benghazi.
Our sources add that Libyan army units based in Benghazi went into action ahead of the main body’s arrival. Those troops were caught by the onset of the Libyan uprising on Feb. 15 in rebel-held territory. They stood by and waited for Qaddafi’s orders to go into battle.
Another sign of President Obama’s strong inclination to undertake military action beyond a no-fly zone came from the deployment Monday, March 14 of the nuclear attack submarine USS Providence off the Libyan coast.

In the past decade, this submarine has often been called in to support US missile attacks, usually with Tomahawk, whether in 2003 in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

The US fleet present off the Libyan coast includes also the marine assault ship USS Kearsarge, which is a helicopter carrier; the Marine Amphibious Transport Docks vessel and the missile destroyers USS Barry, USS Ponce and USS Mason.
The American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, now near the Red Sea, could also be called in for an American missile attack on Libya.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report March 16, 2011, 7:47 PM (GMT+02:00)

Bahraini protesters dispersed with tear gas

The contest between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the Sunni-Shiite split in the Arab world were ramped up to a dangerous level Wednesday March 16 by the all-out offensive launched by Bahrain security forces, tanks and helicopters to drive the mostly Shiite protesters out of the main square and key points of the island-state. debkafile‘s sources report that Bahraini forces dispersed the protesters camped for a month in the Pearl Roundabout main square of Manama, at the capital’s downtown and financial district, near the oil refineries and in the Ar Rifa district, home to the royal palaces.
The exact number of casualties is not known. Official sources say three Bahraini police officers and three protesters were killed and hundreds were injured. In an effort to stop the demonstrators regrouping for another assault, the authorities empowered by the three-month emergency declared Tuesday, March 15, imposed a curfew from late afternoon until early morning, banned all street gatherings and warning that violators would be shot. After the streets were cleared, the army moved tanks into the former protest venues.

debkafile‘s military and Gulf sources say that Bahrain laid the ground for its security crackdown Wednesday with the entry of Saudi, UAE and Kuwait military contingents into the island-kingdom Monday, March 14. Local units were able to focus on dispersing the demonstrators, leaving Saudi troops to secure strategic compounds.

The Bahraini conflict may well escalate further if the protest leaders, predominantly disaffected Shiites, return to the fray:
1. This time, they will not come back with rocks, sticks, petrol bombs and slogans, but armed with the guns provided by Iranian agents which they have kept hidden in their homes.
2.  Those Shiite demonstrators will not shrink from shooting not just at Bahraini security forces but also Saudi troops. A warning of this came Tuesday when a Shiite sniper shot dead a Saudi officer. The Saudis tried to keep this incident quiet but they won’t be able to do so if casualty figures rise on all sides.
debkafile‘s Iranian sources say that it will be up to Tehran to decide if the Bahraini Shiites get into direct firefights. That will depend on whether the Iranians are ready to embark on concrete steps to back the protesters and encourage them to take bolder action.

Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the dispersal of the Shiite protesters as “unjustifiable and irreparable.” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said ominously: “The unexpected interference of foreign forces in popular uprisings in different countries, including Bahrain, whose people are peacefully after their legitimate demands, can lead the region toward a crisis that will have dangerous consequences.”
This was a clear threat to the GCC region as a whole for authorizing combined military intervention in Bahrain. Iran could hit back by igniting Bahrain-type disturbances among the Shiites of the eastern Saudi oil regions and of other the Gulf states which sent military units to Bahrain, especially Qatar and the UAE. The spread of unrest from Bahrain to other Gulf emirates would have a major impact not just on their regimes but also on the global oil and financial markets.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Riyadh began transferring large military contingents to the Shiite regions, deploying them in city centers and at oil fields, installations and terminals. Smaller units of extra troops were added to the brigades in Bahrain.
The royal rulers of Saudi Arabia are determined to stay the course, debkafile‘s Gulf sources reported Wednesday from circles close to the throne. One source said that Saudi King Abdullah was utterly resolved to crush the Shiite revolt in neighboring Bahrain. He sees this mission as the battle to preserve the integrity of his own kingdom.
The king told his close associates that he would spare no effort and use every means to wipe out the threat to the Bahraini regime. Saudi Arabia therefore stands ready for a showdown with Iran over the island kingdom – even at the cost of a regional Sunni-Shiite war in the Persian Gulf.

Turkey frees detained Iran cargo plane, finding ‘nothing illegal’ on board – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Plane had been forced to land in Turkey on suspicion it was carrying weapons to Syria, day after ship allegedly bringing arms from Iran to Gaza was seized by Israel.

