WarSclerotic

Nuclear fuel being reloaded at Iran power plant.

MOSCOW – Nuclear fuel is once again being loaded into the reactor of Iran’s Bushehr power plant, the Russian company that built the station said on Friday, after the latest in a series of delays to its launch.

Russia has built Iran’s first nuclear power plant under a $1 billion deal dating back to the 1990s. The project has long been a focus of attention because of global concern that Tehran’s nuclear programme could be aimed at developing weapons.

The plant near the Persian Gulf had been due to start producing electricity early this year after the process of loading nuclear fuel into the reactor core got under way last October.

But Russia and Iran said late in February that the fuel would have to be taken back out of the reactor because broken pumps had sent small pieces of metal into the cooling system, raising fears that fuel rods could be damaged.

Russia’s state-run company Atomstroyexport, which builds nuclear power plants abroad, said fuel was being loaded again after it finished examining and cleansing the pipes and fuel assemblies.

“On April 8, 2011, loading of fuel rod arrays began at Bushehr,” Atomstroyexport said in a statement. It said the removal of the fuel had been “a necessary measure” to ensure safety.

“To rule out the possible effects of particles hitting the fuel assemblies, the fuel assemblies were removed from the reactor and rinsed and the body of the reactor was cleaned,” it said.

Atomstroyexport said the reactor would be powered up after additional work and tests. It gave no timetable but said all work was being conducted according to a schedule agreed with Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 1 that the problem was purely technical and he expected it to be resolved within three months.

Iran has blamed Russia for delays at Bushehr, which was first begun by Germany’s Siemens in the 1970s but halted after Iran’s Islamic revolution.

The United States and other Western countries urged Russia for years to abandon the project, saying it could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons, but those fears were allayed five years ago by a deal committing Iran to return spent fuel to Russia.

Iran is under UN nuclear watchdog investigation and UN sanctions over its defiance of international demands that it halt uranium enrichment and do more to back up its claim that its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.

Syrian forces reportedly kill 17 as protests flare.

AMMAN – At least 17 people were killed in the southern Syrian city of Deraa on Friday, a hospital source said, after witnesses reported security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators.

The state news agency SANA reported shooting in Deraa, but it said “vandals” had opened fire on mass gatherings, killing a policeman and an ambulance driver and wounding dozens of police and residents.

In the east, thousands of ethnic Kurds demonstrated for reform despite the president’s offer this week to ease rules which bar many Kurds from citizenship, activists said.

Security men opened fire on thousands of protesters in Deraa, where protests first erupted last month before spreading across the country over the past three weeks.

“The were snipers on roofs. Gunfire was heavy. The injured are being taken to homes. No one trusts putting his relative in a hospital in these circumstances,” he added. Many protesters fear they would be arrested if taken to clinics.

Protests also erupted in the western city of Homs and gunfire was heard in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. The suburb of Douma, where protests have been sustained in recent days, was largely out of contact due to phone lines being cut, local activists said. Media are heavily restricted in Syria.

Popular demonstrations calling for greater freedoms have shaken the country for the last three weeks. Assad has responded with a blend of force against protesters, and gestures towards reform, most recently aimed at ethnic Kurds.

In the northeastern city of Qamishli, Kurdish youths chanted: “No Kurd, no Arab, Syrian people are one. We salute the martyrs of Deraa”. Demonstrations have raised concerns that unrest could fuel ethnic and sectarian tensions in the country.

4 Kassams, 11 mortar shells fired at South from Gaza.

Rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip continued on Friday evening as four Kassam rockets were launched towards Ashkelon.

Police said that the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system intercepted three of the rockets and the fourth rocket exploded in the industrial area of southern Ashkelon.

Less than hour later, three mortar shells landed in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. Earlier in the afternoon, five mortar shells landed landed south of Ashkelon and three in the Eshkol Regional Council. All landed in open areas, causing no casualties or damage.

Palestinian sources reported that IDF strikes in Gaza earlier on Friday afternoon left one woman, her daughter, and a third man dead in a village near Khan Younis. Two Hamas members were also reportedly killed during the strikes.

Since Thursday night, ten Palestinians were killed in various IDF attacks on terror cells throughout Gaza.

The IDF said that in response to rocket fire from deep inside a residential area in southern Gaza, IAF air craft struck two terror cells. According to to the Palestinian media source, an Israeli aircraft struck a group of civilians.

