WarSclerotic

‘IDF has green light to stop Gaza rockets’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Government authorized IDF to take all necessary steps to stop Gaza rocket fire, including ground operation, military official tells AP. Offensive to be ordered only after massive rocket fire. Egypt envoy: ‘We saved Gaza from destruction’

Associated Press

Israel has authorized its military to take all necessary steps to stop rocket fire from Gaza, including a ground operation, an Israeli military official said Tuesday, as Egypt worked on a truce and said Israel had agreed to delay stepping up its response.   The Israeli government decision stopped well short of ordering tanks to roll into Gaza, and it appeared unlikely that would happen, as rocket fire all but stopped over the past day.   The official said the decision authorized the military to act in accordance with the severity of Palestinian attacks, meaning that a ground offensive would be ordered only after massive rocket fire. He spoke on condition of anonymity because no statement was made.   In the wake of the state of calm in south Israel, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar and local council heads decided to open schools again on Wednesday after three days of suspension.   Egypt’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority said Tuesday that Egypt obtained an Israeli pledge to hold its fire while efforts were under way to persuade Palestinian militants to stop the rocket barrages.   Ashdod under fire (Photo: Anatoly Pogoreli)   The sudden spike in violence began when militants in Gaza started firing salvos at Israel late last week, and Israeli retaliated with airstrikes. One Israeli civilian and at least Palestinian 10 terrorists were killed in the worst violence on that front in months.   “In the past few hours, Egypt saved Gaza from severe destruction and succeeded in securing Israeli restraint to give Egyptians time to reach a cease-fire agreement with Palestinian factions,” Egypt’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Othman, told The Associated Press Tuesday.   On Monday, Netanyahu warned from the podium of the Israeli parliament that Israel would operate “vigorously and resolutely” against those who would threaten its security.   “A security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone,” Netanyahu said. “It must also include offensive capabilities, the very foundation of deterrence.”   Damage in Gan Yavne (Photo: Amir Levy)   Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel’s position has not changed.   The military said there have been no Israeli airstrikes since around midnight Monday. Two rockets were fired from Gaza during that time. The relative calm prevailed through Tuesday afternoon.   The rocket attacks have disrupted life in southern Israel, forcing schools to close. About 1 million Israelis live within range of rockets from Gaza.   The Islamic Jihad faction was behind the initial rocket attacks. On Sunday the militant faction agreed to stop the violence if Israel also did. Rocket fire that drew retaliatory Israeli airstrikes persisted afterward, but it was claimed by a different militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.   Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence from the territory.

Kassam fired from Gaza explodes in Eshkol Re… JPost – Headlines.

    A Kassam rocket fired from Gaza exploded in open fields in the Eshkol Regional Council on Tuesday evening.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Syria says reaches final deal with Arab League on ending unrest – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

(One problem.  They neglected to ask the Syrian people. _ JW)

State television says Syria and Arab League reached agreement, to be officially announced on Wednesday.

By Reuters

Syrian state television said on Tuesday a final agreement had been reached between Syrian authorities and an Arab League committee tasked with finding a solution to end seven months of unrest.

	Syrian President Bashar Assad meeting with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi, in Damascus, Syria, September 10, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

“The agreement between Syria and the Arab committee [has been reached] on the final paper regarding the situation in Syria and the official announcement [will be] tomorrow at the Arab League headquarters,” a breaking news strapline on the television said.

Israel holds off on Gaza operation at Egypt’s … JPost – Defense.

    Israel delayed a military operation in the Gaza Strip to stem Palestinian rocket fire due to an Egyptian request to give an additional 24 hours to cease-fire efforts, The Jerusalem Post learned on Tuesday.

A small jihadi terror cell in Gaza, and not Islamic Jihad, was behind a wave rockets on southern Israel on Monday night, the defense community believes.

Irrespective of that evaluation, defense sources stressed that Israel views Hamas as being responsible for all attacks out of Gaza, and had intended on launching an operation that would have been significantly wider in scope than the pinpoint strikes against terror cells seen until now.

Shortly before the operation was due to go ahead, Egypt asked Israel to pause for a final effort at getting Gazan terror organizations to halt the rocket attacks. Egyptian officials held rounds of talks with Palestinian factions in Gaza aimed at achieving calm.

Israel does not recognize any ceasefire with terror groups in Gaza, but it is observing developments on the ground and formulating its military response accordingly, defense sources added.
The lack of an Israeli response so far does not mean that Israel isn’t prepared to go ahead with a more forceful response should the rockets resume.

By Tuesday evening, no rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel.

On Monday, terrorists fired six rockets at Israel. One Grad was intercepted over Beersheba. Other rockets fell south of Ashkelon, as well as in agricultural areas in the western Negev. No injuries or damages were reported.

