WarSclerotic

Hamas slams killing of ‘holy warrior’ Osama bin Laden – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Comments by Hamas Gaza Strip leader Ismail Haniyeh come after a spokesman of the West Bank-ruling Palestinian Authority said bin Laden’s death could advance the cause of peace.

By Jack Khoury and Reuters

 The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an “Arab holy warrior.”

Click here for full Haaretz coverage on the killing of Osama bin Laden.

	Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaking to the media during a news conference in Gaza City May 2, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

“We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.”

Haniyeh’s reported comments came following an earlier remark by a Palestinian Authority spokesman who said Monday the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces was “good for the cause of peace,”

“Getting rid of Bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods — the violent methods — that were created and encouraged by Bin Laden and others in the world,” PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.

The PA’s comments came following an announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama late Sunday, saying that bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States is dead and the U.S. had recovered his body,

Representatives from Hamas and Fatah announced last week their intention to reconcile, after a four-year-long bitter and at times violent rift, which saw Hamas administering the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the control of the Fatah dominated Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian officials said on Friday that Egypt has invited Palestinian leaders to Cairo for the signing of the reconciliation agreement which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Obama declares bin Laden killed in firefight with US forces.

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Washington D.C. —- May 1, 2011 …… US President Barack Obama has just announced that 9/11 terror attack mastermind, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, was killed by US special forces in Pakistan.

“Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Usama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda,” said President Obama.

Obama said bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, but a “mass murderer of Muslims.” The President said bin Laden was captured with the help of Pakistani intelligence.

Bin Laden was killed, along with other members of his family in a mansion outside Islamabad.

Diplomats in Israel congratulate the US President and the people of the free world in this victory of democracy over Islamic Jihad.

After reports of repeated initial denials, in 2004 Usama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The Islamic terror attacks involved the hijacking of four US commercial passenger aircraft, the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the deaths of 2,974 people and the nineteen hijackers.

In response to the 9/11 terror attacks, the US launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA’s Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.

Israel security analysts state that bin Laden death will have a direct affect on Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah operations.

“US Special Forces are to be complimented for having conducted a precise operation in killing bin Laden, without losing any of their own forces or any innocent civilians,” said the security analyst.”Islamic Jihad has just lost a few more men to virgins in heaven. This is a day for every democracy, every peace loving Muslim, Jew and Christian to celebrate and embrace. But we must remember that the war on terrorism is not yet over. The present government of Iran is doing all they can to create nuclear weapons to use against Israel, Europe and the US. We can smile about bin Laden, but must not lose focus that Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sworn to wipe Israel off the map. Israel will continue to take every measure to insure the security of the people of Israel and all citizens of the free, democratic world.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “This is a resounding triumph for justice, freedom and the values shared by all democratic nations fighting shoulder to shoulder in determination against terrorism.”

Israel President Shimon Peres applauded the killing of Osama bin Laden, saying that it was a great achievement for the US defense establishment, US President Barack Obama and the free world.

“Bin Laden was one of the biggest murderers in history and he received his sentence,” said Peres. “The world can breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the punishment he received, despite the fact that justice was late in coming.”

The news reaches Israel as the Jewish nation marks Holocaust Memorial Day.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report May 1, 2011, 9:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

Syrian army tank in Daraa

The Lebanese Shiite Hizballah has obviously decided the Assad regime is sinking. debkafile‘s military sources report the organization is preparing to pull its heavy, long-range weapons out of storage in Syrian military facilities – no longer sure they are safe there – and risk transporting them to Lebanon.

Last year, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to store Hizballah’s incoming Iran-made Fatah-110 surface missiles and its Syrian equivalent the M-600 and the mobile SA-8 (Gecko) anti-air battery which holds 18 warheads with a maximum range of 12 kilometers. Tehran paid for the upkeep of the Hizballah hardware on Syrian side of the border after Israel threatened to bomb these potential game-changers if they crossed over.

Deployed at Hizballah bases in Lebanon, the Fatah-110 and M-600 would place almost every corner of Israel within range of bombardment, while the SA-8 would seriously restrict Israeli Air Force operations over southern Lebanon and Galilee.
However, as the uprising against Assad rolls ever closer to Damascus, Hizballah see a very real threat of it infecting the Syrian army and has decided that now might be its last chance to get hold of the core arsenal it has standing by for war with Israel before events get out of hand in Syria.

