WarSclerotic

Classes in southern schools cancelled despite … JPost – Defense.

    Authorities in Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gan Yavne decided Sunday evening that they would cancel school classes on Monday in light of the threat of rockets being fired from Gaza.

The decision came in spite of a Home Front Command announcement which said that classes in schools in the South could take place Monday. This announcement came after the IDF removed restrictions that were put in place forbidding large gatherings in public areas.

Classes at Ben Gurion University will take place as usual on Monday.

Meanwhile, a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in open fields in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council on Sunday evening.

No injuries were reported and no damage was caused.

Earlier on Sunday, the IDF identified a rocket launching cell in the southern Gaza Strip as terrorists were preparing to launch a rocket toward Israel, despite a reported cease fire with Islamic Jihad. IAF planes struck the cell, preventing the rocket from being launched.

Islamic Jihad, which has taken responsibility for the majority of some 39 rockets fired at Israel from the Strip in the past 24 hours, said late Sunday morning that it was committed to a cease fire agreement, although it asserted it reserved the right to respond to any Israeli attacks, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.

IDF: Gaza fighting over for now – Israel News, Ynetnews.

(Talk about “wishful thinking”:   2 hours later a rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip exploded near a southern Israeli community. – JW)

Army’s Home Front Command says latest round of escalation in south over, gives area schools go-ahead to run as usual Monday; meanwhile, one rocket explodes in open area, no casualties reported

Ynet reporters

Arab League warns Assad of foreign intervention if violence continues.

Al Arabiya

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Arab League ministers who have visited Syria warned President Bashar al-Assad to stop violence and start reforms or face an international intervention, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Sunday.

Citing well-informed Arab sources, Al-Qabas daily said the Arab League ministerial delegation also warned Assad that failure to resolve the crisis within an Arab fold would mean “internationalizing” the issue.

“The Arab delegation was frank and clear during its meeting with the Syrian leadership and warned that if an Arab solution fails, it would mean internationalizing the crisis,” the daily cited the sources as saying.

“This would mean Syria should expect a foreign intervention and a painful international blockade on the economy and other aspects,” it added.

The Arab League team, headed by Qatar, held talks with Assad on Wednesday and was due to meet Syrian officials in Doha later on Sunday.

Assad meanwhile warned that any Western intervention would cause an “earthquake” inflaming the region, after dozens died in one of the bloodiest days of the uprising against his rule.

In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Assad warned of “another Afghanistan” if foreign forces intervened in his country as they had with the Libyan uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi.

The Arab ministers also demanded that Syria should supply the Arab League with a clear “roadmap” for reforms with specific dates for implementation, Al-Qabas said.

Since the start of protests in March, Syrian authorities have blamed the violence on foreign-backed gunmen and religious extremists they say have killed 1,100 soldiers and police.

Syria has barred most international media, making it hard to verify accounts from activists and authorities.

But the resilience of the protesters, the determination of authorities to crush dissent and the emerging armed insurgency have combined to make Syria’s turmoil one of the most intractable confrontations of this year’s Arab uprisings.

Assad, whose father put down an armed Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama in 1982, killing many thousands, said the latest crisis was part of the same conflict.

“We’ve been fighting the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1950s and we are still fighting with them,” he said.

Authorities had made “many mistakes” in the early part of the uprising, but he said the situation had now improved and that he had started implementing reform within a week of the troubles erupting in mid-March.

“The pace of reform is not too slow. The vision needs to be mature. It would take only 15 seconds to sign a law, but if it doesn’t fit your society, you’ll have division,” he said.

Assad’s opponents say although he lifted emergency law and gave citizenship to thousands of stateless Kurds, his promises of reform ring hollow while security forces kill protesters and arrest thousands of people. They also say protests are driven by a desire for greater freedoms, not by an Islamist agenda.

Syria, a majority Sunni Muslim nation of 20 million people, is dominated by Assad’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Aware of potentially seismic geopolitical implications if Assad were to fall, leaders in the mostly Sunni Arab world have been cautious about criticizing the Syrian president as they struggle with domestic challenges to their own rule.