An Iranian cargo plane, forced to land in southeast Turkey on suspicion it was carrying weapons to Syria, departed on Wednesday after a search squad found nothing illegal on the plane, officials said.

A team trained in chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear cargo from the Civil Defense Directorate inspected the plane, which landed in the city of Diyarbakir late on Tuesday en route from Tehran to Aleppo in northern Syria, the state-run Anatolian news agency said.

	Iranian cargo plane forced to land in Turkey, on March 16, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

Airport officials said the plane, which had two pilots, an unknown number of crew members and no passengers, was ordered to land on suspicion it was carrying Iranian weapons to Syria.

Selcuk Unal, spokesman for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters: “The plane was allowed to continue on its route after a routine control.” He added the search squads had found “nothing illegal” inside the aircraft.

The forced landing occurred on the same day Israeli naval commandos seized a cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea carrying what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were Iranian-supplied weapons intended for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces said the vessel that was captured with Iranian weapons had set off from the Syrian port of Latakia and stopped in Mersin, Turkey, before heading towards Alexandria in Egypt. Turkey was not involved in the arms shipment, it said.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Miniser Ehud Barak told reporters at Ashdod Port, where the seized cargo ship was taken, that he hoped Turkey carried out a proper inspection.

“We have seen this plane that was stopped in Turkey, and it must be hoped that there, too, they will conduct checks as required, and that the other players that are involved, too — that everyone in their area do the right things so that this mutual reinforcement of terror and (military) build-up ceases,” Barak said.

Before leaving Diyarbakir, the plane, identified as a Russian-made Ilyushin 62 and bearing Arabic script and green livery, was parked on the tarmac at the airport, which is used for both civilian and military aviation.

Barak: ‘We expect Turkish action against Iranian plane’.

Israel expects Turkey to take action against the Iranian cargo plane that was allegedly carrying weaponry for Syria, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“The plane was stopped in Turkey and we expect every authority to do what needs to be done,” Barak said.

RELATED:
Iran on arms seizure: ‘Zionist regime is full of lies’
IDF releases list of weapons on the ‘Victoria’

Earlier, the Turkish government denied reports that Turkish military jets forced the Iranian cargo plane to land at Biyarbakir airport Tuesday night in order to check it for Iranian arms meant for Syria, reported AP.

The government confirmed that the Iranian plane landed in Turkey, but that it is standard procedure for cargo planes to request permission to fly over Turkey and that sometimes they are required to make unscheduled landings to be searched.

Ankara did not say what the cargo plane was carrying.

Earlier reports said that the plane, which was en route to Syria, was ordered to land in Turkey and was reportedly carrying military equipment and weapons.

The Turkish news agency Doğan said Turkey’s air force and police examined the plane, calling in nuclear experts from Ankara to examine its contents.

On Tuesday, the IDF boarded a ship containing weapons from Iran that was headed for Hamas in Gaza. The IDF found 50 tons of military equipment, including missiles, launchers, shells and bullets.

On Wednesday, Iranian Army Commander-General  Amir Ataollah Salehi denied that Iran was connected to the weapons found aboard the Victoria.

“The Zionist regime’s diet is mixed with lies, lies and more lies,” Salehi said. “We deny all false reports.”

Report: Turkey ordered landing of plane carrying Iran arms to Syria – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Istanbul-based Dogan News Agency says weapons found on plane, which was examined by Turkish security officials, were connected to Iranian nuclear program.

By News Agencies

Turkey ordered a cargo plane carrying arms from Iran to Syria to land at a Turkish airport on Wednesday, the Istanbul-based Dogan News Agency reported.

On the plane were allegedly weapons connected to Iran’s nuclear program, Dogan reported. The plane landed in the city of Diyarbakir on Wednesday.

Turkey’s foreign ministry denied Dogan’s report, saying that it is standard procedure for Iranian cargo planes to request permission to fly over Turkey and sometimes be required to make unscheduled landings to be searched.

Security officials arrived at the airport to check the plane’s contents, Turkish news agencies reported.

Turkey’s official Anatolia news agency confirmed that the plane, heading from Tehran to Aleppo, Syria, was searched Wednesday. But Anatolia and the government did not say what the cargo plane was found to be carrying.

The report comes just one day after Israel seized a ship smuggling Iranian weapons to Gaza. Israel Defense Forces estimate that the cache found on the ship, which contains missiles with a range of 35 kilometers, could total 50 tons.

	Weapons found on board the ship ‘Victoria’, which was seized by the Israel Navy on March 15, 2011.
	Photo by: IDF Spokesman