Hizballah’s headquarters in Dahya, Beirut, became alarmed when they heard about strong resentment building up in the Syrian 11th Division over the Assad crackdown against the dissidents – among officers as well as other ranks.
The 11th Division, which is camped outside Aleppo, is the best trained and organized of all Syrian army units, equipped as its strategic reserve with the most advanced weaponry. If the unrest has reached this elite unit, Hizballah reckons there is no time to losing for pulling its missiles out of Syrian military safekeeping.

Meanwhile, top Hizballah and Iranian offices in Tehran are working on the best way to transport the missiles into Lebanon without exposing them to Israeli attack, debkafile‘s Iranian sources report. Some of them calculate that Israel would not venture to strike them while still on Syrian soil because it would lay itself open to interfering, or even getting in the way of, the revolt against President Assad and playing into his hands.

A security emergency might well take the wind out of protest movement’s sails.
But already, Tehran’s Lebanese surrogate is beginning to distance itself from Bashar Assad, its longtime strategic partner and arms supplier, having decided he has his back to the wall.  April 28, the Hizballah-controlled Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper started criticizing the Assad regime on its op-ed pages.

What America needs to learn from Israel and the horrors of the Holocaust – National Christianity & Politics | Examiner.com.

Jerusalem Issue Briefs-An Iranian Intelligence Failure: Arms Ship in Nigeria Reveals Iran’s Penetration of West Africa.

Jacques Neriah

• Since the Khomeini revolution, Iran has invested heavily in strengthening its diplomatic, economic, and security ties with Western African countries, especially with Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, and Nigeria.

• Traditionally, Senegal had been a Sunni Muslim nation from the Sufi tradition. But in the wake of Senegal’s openness toward Iran, scores of Shiite clergy from Lebanon entered the country to spread Shiism. President Wade even allowed the establishment of a Persian-language school at Senegal University in 2003 and a Shiite hawza (traditional Islamic seminary) at the University of Dakar.

• In Nigeria, more than half of the population practices Islam. During his last visit to Nigeria in July 2009, Iranian President Ahmadinejad met with Nigerian ulema (Muslim religious scholars), and welcoming crowds in the streets of the capital, Abuja, cheered his convoy.

• A weapons ship departed from the Iranian port of Bandar-Abbas and arrived in the Apapa port of Lagos, Nigeria, in July 2010. On October 26, 2010, the shipping containers were opened and the weapons were discovered.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki was then sent to Nigeria, where he told authorities there had been a mistake and that the weapons’ destination was actually Gambia. Senegal has accused Gambia of providing arms for anti-government forces, especially for the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance in South Senegal.

• Sayyed Akbar Tabatabaei, the Africa commander of the Quds Force (the branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards charged with exporting the revolution overseas), found refuge on Mottaki’s plane and flew with him to Iran. On February 23, 2011, Senegal cut diplomatic ties with Iran. The whole affair was a failure on the part of Iranian intelligence.

Iran Invests in African Ties

Since the Khomeini revolution, Iran has invested heavily in strengthening its diplomatic, economic, and security ties with Western African countries, especially with Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, and Nigeria. Iran’s goal is clear: to obtain African support for Tehran’s policies, and most recently for its nuclear program, in international forums.¹

Senegal

While Mauritania has over the years become Iran’s closest ally in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa, its relations with Senegal were the warmest in Western Africa. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade visited Iran at least six times from 2003 to 2009, while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went to Senegal on at least three occasions.

A no-less-important visitor was Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi who visited Senegal in July 2007. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had appointed Shahroudi to head the Iranian legal system for the decade from 1999 to 2009. Given the closeness between the two, Shahroudi’s mission to Senegal reflected the importance of that country in the eyes of decision-makers in Tehran.

On July 22, 2007, after meeting with the president and prime minister of Senegal, Shahroudi stated, “We believe it is our duty to expand relations with Islamic nations and to make use of the ability and potential of these states in order to spread Islam.”²

These political and security ties were also naturally supported by economic projects in Senegal, such as doubling the capacity of the country’s oil refinery and the establishment of an assembly facility for Iranian cars.

Shiite Missionaries in Africa

The Senegalese-Iranian alliance also included a cultural-religious aspect. Traditionally and historically, Senegal had been a Sunni Muslim nation from the Sufi tradition. But in the wake of Senegal’s openness toward Iran, scores of Shiite clergy from Lebanon entered the country to spread Shiism, the most prominent of whom was Sheikh Abdul-Mun’am Az-zain, who had established an Islamic Center in Dakar in 1978 after spending a period as a student of Khomeini when the Ayatollah lived in exile in Najaf.