Sunni ascendancy in Syria could affect Israel and shake up regional alliances. Assad strengthened ties with Shiite Iran while also upholding his father’s policy of avoiding conflict with Israel on the occupied Golan Heights frontier.

Report: 30 Syria soldiers killed in clashes with army defectors – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel gunmen ambushed a Syrian army bus, leaving dozens killed and wounded.

By The Associated Press and DPA

At least 30 Syrian troops were killed in recent clashes with rebel forces, a Syrian rights group said on Sunday, with another group indicating that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad killed over 300 civilians since the Arab League gave Damascus a deadline to enact a cease-fire.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a clash Saturday night in the restive central city of Homs between soldiers and gunmen believed to be army defectors left at least 20 soldiers dead and 53 wounded.

	Smoke rising from a building after being fired upon in Baba Amer in Homs in this still image taken from video uploaded October 29, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

It also said gunmen ambushed a bus carrying security officers late Saturday in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing at least 10 security agents. One attacker was also killed.

The Associated Press could not verify the activists’ accounts. Syria has banned most foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it impossible to get independent confirmation of the events on the ground. Syria’s state-run news agency SANA, said seven members of the military and police, who were killed in Homs and the suburbs of Damascus were buried Sunday.

More than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the government’s clampdown, according to the United Nations.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said Sunday that 343 people, including 20 children, have been killed in Syria since Oct. 16, when the Cairo-based Arab League gave Damascus a 15-day deadline to enact a cease-fire.

A meeting was scheduled for later Sunday in Qatar between an Arab committee set up by the 22-member Arab League and a Syrian delegation expected to be headed by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

The unrest in Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region, as Damascus’ web of alliances extends to Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement, the militant Palestinian Hamas and Iran’s Shiite theocracy.

Unlike Gadhafi, Syrian President Bashar Assad enjoys a number of powerful allies that give him the means to push back against the outside pressure. A conflict in Syria risks touching off a wider Middle East conflict with arch foes Israel and Iran in the mix. Syria wouldn’t have to look far for prime targets to strike, sharing a border with U.S.-backed Israel and NATO-member Turkey.

The reported incident took place as Assad warned on Sunday that Western interference in his country could cause an “earthquake” that would “burn the whole region” and transform the country into “another Afghanistan.”

“Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake,” said Assad in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph.
“Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?”

His comments come after protesters took to the streets on Friday demanding the imposition of a no-fly zone in the country to protect civilians from government crackdowns.

Assad admitted to the newspaper that “many mistakes” had been made by his forces in the early part of the uprising, but insisted that only “terrorists” were now being targeted.

“We have very few police, only the army, who are trained to take on al-Qaida,” he said. “If you sent in your army to the streets, the same thing would happen. Now, we are only fighting terrorists. That’s why the fighting is becoming much less.”

Netanyahu on escalation: ‘There i… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

    Referring to the recent escalation in violence along the border with Gaza, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday afternoon “there is no cease fire” in the South.

Speaking at the start of a special cabinet meeting being held in Safed, the prime minister warned: “The other side will pay a higher price then they have already paid, until they stop firing.”

Netanyahu’s comments came just after the IDF struck a Gaza cell attempting to launch rockets at Israel and a day after an Israeli man was killed by shrapnel when a Grad rocket hit Ashdod.

Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated the Israeli government’s policy of strict retaliation against those that harm Israelis, warning both Islamic Jihad and Hamas not to test Israel.

Speaking in Safed at the opening of the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Netanyahu went on to stress the importance of remembering that “Hamas is the ruling power in Gaza, and it is [the organization’s] responsibility to preserving the quiet and to prevent [rocket] fire” from the Strip,” even if those launching the rockets are from Islamic Jihad.

“It’s not worthwhile for anybody to test our resolve” to invoke the government’s defense principles. “We will prevent every attempt to shoot at Israel and we will hurt everyone who nevertheless succeeds” at launching rockets.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak also warned Islamic Jihad and Hamas leaders “not to test our abilities,” following a meeting with security and intelligence chiefs on Sunday.