Since Friday morning, nineteen mortar shells in total exploded across southern Israel. One mortar exploded in a chicken coop in the Eshkol Regional Council.

The explosions occurred in the afternoon hours, and schools held students from returning to their homes until the attacks passed. The explosions caused no casualties.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Thursday’s school bus attack “crossed the line,” and adding that “the IDF acted immediately last night and would continue to act with determination.”

Speaking from a meeting with the Czech president, Netanyahu commented that “whoever tries to hurt and murder children: the blood is on his hands.”

israel today | Palestinians attack Israeli school bus, pound southern Israel – israel today.

Israeli army strikes Gaza after school bus hit – NBC29.

By MATTI FRIEDMAN
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli aircraft and ground forces struck Gaza on Friday, killing two Hamas gunmen and wounding seven other Palestinians in a surge of fighting sparked by a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli school bus the day before.

Israel’s ongoing retaliation for the bus attack has killed five militants, a policeman and a civilian. An Israeli Cabinet minister said the strikes will continue.

In Thursday’s attack, Gaza militants hit an Israeli school bus near the border with an anti-tank rocket, badly wounding the driver and a 16-year-old boy. Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group that controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack. The boy remains unconscious in the intensive care ward of an Israeli hospital.

At around midnight Thursday, with Gaza rocked by explosions, Hamas announced a cease-fire. The Israeli strikes continued, hitting Hamas facilities and smuggling tunnels.

An Israeli airstrike Friday morning near the town of Khan Yunis killed two Hamas gunmen and wounded a third, according to Hamas. Gaza’s Health Ministry said three civilians were wounded.

Palestinian rescue services reported that three other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli tank fire in a separate incident in southern Gaza. It was unclear if they were armed men or bystanders. Electricity lines and transformers were damaged, causing power blackouts in some parts of the territory, according to Jamal Dardsawi, a spokesman for Gaza’s Electric Distribution Company.

In Israel, studies at some schools near Gaza were canceled Friday because of concerns for the students’ safety.

Matan Vilnai, the Israeli Cabinet minister in charge of the home front, told Army Radio that Israel was engaged in a “war of attrition.”

“We are acting as we see fit so that this type of fire will not continue, and so that the people behind the fire will regret it,” Vilnai said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned the bus attack and expressed concern over civilian casualties in Israel’s strikes in Gaza. He called for “de-escalation and calm to prevent any further bloodshed.”

The new round of fighting saw a potentially significant strategic breakthrough.

After years of development by an Israeli defense contractor, the Israeli military activated a new cutting-edge missile-defense system for the first time Thursday. The Iron Dome system scored a direct hit on an incoming Palestinian rocket aimed at an Israeli city, shooting it down, Israel said.

Thousands of rockets from Gaza have hit Israeli towns and cities since 2001. Israel’s attempts to stop the rockets have included military incursions – including a three-week assault than began in late 2008 –

Condition of injured boy in bus attack remains critical.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV KATZ AND YAAKOV LAPPIN
04/08/2011 09:18

Many children had just got off when vehicle was struck with anti-tank missile in Negev; Palestinians fire 45 mortars, rockets after attack.

The condition of the 16-year-old critically injured in the anti-tank missile attack on a school bus in the Negev on Thursday remains unchanged, Dr. Itzhak Lazar of Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center told Army Radio Friday morning.

The boy suffered severe head trauma and received artificial respiration while unconscious when an anti-tank missile fired from the Gaza Strip struck a school bus in the Negev on Thursday.

The missile, which was fired by Hamas, hit the bus moments after most of the children got off, while it was driving near Kibbutz Saad, about 2.5 km. from Gaza. Only two people were on the bus when it was hit – the driver, who was lightly injured, and the boy, who was en route to visit his grandmother. The bus driver is a friend of the family.

Immediately after the attack, Palestinians fired more than 45 mortar shells and Katyusha and Kassam rockets into Israel.

One of the Grad-model Katyusha rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system deployed south of Ashkelon, proving its capabilities in combat for the first time.

IDF officers said that the attack – the first time an anti-tank missile was fired deep into Israel, and, officers believe, deliberately targeting the school bus – “crossed all red lines” and that Hamas would pay dearly.