If the calm continues to hold, local officials in southern cities will reopen schools on Wednesday, after shutting them for three successive days due to security concerns.

The school closures were maintained despite instructions from the IDF Home Front Command to allow pupils to return to class on Monday and Tuesday.

Two evils don’t make a right – JPost – Opinion – Op-Eds.

In the post-Ottoman era, Syria has gone through multiple metamorphic political orders while trying to strike a balance between independence and a constitutional structure to ameliorate our lives. After many attempts, Syria settled on a bad system run by the worst family. This explains the resilience of the Syrian street to save whatever is left of Syria.

Today, young Syrians protesting the Assad regime have managed, through courage and sacrifices, to generate hope for a better future. But lurking behind palatial closed doors are dark forces intent on asphyxiating Syrian freedom by presenting an alternative “solution.”

These forces have suggesting a powersharing arrangement between the Assad family and the Syrian National Council. The SNC is majority-ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The idea to merge Assad’s evil with Islamist evil is an idea mutated in the kitchens of the Arab League and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to rob Syrians of their freedom.

One school of thought currently popular amongst policy makers in Washington is that in order to free the West from the burden of spreading Jeffersonian freedom, the US needs to hand over freed Arab countries to the bureaucrats best organized to shoulder that responsibility.

In other words, the Islamists of Hamas and the Brotherhood. And what better medium to implement these policies than Erdogan? Such ideas are gaining currency inside the Obama administration and are being spread by Dalia Mogahed, the president’s adviser on Muslim affairs, and Huma Abedin, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Both are ardent supporters of the Brotherhood, but neither is Syrian. Both may speak Arabic, but that does not mean they understand the needs and aspirations of people in Syria.

Then there are the Arab rulers who see the demise of Assad as a threat to their own self-interests. They want to abrogate any notion that the Libya model could be repeated in their neighborhoods.

However, absent from their self-serving calculations to conspire against the Syrian street is the anticipated reaction of our youths dying. In my view, they will resist all attemps to keep Assad alive.

There are already clear that this is so.

The Syrian street knows that both the Arab League and Erdogan oppose instituting a no-fly zone over Syria because they do not want a repeat of what happened in Libya so close to home. The street believes this is contrary to its interests.

Furthermore, young opposition leaders like Ahmad Jomah and Ammar Qurabi, who have gained a strong following within the Local Coordination Committees, are beginning to send high-voltage signals that the solution rests in Assad’s demise. Their message has plenty of listeners inside Syria.

The Local Coordination Committees that I have spoken to have already printed the posters denying and challenging the legitimacy of the SNC should their plan to share power with Assad come to fruition. Furthermore, they are backing a new Transitional Military Council that will be announced soon to play a pivotal role, with the Free Syrian Army inside the country, acting not only to free Syria but also to determine its future. I believe that supporting such endeavor is a a safe bet because most of Syrian Islamists are gathered under the SNC tent.

Some active US-based Syrian dissidents, organized under an umbrella organization called the Syrian Democracy Council (SDC), are wedged between the Assad evil and the Muslim Brotherhood one. Their vision backs a decentralized Federal Syria where local provinces decide their political, religious, cultural, societal, and educational laws. If championed by a strong Constitution to protect the collective wishes of all the people, this model could yield the best vision for our future.

Those dissidents have also a strong following inside the country, including support by the Free Syrian Army fighting in the streets. SDC will garner a major boost from the US Congress in the coming weeks. Personally, I believe the SDC has the best chance to succeed for its vision and has the respect of the Local Coordinating Committees because it operates quietly and effectively.

The international community should throw its weight behind what is shaping to be a merger between the political arm of the SDC and the operational arm of the FSA. I am told the FSA will soon announce its Transitional Military Council to reign-in any conspiracies.

The events unfolding in Syria are providing the region with new, unprecedented opportunities. For the first time, common denominators between Syrian and Israeli interests are aligned almost perfectly. The Syrian street is willing to compromise on a garden variety of issues to secure its freedom and the Israeli people are willing to strike a peace agreement that would bring peace of mind to your country.

How we capitalize on this blessed alignment has yet to be explored. However, if you take into account young Syrians today who are so hungry for a leader to free them from their misery, the brew becomes quite potent indeed. Syrians are craving for an honest hero who will save them when everyone else has abandoned them to the Assad wolves.

No country should control Syria’s future. Not Turkey, not Iraq, not Saudi Arabia, and not Israel. But, of all of our neighbors, Israelis understand this concept better than most having suffered much from outside interference. It is time for the good guys to decide what is best for the region.

The writer heads the US-based Reform Party of Syria and has a blog dedicated to Syrian politics and Islam.