During the meeting, Barak examined plans for continued IDF operations in Gaza to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. The defense minister added, “We will do everything to protect the citizens of Israel.”

Also speaking at the medical school in Safed, President Shimon Peres said “the government and the IDF will do everything necessary in order to secure residents of the South and to put an end to this intolerable situation.”

Any country would respond as Israel does to indiscriminate rocket fire on its citizens, he added.

In a message to “our Arab neighbors,” the president said, “neither we nor you want war, but [the] rockets from Gaza are [a borderline] declaration of war. Reckless groups cannot be allowed to endanger our peace.”

“While the majority of Arabs are trying to end oppression and poverty,” Peres said, “Hamas is bringing oppression and poverty to the Gaza Strip.”

Thousands attend Grad rocket victim’s fu… JPost – National News.

    Ami Moshe, the man killed in Ashkelon Saturday by a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, was laid to rest in Ashkelon on Sunday.

Hundreds of people, including Ashkelon Mayor Beni Vaknin, attended the funeral, Israel Radio reported.

The 56-year-old was on his way home to his family when the an air raid siren went off, warning of an incoming rocket.

In a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon, he left his vehicle and ran for cover, but was mortally injured by shrapnel flying from the rocket.

Magen David Adom paramedics rushed the rocket victim to Barzilai Medical Center in the city, but doctors were unable to save his life.

Before being evacuated to the hospital by MDA paramedics, Moshe managed to answer a telephone call from his concerned wife and told her that he had been injured.

Yaakov Lappin also contributed to this report

IDF strikes Gaza cell attempting to launch roc… JPost – Defense.

    Islamic Jihad, which has taken responsibility for the majority of some 39 rockets fired at Israel from the Strip in the past 24 hours, said late Sunday morning that it was committed to a cease fire agreement, although it asserted it reserved the right to respond to any Israeli attacks, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. An attempted rocket launch mid-Sunday afternoon, however, cast doubts on the lasting power of the agreement. It was not clear if Islamic Jihad or another terrorist group in Gaza was responsible for the attempted launch.

The IDF identified a rocket launching cell in the southern Gaza Strip Sunday afternoon as terrorists were preparing to launch a rocket toward Israel. The cell was struck by Air Force planes, which prevented the launching of the rocket.

One Palestinian was killed and another seriously wounded in the IDF strike, Palestinian news sources reported.

The second attempt in as many hours to implement an Egyptian-brokered cease fire went into effect at around 7 a.m. Sunday morning, but the latest rocket launching attempt cast doubts on that agreement as well.

Following the 6 a.m. deadline for the earlier cease fire attempt, four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Two of the rockets exploded in open areas causing no damage and two were intercepted by the Iron Dome rocket defense system. The last rocket was fired at 6:40 a.m, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said that the IDF “wasn’t waiting for any decision” by the Islamic Jihad, referring to reports of a ceasefire. He added that the army had been ordered by IDF Chief of General-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz to prepare a number of responses that had been prepared by the government.

Gantz has been receiving updates throughout the day on land-based and aerial defense systems, and approved a number of operations designed to intensify the IDF’s response to rocket fire.

“There are pinpoint plans to strike terrorist infrastructure – and more than that,” Mordechai said. “Until now, the IDF has harmed the Islamic Jihad’s rocket manufacturing and firing infrastructure, including a senior member who was responsible for these things,” he added.

Responding to the rocket fire, the IAF struck six targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Saturday . In the northern Gaza Strip it hit a terror tunnel and three rocket launch sites, and in the southern Strip it attacked two centers of terrorist activity. Nine Palestinian terrorists were killed in the strikes.

“The IDF will not hesitate to act decisively and forcefully against anyone who uses terror against the citizens of Israel, until quiet returns to area. Hamas is a terrorist organization and bears the responsibility,” anot;250″ />

In light of the rocket fire, schools, learning institutions and day care centers located between seven and 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip will be closed Sunday, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor said.