Despite the opposition of the Senegalese regime to Shiite missionary activities (President Abdou Diof ordered the closure of the Iranian Embassy in 1984), the current leadership did not deal with the issue. President Wade even allowed the establishment of a Persian-language school at Senegal University in 2003 and a Shiite hawza (traditional Islamic seminary) at the University of Dakar, known as the Hawza ul Rasul al Akram.³

Gambia

As opposed to Senegal, which plays a central role among French-speaking African countries and enjoys significant standing at international forums, the situation in Gambia is different in Iranian eyes. Gambia spreads over 11,000 square kilometers, a tenth of which is covered by the water of the Gambia River, and has 1.7 million inhabitants. Its importance lies in its location and probably in the fact that the Iranians consider the country beneficial for their regional needs. Iranian ties with Gambia developed after the 1994 military coup led by Yahya Jammeh, who has served as president, with an iron fist, ever since. (The Gambian president became known earlier when he claimed he’d found a cure for HIV/AIDS using natural herbs.) Relations with Iran quickly became pivotal for Gambia as a major $2 billion deal was signed for the export of Iranian vehicles. President Ahmadinejad was Jammeh’s guest of honor at the 2006 African Union summit which took place in Gambia.⁴

At the same time, relations between Gambia and Senegal have been problematic for quite some time because Gambia is suspected of providing funds and weapons for anti-government military groups in Senegal.

Nigeria

Years before Ahmadinejad’s presidency, Iran became interested in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and the fifth largest provider of oil to the U.S., where more than half of the population practices Islam. Iran identified Nigeria as a regional power that could serve its interests in Africa and provide support at international forums. Economic ties between the countries were forged in the late 1990s and were accelerated after Iranian President Khatami’s visit there in 2005. The main topic during the Iranian visits was Nigeria’s energy shortage. Iran urged Nigeria to adopt nuclear technology, which greatly worried the United States.  During his last visit to Nigeria in July 2009, President Ahmadinejad promoted nuclear energy as a cheap energy source.

Nonetheless, Ahmadinejad’s visit will be remembered first and foremost for his meeting with Nigerian ulema (Muslim religious scholars), and for the welcoming crowds in the streets of the capital, Abuja, cheering his convoy.

Iran has also closely followed the ongoing violent tensions in Nigeria between radical Muslim and Christian groups and especially between Muslim radicals and the government, which declared an all-out war on them.

Islamist activity is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria but dates back to the 1960s. At the time, Saudi Arabia stood behind the financing and instruction of the different Islamic groups. It is estimated that there were over two hundred organizations involved in activities aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s Islamic character. Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, a student of the Saudi school, established The Society for the Eradication of Evil and the Establishment of the Sunna, better known as Ian Izala, which flourished during the military rule in Nigeria and was committed to supporting Islamic education.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, graduates of this movement established additional radical movements like the Muslim Brothers and the Movement for Islamic Revival, whose leader, Abubakar Mujahid, proclaimed after 9/11 that the destruction of the Twin Towers was an appropriate and just response to American provocation. Mujahid was earlier a student of Sheikh Ibrahim Alzakzaky, the undisputed leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. Alzakzaky, born in 1953, is a Nigerian Shiite from Kaduna state. A protégé of Iran, he is involved in disseminating Shiite theology and creating a radical socio-economic and military system that resembles that of Hizbullah in Lebanon. According to estimates, the sheikh has a supporter base numbering over a million people. His organization has been involved in many confrontations with the army and the Christian population. Reports claim that they are responsible for thousands of deaths in Northern Nigeria in the last decade. The sheikh himself ended up in almost every prison in Nigeria in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but he has kept up his activities.⁵

In the new millennium, there are many armed Islamist groups fighting the Nigerian government with the aim of undermining stability and seeking to force the state to adopt an Islamist regime. Twelve out of the 36 states that make up the Nigerian Federation have already introduced Sharia law. Northern Nigerian Muslim states have been turned into a battleground between the army and armed groups, many of whose fighters come from Chad, Algeria, and even Afghanistan.