Options under consideration include a renewal of targeted killings in the Gaza Strip – although it is thought that could move Hamas to launch rockets into the Tel Aviv area.

The IDF had intelligence about the attack, which was carried out in retaliation for the bombing of a car last Saturday in southern Gaza carrying senior Hamas operatives planning attacks against Israelis visiting Sinai. The IDF believes that Hamas wanted to attack a military target but, after it did not find one, decided to fire at the bus.

“We will not tolerate this attack,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a visit to Gaza Division headquarters.

“Our response will continue as long as necessary to make it clear to the other side that these types of attacks will not be tolerated. We hold Hamas responsible for everything that comes out of Gaza and expect that Hamas understands what is permitted and what is forbidden.”

The 16-year-old boy was evacuated to Soroka University Hospital in Beersheba after extensive treatment at the surgery for wounds to the head and other parts of the body. He was listed in critical condition.

The bus driver was lightly wounded in the leg.

The bus had dropped off the rest of its young passengers in communities around the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, and was making its way to its last destination.

IDF sources said that the bus was hit by a guided anti-tank missile.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are believed to have a significant arsenal of Russian-made anti-tank missiles like the Kornet and Faggot that have a range of several kilometers.

Following the attack, Homeland Security Minister Matan Vilna’i ordered the Defense Ministry to send three armored buses to the Shar Hanegev Regional Council, to be used to take children to and from schools in the western Negev.

Israel Air Force attack helicopters and IDF tanks struck back at a number of targets throughout the Strip, hitting a Hamas military compound in Gaza City for the first time since Operation Cast Lead over two years ago.

Three people were reportedly killed and at least eight people, including a four-year-old girl, were wounded in the strikes, according to Palestinian medics.

Children were ordered to stay in schools and kindergartens with their teachers during the ongoing mortar and rocket fire.

A mortar shell struck a home in the Eshkol Regional Council. The building sustained damage, but police said no injuries were reported.

Police sealed off roads in the area due to the threat of additional fire. Civilians in the area were asked to remain in their homes.

Police also sealed off roads around Netivot, and pupils were stranded at schools with their teachers after local authorities said it was dangerous to go outside.

“All residents must remain in protected areas. We have opened a special control room, and teams of psychologists and social workers have arrived, escorted by IDF soldiers, to provide assistance,” Sha’ar Hanegev Regional spokeswoman Michal Shaban- Kotzer told The Jerusalem Post.

Southern district police spokeswoman Sarit Phillipson said a beefed-up police presence and police checkpoints would be maintained throughout the western Negev into Thursday night.

Analysis: A callous escalation.

The decision to target a school bus – even when taken by terrorists like those in the Gaza Strip – would not have been made easily. Plainly, this was a callous and deliberate escalation. Plainly, too, Israel would not respond with just a symbolic strike against, say, a smuggling tunnel.

The targets that the IDF struck from the air and the ground, immediately after the yellow school bus was hit by an anti-tank missile near Kibbutz Saad on Thursday, came from a list of targets that the Southern Command has on hand in the event of just such an incident. It is likely, though, that Israel’s response will not end there.

The bus was driving near Kibbutz Saad, about 2.5 km. from the Gaza border. The missile was not launched directly along the border, but from at least a kilometer to a kilometer-and-a-half away – meaning that the Palestinian who fired it was skilled in firing anti-tank missiles.

The missile was either a Russian-made Kornet or Faggot anti-tank missile – hoards of which have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip since Operation Cast Lead. The first such missile was fired at an Israeli Merkava Mk 4 tank a few months ago, bringing the IDF to deploy its battalion of tanks equipped with Trophy active-protection systems along the border with the Gaza Strip.

Whoever fired the missile likely had their own agenda. If fired by a small splinter group in Gaza, it could be an attempt to derail efforts for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas – or an attempt to drag Israel and Hamas into a larger conflict.

Either way, the IDF will likely seek to extract a heavy price from Hamas and the other terrorist organizations that might have been involved. Islamic Jihad, for example, has shown in recent weeks that it is becoming a more dominant player in the Gaza Strip and acts independently and without Hamas consent.

The IDF though will be acting under orders from a government that will need to decide where it wants to take the escalation in the Gaza Strip – towards a large Cast Lead-like operation, or toward an exchange of blows with the aim of renewing the “calm” in and around the Strip.