Analysts Believe Israel is Moving Closer to Iran Strike – Jeffrey Goldberg – International – The Atlantic.

Nov 1 2011, 10:05 AM ET Haaretz is reporting a new diplomatic initiative by Israel to convince Western countries to increase sanctions on Iran. The work comes ahead of an IAEA report to be released on November 8, which is expected to detail the scope of Iran’s nuclear program and submit evidence that Iran is attempting to build a nuclear bomb:

“The significant progress that has taken place on all the components of the Iranian nuclear program should be emphasized, especially uranium enrichment,” said a classified cable sent to Israeli ambassadors in several dozen countries. “The Iranian program is military, and in light of International Atomic Energy Agency reports, there is an increased fear that the Iranians are developing a nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles.”

The ambassadors were asked to tell the equivalent of the foreign ministries and prime minister’s offices in the countries where they are serving that there isn’t much time left to stop the nuclear program through diplomatic means.

There are all sorts of signs afoot that this fall is a bit like the spring of 2010, in which it also seemed likely that Israel was moving toward a preemptive attack (I wrote about Israeli plans in this article). By late 2010, the successes (temporary, perhaps) of the Stuxnet virus in crippling a certain percentage of Iran’s centrifuges seemed to cool off passions on this subject, but now we’re back to worrying. Keep in mind one important thing: The clock the Israelis are watching is not the one telling them that Iran is close, or not-so-close, to actually constructing a nuclear warhead and a delivery system for such a warhead. The clock the Israelis care about is the one that will tell them when they’ve run out of time to take effective preemptive action against the Iranian program, which is to say, when the Iranians put their centrifuges so deeply underground that they become beyond the reach of Israeli bombers. This is the issue we should be watching.

Here’s some bonus conspiracy material for those who enjoy such things: Last week it was announced that Prime Minister Netanyahu had canceled his scheduled appearance at the Jewish Federations’ annual General Assembly in Denver this year, set to take place in the days immediately before the IAEA report comes out. The GA is currently ranked third as the world’s most Netanyahu-friendly audience, just behind the United States Congress, and AIPAC. He doesn’t usually like to miss such events.

Israel Hayom.

Senior government official makes remarks after recent reports suggest that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are urging an attack on Iranian nuclear sites • Barak: Iranian threat is discussed in public “all the time.”

Any public discussion over the issue of Iran “is in itself bad and constitutes a danger to national security,” a senior government official said Monday, referring to recent reports suggesting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been pushing for a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities without having a public discussion on the matter.

In an interview with Army Radio on Monday, Barak said a public debate had been held on the Iranian threat for years, but that it was clear to everyone that the possibility of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities should not be discussed in public.

“I do not think that these things should be discussed on a radio program,” Barak said. “I have repeated time and again that Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons is a major threat to Israel and the stability of the entire region, and it also constitutes a challenge to the world. We should not be taking options off the table. These are things we’ve been saying for years, reciting them ad nauseam.”

Barak also rejected claims that he and Netanyahu “closed a deal alone” and apparently decided on military action against Iran without consultation. “It doesn’t take a genius to understand that in the state of Israel two people can’t just decide to do something on their own,” Barak said. “The Defense Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office have thousands of pages documenting discussions on this issue between dozens of officials and ministers.”

Barak added, “There is a public debate on the Iranian threat all the time. The state of Israel in particular and the world at large cannot allow a nuclear Iran. These things have been known, and I don’t think I need to discuss them here. But if the need arises, we will discuss this issue further.”

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday also commented on the public debate over Iran, saying in a radio interview that, “Someone decided to flood the public debate with this issue, but it is not in our national interest to be chit-chatting about it. There’s one thing that should be concerning every citizen in Israel, and that is Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Everything else is less important.”

Sensitivity over the Iran discussion follows criticism of former Mossad chief Meir Dagan over statements he made after leaving his post about Israel’s ability to launch a military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In June, Dagan criticized Netanyahu and Barak at a conference, where he said, “There is a leadership void,” and expressed his view that Iran should not be attacked. Later, he was quoted saying that with the head of the Israeli Security Agency gone, and with the departure of the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and director of military intelligence, “No one stands in the way of Bibi and Barak” when it comes to important decisions such as an attack on Iran.

Ya’alon: Israel must not depend … JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

    Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday that while hoping international efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear aspirations succeed, Israel must act as if it can depend on nobody to protect it from the Iranian threat but itself.

“We must aspire to a situation in which the righteous work will be done by others, but act as if, ‘if not me, who'” Ya’alon said in an interview with Army Radio, making use of a Hebrew adage touting self-reliance.

RELATED:
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Ya’alon’s comments came after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the Iranian threat on Monday, during his speech at the opening meeting of the Knesset winter session.