One of the most deadly organizations calls itself Boko Haram, which in the local Hausa dialect means “non-Islamic education is a sin.” Its leader, Ustaz Mohammad Youssouf, born in 1970 and married to four wives with 12 children, established the organization in Kanamma village in Yobe state, not far from the Niger border. He named his training camp “Afghanistan” and referred to his men as “Taliban.” Youssouf was killed after being taken into custody on July 30, 2009. His financier, Buji Foi, was also executed a few days later.⁶ After Youssouf’s death, the organization continued to operate under the leadership of Moallem Sanni Umaru,⁷ and is financed by a Saudi, Al-Muntada al-Islami.

An Iranian Weapons Ship Docks in Nigeria

In April-May 2010, Iran decided to send a weapons ship to Nigeria. Two members of the Revolutionary Guards were selected for the mission, posing as businessmen. The Marshall Islands-based M/V Everest, which belongs to the world’s third largest shipping company, the French CMA CGM owned by Lebanese businessman Jacques R. Saade, transported the cargo, disguised as “packages of glass wool and pallets of stone.” The sender was the Iranian company International Trading and General Construction (ITGC).

The ship departed from the Iranian port of Bandar-Abbas and arrived in the Apapa port of Lagos in July 2010. Those familiar with the port know that unloading the cargo can take three months, sometimes even more. In the meantime, it became known that the original documents listed the “port of Abuja” as the destination, which shows a lack of knowledge of Nigerian geography since the capital, Abuja, is located 500 kilometers from the sea. Because of this mistake, the sender was forced to change the destination on the travel documents, which raised the suspicion of customs officials. It later became known that the Nigerian intelligence services (SSS) had already begun to follow the cargo while it was in Bandar-Abbas.⁹ The SSS, which answers directly to the president, was convinced that the weapons were to be sent to the address listed in Abuja.¹⁰ WikiLeaks documents also revealed that the intelligence services are well aware that Iran supports terrorism in Nigeria.¹¹

On October 26, 2010, the shipping containers were opened and the weapons were discovered. The thirteen containers of weaponry clearly violated UN Security Council Resolution 1929 (of June 9, 2010), imposing additional sanctions on Iran. In addition to Iranian embarrassment over the weapons, $10 million worth of heroin hidden in engine parts shipped from Iran was seized at Lagos Airport as well.¹²

Iran: Weapons Were for Gambia

When Nigerian authorities requested information from Tehran about the identity of the cargo’s recipient, they were rebuffed. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was then sent to Nigeria to solve the problem. Mottaki met with Nigerian authorities and explained that there had been a mistake and that the weapons’ destination was actually Gambia. Meanwhile, new shipping documents were produced for the cargo, which listed the private address of Gambian President Jammeh as the destination.¹³

As soon as President Jammeh heard of this, he hastily cut diplomatic relations with Iran, froze all economic projects, and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Gambia within forty-eight hours. The Gambian president had good reasons for all this:

1. He wanted to avoid being seen as someone the Iranians could use as an agent to whitewash their deeds.
2. He was well aware of the international significance of breaking the Iranian embargo, especially as far as the United States is concerned.
3. Most important, he feared a Senegalese response. Senegal has accused Gambia of providing arms for anti-government forces, especially for the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance in South Senegal. A Senegalese parliamentarian even declared that Jammeh “has been caught red-handed!”¹⁴

Nigeria Responds

The Nigerians were not convinced by Mottaki’s explanations and demanded the arrest of the two Iranians responsible for the shipment. One of them, Azim Aghajani, was arrested (and released on $260,000 bail), but his trial was postponed and the location of the trial was moved from the capital Abuja to Lagos “for convenience.” It turned out that Aghajani received his Nigerian visa on the recommendation of Sheikh Ali Abbas Usman, better known as Abbas Jega, who used to work at Radio Tehran’s Hausa-language service and studied in Iran. Abbas Jega was also arrested, along with two customs officers, and they all are awaiting sentencing.¹⁵

The second Iranian, Sayyed Akbar Tabatabaei, the Africa commander of the Quds Force (the branch of the Revolutionary Guards charged with exporting the revolution overseas), had received his entry permit to Nigeria to “provide administrative support” to the Iranian Embassy, as per the request of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Holding diplomatic immunity, Tabatabaei found refuge on Mottaki’s plane and flew with him to Iran. Subsequently, according to reports, he was sent to Venezuela to oversee the Quds Force’s recruitment in Latin America.¹⁶ Mottaki was replaced as foreign minister during a later visit to Senegal, as Tehran was dissatisfied with his failure.