Studies in locations between zero and seven kilometers from the Strip will be held, but only in protected rooms. In addition, the Home Front Command prohibited any public gatherings with more than 500 people. The Home Front Command also asked people who live within 40 kilometers of the Gaza Strip to stay near structures protected against rockets.

On Saturday, 35 projectiles, including Grads and mortar shells, were fired at southern communities, hitting built-up areas in Ashdod, Ashkelon and regional councils across the region. A number of the rockets caused extensive damages to buildings.

The wave of rockets came after the IDF, working with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), identified and struck an Islamic Jihad rocket cell in Gaza earlier on Saturday, killing five terrorists, including senior Islamic Jihad commander Ahmed Sheikh Khalil, who was responsible for the group’s considerable rocket production facilities.

Army sources said the cell was the same one that fired the unprovoked long-range Grad that struck near Rehovot last week. That rocket was supposedly launched to mark the anniversary of the 1995 assassination in Malta of Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki, the first person to publish a booklet that legitimized suicide in jihad.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that Israel should continue striking Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, saying it must restore its deterrence capabilities.

“Israel must bring back its deterrence capabilities that it lost,” Mofaz told Israel Radio. Doing so, he said, “is the only way to stop the rocket fire.”

Israel cannot allow terror organizations in the Gaza Strip to take southern Israel’s residents hostage whenever it feels like it, he added.

IDF: Israel isn’t waiting for a decision by … JPost – Headlines.

  IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said Sunday that the IDF “wasn’t waiting for any decision” by the Islamic Jihad, referring to reports of a ceasefire. He added that the army had been ordered by IDF Chief of General-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz to prepare a number of responses that had been prepared by the government.

Gantz has been receiving updates throughout the day on land-based and aerial defense systems, and approved a number of operations designed to intensify the IDF’s response to rocket fire.

“There are pinpoint plans to strike terrorist infrastructure – and more than that,” Mordechai said. “Until now, the IDF has harmed the Islamic Jihad’s rocket manufacturing and firing infrastructure, including a senior member who was responsible for these things,” he added.

IAF strikes Gaza militants poised to launch rocket at Israel – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Air Force attack comes just hours after Islamic Jihad said it had agreed to a cease-fire to end weekend of deadly violence.

By Anshel Pfeffer

The Israel Air Force on Sunday attacked a militant cell in the Gaza Strip apparently poised to launch rockets at Israel, just hours after the Islamic Jihad announced that it had accepted an Egyptian-mediated truce to end a weekend of deadly violence.

One militant was killed in the attack, according to a Palestinian source. Nine other Palestinian gunmen and an Israeli civilian have been killed since the violence began last week.
Militants in Gaza have fired dozens of rockets at Israel in recent days, 20 of them on Saturday and another 11 overnight on Sunday.

	Islamic Jihad militants marching at a funeral for one of their men killed by the IAF, October 30, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

Three of the rocket fired early Sunday struck near Ashdod after the truce was supposed to go into effect. Two of those rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield and another struck the south, causing no casualties or damage.

The area fell quiet shortly after those attacks and by the afternoon no new violence was reported until the IAF attack. The Islamic Jihad announced in late morning that it had accepted the proposal for a truce and would adhere to it as long as Israel refrained from launching its own attack.

Islamic Jihad and two smaller factions claimed responsibility for rocket launchings over the past five days. Islamic Jihad has close ties with Iran and has chafed at the rule of rival Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.

Southern District Commander Yossi Pariente said on Sunday that the police have been put on high alert in the area. All police officers’ vacations were cancelled and additional police have been brought in from other districts.

Classes were canceled in most southern cities within 40 kilometers of the Gaza border. Ben-University, Sapir College and Achva Academic College have delayed the opening of the academic year due to the security situation.

Ashkelon resident Moshe Ami, 56, was the Israeli man fatally wounded on Saturday by shrapnel as he got out of his car to seek shelter from a rocket launched at the south Israel city. Magen David Adom paramedics took him to the hospital with serious stomach wounds, where his situation deteriorated and a doctor pronounced him dead.

The Islamic Jihad threat – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Terror group, its Iranian patrons testing Israel’s response to long-range rocket fire