““Iran is continuing in its attempts to arm itself with nuclear weapons,” he said. “A nuclear Iran will threaten the Middle East, the world and Israel.”

The prime minister warned that the Arab Spring brought instability and uncertainty to the Middle East, and that Islamic extremism would grow in popularity.

“The liberal forces working for freedom and progress as we understand them are weak and divided,” Netanyahu said. “It is doubtful that the great hope that existed when the Arab Spring broke out will be fulfilled.”

Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

Iran expresses hope Assad stays in power despite Syrian unrest – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Declaration by Foreign Minister is first open expression of support for Syrian President; five more people killed in government crackdown on Monday.

By DPA

Iran on Tuesday expressed its hope that Syrian President Bashar Assad would stay in power despite civil unrest, news media reported.

“We hope that Arab countries will do whatever necessary to enable a happy end,” Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said.

“Any power vacuum there would have unpredictable consequences,” he was quoted by official news agency IRNA as saying.

Syria is Iran’s key ally in the Middle East, especially with regards to the two states’ antagonistic approach towards Tehran’s arch-enemy Israel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed in September a regional meeting in Tehran on the crisis in Syria to helping Assad’s government.

That broke several months of silence by Tehran on the popular uprising in Syria. Iran has since called for talks between government and opponents on possible reforms. Tuesday’s declaration was the first open expression of support for Assad to stay in power.

More than 3,000 people, including at least 187 children, have been killed in a Syrian government clampdown since pro-democracy protests began in mid-March, according to the United Nations.

Five people were killed on Monday as government forces continued their crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

	Demonstrators protesting against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad march through the streets in Homs October 30, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report November 1, 2011, 1:21 PM (GMT+02:00)

Aerial photo of Hasaka plant in Syria

The disclosure Tuesday, Nov. 1, by the International Atomic Energy Agency – that a spinning factor built in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasaka in 2003 was in fact designed for developing nuclear weapons from enriched uranium – had a purpose: It was intended to crowd Bashar Assad into talking to the leaders of the revolt against him instead of slaughtering them. debkafile‘s intelligence sources report that Syria procured the enriched uranium and equipment for the plant from Iraq when its ruler Saddam Hussein in early March 2003  when he decided to dispose of the bulk of his nuclear plant and weapons of mass destruction by spiriting them out to Syria, then his closest ally.

The IAEA sources revealed that the Syrian government worked on the secret Hasaka complex  with Abdel Qader Khan, father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, basing it on the same technology he designed for Muammar Qaddafi’s nuclear bomb project. Khan also provided Iran and North Korea with the basics for their nuclear weapons programs.

They also disclosed correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official Muhidin Issa after Pakistan’s nuclear test in 1998 requesting scientific cooperation and asking to visit Khan’s laboratories.
debkafile sources add: The cotton spinning plant at Hasaka could have been used as a facility for uranium enrichment by centrifuges. Yet the IAEA inspectors who visited the site two years ago found no traces of nuclear activity there. Aerial photos accompanying this article show long, disused structures standing at a distance from the factory alongside water pools, which would not be used for cotton spinning.
This group of buildings, which look like ammo stores, would confirm the presence of a large military complex at the site which may well have served a secret uranium enrichment project run in parallel to the clandestine plutonium reactor which Israel demolished in 2007.

The timing of the nuclear watchdog’s revelations points to two objectives:

1.  A broad hint that the atomic agency has more information about the Hasaka site which it is holding back for now. If it reacts to the disclosure, Damascus may give away more than it intends.

2.  To squeeze Bashar Assad into bowing to the opposition’s demands for democratic reforms and a share in government. He was given to understand that further damaging disclosures about his illegal nuclear activities will be calibrated according to his continuing rejection of political dialogue and abuses. They will pave the way towards tougher sanctions.

Sunday, Oct. 31, the Syrian ruler threatened to “burn the Middle East” if the West intervened in Syria.

Monday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said firmly: “NATO has no intention [to intervene] whatsoever. I can completely rule that out.”

According to the information reaching debkafile‘s military and intelligence sources, this negative applies to the alliance as a body, not its individual members. Turkey for example is directly involved in supporting the Syrian revolt against the Assad regime by laying on weapons and training and allowing rebel leaders to operate cross-border command centers on its soil.

Qatar, which is not a NATO member but was closely associated with the alliance operation in Libya, is a major purveyor of arms and funding for Syria’s anti-regime fighters. In the operation against Muammar Qaddafi, the Qataris became expert in the management of revolts against Arab dictatorships and accustomed to working in close sync with NATO intelligence and military arms.
Whether or not NATO intervenes in Syria is no longer a question. It already has, in one way or another. The question is when will Assad decide that Western intervention has reached a level warranting delivery on his threat to burn the Middle East?