The terrorists will likely depict the attack as “retaliation” for recent Israeli strikes at Hamas. The first of these took place last Saturday morning, when the air force bombed a car in southern Gaza carrying senior Hamas operatives, who the IDF said were planning attacks against Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula. A second was on Tuesday night, when the air force, according to foreign reports, bombed a car in Sudan carrying a senior Hamas operative.

Thursday’s anti-tank missile attack was likely planned in advance. One indicator is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced last week that they would retaliate for the bombing of the Hamas cell in southern Gaza.

The second indicator that this was a synchronized and planned attack was the orchestrated rocket and mortar barrage that rained down on southern Israel immediately following the bus strike.

‘Hezbollah prepared to send 100 missiles daily at Tel Aviv’.

Hezbollah would be able to strike Tel Aviv directly from an arsenal of more than 20,000 missiles a recent WikiLeaks cable revealed to the Israeli press by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

During Joint Political Military Group meeting in November 2009, Israeli intelligence officials told their US counterparts that “Hezbollah was preparing for a long conflict with Israel in which it hopes to launch a massive number of rockets at Israel per day,” with plans to send “400-600 rockets and missiles…per day, 100 of which will be aimed at Tel Aviv.”

Tel Aviv’s mayor Ron Holdai responded to the claim that Hezbollah could slam the city with sustained rocket fire during the Tel Aviv Marathon, saying “we live in Israel, and we have threats made to us all the time. If something were to happen we could cope,” Israel Radio reported.

Bahraini-Israeli relations and fears of unstable Arab regimes

The slew of leaked cables revealed much about Israel’s relationship between enemies and friends in the region. In one such cable revealed that the King of Bahrain had links with members of the Mossad.

The cable revealed a meeting between King Hamad and US ambassador Monore, where the king revealed that “Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level nd indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas.” King Hamad, according to the cable , also encouraged Bahraini officials to refrain from employing the common monikers “Zionist entity” and “enemy” for the Jewish state in official statements.

Another cable from 2007 said that Assad’s regime would not survive a serious military confrontation with Israel. Former head of the Mossad Meir Dagan expressed a lack of stability amongst the regional Arab regimes, fearing the dubious situation of the Egyptian, Jordan, Syrian, and Lebanese regimes.

Yuval Diskin: Israeli-Arabs take “their rights too far”

Some of the leaked cables also detail regular confidential talks between US officials and outgoing Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, who in one November 2009 cable commented on the sensitivity of the Hamas role in Gaza.

According to Diskin, Hamas needed to be “strong enough to enfore a de facto ceasefire and prevent the firing of rockets and mortars into Israel.” Diskin added, however, that strengthening Hamas was a “short-term priority,” and that the “medium priority of preventing Hamas from consolidating its hold on Gaza; and a longer-term priority of avoiding a return of Israeli control of Gaza and full responsibility for the wellbeing of Gaza’s civilian population” were not being considered enough by “Israel’s political leadership.”

Diskin also criticized Israel’s Arab citizens in a May 2008 cable, saying that they “take their rights too far,” commenting that “most of the Israeli-Arabs who have caused problems were refugees who were given permits to re-enter Israel in order to reunify with family members.” Diskin said that Israel’s allowance of Beduin to take wives from Gaza into Israel “foolish,” adding that it has been “hard for us to absorb large quantities of people.”

Despite his criticism, however, Diskin related that most of the Arab population has been loyal to Israel throughout the “previous 60 years, even including the 1967 and 1973 wars, and ‘waves of terror’ that followed.”

The Shin Bet chief soon to resign, added that their quality of life in Israel is better than it would be in most of the neighboring countries, and told President Shimon Peres that Israel should work to further integrate the Arab population by creating more high-tech jobs, university placements, and vocational training centers in an attempt to “connect” the population group more strongly with the Jewish state.

Haaretz WikiLeaks exclusive / Israel denied accusing Turkey of aiding Iran nuclear program – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Official says French misquoted his assessment to Americans, but maintains fear that Iranian weapons are being shipped to Syria via Turkey, cables show.

By Yossi Melman

Israel reportedly accused Turkey of aiding Iran’s nuclear weapons program, according to notes from a meeting between American and Israeli officials from 2009 obtained by Haaretz.