Nigeria reported Iran to the UN Security Council, of which it is a member, where all the known details were disclosed. Nigeria is likely to take practical decisions regarding Iran only after the court rules in the case of Aghajani. Nevertheless, on February 23, 2011, after having been convinced that the weapons were meant for the rebels of Casamance, Senegal cut diplomatic ties with Iran.

An Iranian Intelligence Failure

This is a very strange story with the end not yet in sight. The affair bears witness to Iranian thoughtlessness and most of all to a lack of learning from the experiences of others who were burned by their arrogance and lack of understanding of the realities of contemporary Africa. The failure of Iranian intelligence in Western Africa is also striking, especially of those who are affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.

No doubt the whole affair hurt Iran’s standing in Western Africa and its efforts to build a front against the United States and the international community. It is indeed a failure on the part of Iranian intelligence and someone will have to pay the price for the lack of understanding of inter-African realities, for the disrespect of leaders, who were perceived as obvious supporters because of their corruption, and for the erroneous evaluation of U.S. and other foreign intelligence services regarding their ability to know what is taking place in Iran.

In mid-March 2011, Israeli naval commandos took over the weapons ship Victoria, which was on its way to El-Arish carrying weapons from Iran to Hamas in Gaza. This ship also belonged to CMA CGM, the same shipping company involved in the weapons shipment discovered in Nigeria. This raises some fundamental questions about the possible association of some of its people with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

*     *     *

Notes

1. Michael Rubin, “Iran’s Global Ambition,” Middle Eastern Outlook, American Enterprise Institute, March  17, 2008.

2. Ibid.

3. Charlie Szrom, “Ahmadinejad in West Africa, What Iranian Outreach to the Region Reveals about Iran’s Foreign Policy,” American Enterprise Institute, August 3, 2010.

4. Ibid.

5. J. Peter Pham, “Militant Islamism’s Shadow Rises over Sub-Saharan Africa,” World Defense Review, www.worlddefensereview.com/pham/050406.

6. “Profile: Boko Haram,” February 9, 2010, www. mwcnews.net/news/Africa;

Steve Coll, “Boko Haram,” New Yorker, August 3, 2009,

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/stevecoll/2009/08/boko-haram.html.

7. Terrorism Monitor, vol. 8, no. 12, March 26, 2010, p. 4.

8. AP, January 12, 2011.

9. Al-Jazeerah, November 16, 2010.

10. “Nigeria, Iran & Weapons Cache,” http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com.

11. Ibid.

12. Robert Tait, “Iran Dealt Losing Hand in Gambia Gambit,” Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, November 24, 2010; Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2010.

13. The Sun, January 12, 2011.

14. Ibid.

15. AP.

16. Maseh Zarif, “Qods Operation in Africa,” March 7, 2011, http://www.irantracker.org/.

Large numbers of Iranian lawmakers urge Ahmadinejad to end boycott of major government council.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinjad known for his ubiquitous media presence caused some shakeup when he did not attend a meeting due to a widening rift with Iran’s supreme ruler. (File Photo)

Iranian lawmakers urged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to end an eight-day boycott of a major government council, after reports suggesting a widening rift between the president and the supreme ruler of country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Agence-France Press quoted the Shargh daily paper as reporting.

The lawmakers called for Mr. Ahmadinejad to accept the supreme ruler’s decision to reinstate the intelligence minister.

According the paper, more than 216 conservatives out of the parliament’s 290 MPs wrote a letter to Mr. Ahmadinejad after an “extraordinary” meeting Thursday, lobbying for the president to accept the reinstatement of Heydar Moselhi, the report said quoting Tehran MP Reza Akrami.

“You are expected to adhere to the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and put an end to that which our enemies are taking advantage of,” the lawmakers wrote.

The all-powerful Khamenei reinstated Mr. Moselhi despite President Ahmadinejad having reportedly forced his resignation, only minutes after it was made public on April 17.

On Tuesday Mr. Moselhi attended the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the body that regulates educational and cultural issues, and which Mr. Ahmadinejad chairs.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s absence from the meeting is viewed as an anomaly as he is known for his media omnipresence and fiery speeches.

Observers see the Iranian president as looking forward to controlling the intelligence ministry to influence the next parliament as well as to determine the next president, while Ayatollah Khamenei is seen striving to create a new political team, free of loyalists of the current president.

Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Saturday to refrain from actions that could give the enemies of Iran any excuse to “create a tumult” in the country.

(Dina Al-Shibeeb of Al Arabiya can be reached at: dina.ibrahim@mbc.net)

Daraa under tank fire as Syria regime targets uprising epicenter – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Daraa’s water, fuel and electricity cut off, but residents remain defiant in calling for end to Assad rule; Syrian tanks and snipers posted throughout city.

By The Associated Press

CAIRO – Syrian army tanks shelled the old quarter of a city at the heart of the country’s six-week-old uprising Sunday and rolled in more reinforcements to the area, which has been under siege for nearly a week, said an eyewitness.

Residents appeared to remain defiant: Unable to leave their homes, they chanted “God is Great!” to each other from their windows, infuriating security forces and raising each other’s spirits.

	A video still released by AFPTV from YouTube on April 27, 2011 shows an army truck transporting a tank near Daraa.
	Photo by: AFP/YouTube

“Our houses are close to each other, so even though we can’t go outside, we stand by the windows and chant,” said a Daraa resident, speaking to The Associated Press by satellite phone. “Our neighbors can hear us and they respond.”

Daraa has been without water, fuel or electricity since Monday, when the regime sent in troops backed by tanks and snipers to crush protests seeking an end to President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian rule.

Tanks and armored personal vehicles have cut off neighborhoods, and snipers nesting on rooftops throughout the city have kept residents pinned in their homes. Other areas of the country also have come under military control, but Daraa has faced the most serious stranglehold.

The death toll has soared to 535 nationwide from government forces firing on demonstrators – action that has drawn international condemnation and U.S. financial penalties on top figures in his regime.

Tanks fired shells into the heart of Daraa’s ancient Roman quarter Sunday, said a resident who lives on the outskirts of the city. He said he could identify the weaponry because he was a former soldier.

Men were forbidden to leave their homes but women were allowed out in the early morning to search for bread, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear that Syrian forces would identify him.

The witness’ accounts could not be independently verified. Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots, making it almost impossible to confirm the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.

In addition to the military siege, security forces continued their arrest campaign of activists and suspected demonstrators, said Damascus-based activist Razan Zaitouneh, who is in hiding with her husband.

“They want to paralyze the [protest] movement,” Zaitouneh said Sunday.

Zaitouneh said security forces arrested her husband’s 20-year-old brother to pressure the couple to turn themselves in. She said the arrest happened on Saturday afternoon after the young man was checking on their house in Damascus.

“He called us saying they [security forces] are banging heavily on the door. He was terribly frightened and he said they would rip off the door,” Zaitouneh said.

An hour later, Zaitouneh said the young man called them again, clearly shaken.
They have not been able to contact the young man since.

On Saturday, Syrian troops killed four people while storming a mosque that became a focal point for protesters in Daraa, and security forces in Damascus kept dozens of women from marching on parliament to urge Assad to end his crackdown on the uprising.

The military raid on the Omari mosque in Daraa came a day after 65 people were killed – most of them in Daraa, a southern city near the border with Jordan.

Friday was the second deadliest day since the uprising began in mid-March in Daraa, kicked off by the arrest of a group of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall. The protest movement quickly spread nationwide and is now posing the gravest threat to the 40-year ruling dynasty of the Assad family.

The president has responded with overtures of reform coupled with a brutal crackdown – although in the past week, the regime has intensified its attempts to crush the revolt by force.

On Saturday, Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar said the government is preparing a comprehensive plan for the aspired reforms in the coming weeks in response to the citizens’ demands and needs.

But previous overtures have failed to dampen the protesters, who are now seeking Assad’s ouster. The mounting death toll has served to embolden the movement, which at first appeared only to be demanding reforms

Heaping further punishment on relatives of those killed Friday, they were told to hold small funerals with only family members invited, an activist said, in an apparent attempt to keep the services from turning into anti-Assad protests.

Similar orders were given last week, but most people did not follow them, said the activist, Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

The Obama administration imposed financial penalties on three top Syrian officials, including Assad’s brother, Maher, as well as Syria’s intelligence agency and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over the crackdown.