The accusation was reportedly made by Foreign Ministry Director of Political Research Nimrod Barkan to French officials. The French in turn conveyed the remarks to the Americans ahead of strategic meetings between the U.S. and Israel in November 2009.

	Turkish President Abdullah Gul, left, meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Tehran in February.
	Photo by: Reuters

However, Barkan clarified to U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham that he had told the French Israel was concerned that “Turkey is ‘becoming a platform’ for Iran to evade financial sanctions,” according to a cable sent by Cunningham on November 19, 2009, but said nothing about nuclear weapons.

Barkan, according to the cable, said that Israel was “convinced that Iran is continuing to ship weapons to Syria via Turkish territory, possibly with the knowledge of Turkish authorities.”

According to the cable Barkan also charged that “Turkey is violating either UNSC or U.S. unilateral sanctions on Iran” in three areas. “These include new provisions to allow trade in Turkish Lira and Iranian Riyal through Iran’s Bank Mellat, which is subject to U.S. Department of Treasury sanctions, the opening of Turkish ports for the export of Iranian goods to Europe, and ongoing shipment of Iranian weapons to Syria via Turkish territory, mostly by rail.”

Barkan added that “most of the arms are intended for Syrian transshipment to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Barkan noted that the Israelis have raised all of these points directly with the GOT [Government of Turkey], beginning in June 2009, but so far to no avail.”

As a member of NATO any supply of weapons related material for Iran’s nuclear program would constitute an abrogation of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Asking for help from the U.S.

A cable later that week detailed a November 15 meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials. The meeting was attended by Uzi Arad, then National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the National Security Council, as well as Mossad, Military Intelligence and Foreign Ministry officials.

According to notes from the meeting, an official is quoted as saying that although “the Turks might be more responsive to U.S. pressure on [smuggling] than they have been to Israeli complaints.”

On the defense relationship between the two countries officials asses that the value of the military and military-industrial relationship is also declining for Turkey.

The official explained that “Turkey’s military capacity has improved and Turkey does not need Israel as much as it did 15 years ago. Israeli defense sales to Turkey are declining, and public sentiment in Turkey would probably prevent any major sales in the near future.”

Casualty of realignment

According to U.S. officials’ summary of the meeting, Israel believes “Turkey is engaged in an ongoing strategic realignment towards the Middle East and away from the West, and that the bilateral relationship with Israel is a casualty of that realignment. The GOI expects the AKP to continue to consolidate its power domestically through increased Islamization and control over Turkish institutions, including the military. The GOI also thinks that Turkey is drawing closer to Iran.”

Netanyahu warns Hamas: You will bear responsibility for attack on school bus – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

PM says anti-tank missile attack on school bus crosses the line, warns that whoever attacks children ‘his blood will be on his own head.’

By Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a sharp warning to Hamas on Friday after an anti-tank missile from Gaza hit an Israeli school bus on Thursday.

“The attack on a school bus crossed the line. Whoever tries to hurt and murder children, his blood be on his own head,” Netanyahu said at the conclusion of his meeting with the Czech President in Prague.

	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
	Photo by: Emil Salman.

On Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel will take any action necessary in the Gaza Strip after the attack on an Israeli school bus.

“We hope this situation will be contained but we will not shy away from taking all the necessary action, offensive and defensive, to protect our country and to protect our citizens,” Netanyahu told a news conference during a visit to Prague.

However the prime minister did try to show constraint, saying Israel is not interested in an escalation of cross-border fighting.

Early Friday morning, Israel Air Force jets attacked targets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip.

An IDF spokesperson said that the targets in northern Gaza were buildings used for terror activities and the targets in southern Gaza were three smuggling tunnels. The spokesperson confirmed direct hits in both operations.

Palestinian rescue services said three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli tank fire in the latest surge of fighting in the Gaza Strip. It was not clear if they were militants or civilians.

The spike in violence began Thursday when Hamas launched an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus near the border, seriously wounding the driver and a 16-year-old boy. This triggered strikes by IDF planes and artillery that killed five Palestinians: three militants, one Hamas policeman and a civilian.

Hamas said that the attack on the school bus was in retaliation for an IDF air strike on Saturday that killed three Palestinian militants.

On Thursday night, Hamas announced a unilateral cease-fire to be honored by all Gaza factions following the barrage of rocket fire that hit Israel earlier in the day.