The unrest in Syria – one of the most repressive and tightly controlled countries in the Middle East – has repercussions far beyond its borders because of the country’s alliances with militant groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and with Shiite powerhouse Iran.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 30, 2011, 10:35 PM (GMT+02:00)

Slaughter at Moaret Al-Noman near Homs

After shelling, tank assaults and siege left 100 protesters dead in the last 48 hours without quelling the unrest, Western intelligence sources believe it has careered beyond President Bashar Assad’s ability to hold the menace to his regime at bay – and estimate shared by Ankara. It is likely to keep on spreading and evolve into armed rebellion. Those sources estimate the uprising as already encompassing 6-7 million Syrians (out of a population of 26 million) and a third of its area.

There are centers of dissent in the north, south and center, including the coastal strip. The outlying towns of Damascus the capital are in rebel hands. President Assad has thrown into the crackdown on the uprising every military asset he can spare without further jeopardizing his regime.
At the end of the week, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was worried enough to send a delegation of intelligence chiefs to Damascus to warn Assad that after his bloodbath had claimed up to 800 lives in six weeks, it must be stopped or his regime would go down.

Friday, April 29, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Interior Minister Osman Gunes, Dep. Chief of Staff Gen. Aslan Guner, MIT Intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and Ambassador to Syria Omer Onhon put their heads together in Ankara on the crisis in neighboring Syria. They were all pessimistic about Assad’s chances of survival and concluded the uprising against him had gone too far to stop.
Saturday morning, April 30, debkafile reported:  US President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday April 29 imposing sanctions on members of the Assad family for brutality against civilian protesters after learning that pro-Iranian officers and intelligence chiefs within the ruling family and top military command were conspiring to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

They accuse him of being too slow and too soft (sic) in suppressing the popular uprising and are pushing for more direct Iranian intervention before it develops into a full-blown armed rebellion.

The conspirators targeted by the new American sanctions are the president’s brother Maher Assad, commander of the Republican Guard and the Army’s 4th Division, which is responsible for the ongoing massacre in Daraa; Bashar’s cousin Atif Najib, head of the Political Security Directorate for Daraa Province; and Gen. Ali Mamluk, director of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate.

The sanctions order also named the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) for aiding the Syrian crackdown.
Mahar Assad claims his brother should have rooted out the uprising against the regime much earlier on by swifter and harsher physical action before its ringleaders had a chance to turn to armed rebellion, debkafile‘s intelligence sources report. He has warned the president that the level of suppression pursued in the last six weeks has left the dissidents able to set up armed cells in Syrian cities and bring their defiance of the authorities to a standoff. Before long, he says, armed resistance will take hold in Damascus too.

Already Friday, protesters took on troops in at least two places, debkafile‘s military sources report. In Daraa, which is still fighting after weeks of brutal repression, protesters were able to kill at least six officers and troops and take two hostage; in Homs in the north, three Syrian police officers went down under demonstrators’ bullets.
Those centers of unrest also felt the hard edge of the military savagery which Friday left at least 62 demonstrators dead and hundreds injured in more than 50 cities across the country.

But the conspirators insist it is not enough: They want Assad to crack down harder with the help of intensified Iranian intelligence and logistical intervention. The opposition is already receiving a constant flow  of weapons organized by Saudi intelligence and smuggled in from Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. The quantities are beyond control of Syrian army and security forces. More direct help from Iran is essential.

debkafile sources report that until now Assad has restricted incoming Iranian aid to ammunition and anti-riot equipment – fresh supplies of which Iranian military aircraft landed in Damascus in the last 24 hours. But he denied landing permission to another Iranian flight which carried 200 members of Revolutionary Guard special units trained to break up demonstrations in urban areas. That plane returned to Tehran.
According to our Washington sources, Atif Najib, the former Horon Baath party’s security chief whom Assad named to suppress the Daraa-centered uprising, and Ali Mamluk,  back Maher in pushing hard for tougher action against the uprising. They are clamoring for direct Revolutionary Guards intervention and are in direct communications with IRGC officers over the president’s head.
debkafile‘s Iranian sources name their Iranian contact as Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, who has set up a secret operational base close to the Syrian border – either in Iraq or Lebanon – to keep Iran’s hand on developments in Syria and watch out for a military coup in Damascus.
These events prompted the US president to link Syrian and Iranian intelligence for the first time in a single executive order. Administration officials in Washington admitted that the new sanctions were symbolic more than practical since none of the officers named have bank accounts, property or business ties in the US. It was a signal, they said, to Tehran and the plotters in Damascus that the US was onto the schemes taking shape in the hidden corners of the Syrian regime and keeping a close watch on events.