WarSclerotic

Syria Reports Suicide Bomber Attacks in Damascus – NYTimes.com.

(In my opinion, it is more likely than not that these bombs were ordered by Assad himself.  What better excuse to keep butchering your people that to claim you’re fighting Al Qaeda? – JW)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Two powerful bombs exploded outside government offices in Damascus on Friday, in what appeared to be the most brazen and deadly attacks against the government since the start of the uprising in Syria in March. SANA, the government news agency, reported that dozens of people were killed, blaming suicide car bombers.

The news agency said that while some soldiers were among the dead, most were civilians. Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that 30 people were killed and 100 wounded in the attacks, coordinated within minutes of each other.

In a statement, SANA said an initial investigation showed the attacks “carried the blueprints of Al Qaeda,” though it did not provide any further detail. It appeared to be the first use of car bombs — a frequent and deadly means of attack in neighboring Iraq — in the Syrian conflict.

For months, Syrian officials have consistently portrayed their opponents — peaceful demonstrators and armed rebels alike — as terrorists and thugs, orchestrated by foreign opponents of the Syrian government. In a news conference after the attacks, Mr. Mekdad quickly suggested that the attack vindicated the government’s view, as it released an unusual number of graphic photographs and video of the carnage.

“We said it from the beginning, this is terrorism,” he said, according to The A.P. “They are killing the army and civilians.”

Just as quickly, government opponents raised questions about whether the government itself might have played a part in the attacks, noting that the buildings, in the capital’s upscale Kafar Sousah district, were heavily guarded.

“How can Qaeda launch such an operation in a very tight security place?” said an antigovernment activist named Moaz, who lives in Damascus. “It’s really a play.”

Residents said the explosions, at about 10:15 a.m., were heard miles away and were followed by gunfire. Video broadcast by Syrian television showed rescuers carrying mangled bodies on blankets, bloody debris and a large hole in one of the buildings. The state news agency posted photos of severed limbs and burned-out cars.

Capping one of the deadliest weeks in Syria in months, the bombings on Friday occurred hours before thousands of protesters were set to demonstrate against an Arab League peace plan to end the violence.

The day before, delegates from the Arab League traveled to Damascus to start monitoring the government’s promise to end its violent suppression of the nine-month-old uprising. The visit is intended to set the ground rules for a mission that is supposed to bring hundreds of observers to Syria in the coming weeks.

Human rights activists said the government was continuing its assault on the Jebel al-Zawiyah area of northwestern Syria, near Turkey’s border, where at least 160 people have reportedly been killed this week.

The assault, using helicopters and tanks, appeared aimed at army defectors trying to create a rebel stronghold, with supply routes across the Turkish border.

The highest toll was reported in the village of Kafr Oweid. A video posted on the Internet on Thursday was said by activists to show the bodies of dozens of men killed in the village, many with badly mangled faces. The video, posted by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London, showed at least 43 bodies.

Opposition figures said the government was trying to silence pockets of resistance before the observers’ visit. They expressed growing concern about the Arab League mission, questioning whether it would be robust enough to detect what they said was a campaign of deadly violence by President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces.

Turkey added strong criticism on Thursday to the international condemnation of Syria’s latest crackdown. A statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Syria to end its “policy of oppression.”

The United Nations says that at least 5,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict. On Thursday, Avaaz, a human rights group that helps document protests, released a higher estimate, saying that it had collected the names of 6,237 people who had been killed, including more than 800 women and children and 917 members of the government forces.

Casualty figures in Syria have been nearly impossible to confirm. Journalists and human rights groups are not free to move around the country, and there are wide disparities between the claims of the government and those of opposition groups, and between the claims of different networks of human rights activists.

The Arab League observers are supposed to monitor Mr. Assad’s compliance with a plan for him to withdraw his forces from residential areas and release political prisoners. The head of the delegation, Samir Seif el-Yazal, said it would work with Syrian officials to decide where to send the observers, The A.P. reported. A team of military and human rights experts is scheduled to arrive in a few days.

But human rights activists said there was still no final list of observers and no clear rules for the mission. Wissam Tarif, the Arab world campaigner for Avaaz, who said he was a candidate for an observer post, said the delegation was still working out details, including whether observers would travel with their own security.

Opposition groups have also criticized the decision to name a Sudanese general to lead the mission — Lt. Gen. Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, a former head of military intelligence who served as a coordinator among the Sudanese government, the United Nations and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.

Ammar al-Wawi, a former colonel in the Syrian Army who defected to the rebels, said: “We are suspicious about these observers. Do you send a veterinarian to do a Caesarean section?”

General Dabi told Reuters that the observers would work “with complete transparency.”

Across Syria on Thursday, at least 35 people were killed, including 25 in the city of Homs and 7 in Idlib, near Jebel al-Zawiyah, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition umbrella group. A militia of army defectors, the Free Syrian Army, said that at least 70 recent defectors were killed this week, and that groups of defectors were hiding in the mountains, surrounded by government forces.

U.S. District Court Rules Iran Behind 9/11 Attacks — NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —.

NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A federal district court in Manhattan yesterday entered a historic ruling that reveals new facts about Iran‘s support of al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks.  U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels ruled yesterday that Iran and Hezbollah materially and directly supported al Qaeda in the September 11, 2001 attacks and are legally responsible for damages to hundreds of family members of 9/11 victims who are plaintiffs in the case.

Judge Daniels had announced his ruling in Havlish, et al. v. bin Laden, et al., in open court on Thursday, December 15, 2011, following a three-hour courtroom presentation by the families’ attorneys.  Judge Daniels entered a written Order of Judgment yesterday backed by 53 pages of detailed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

Fiona Havlish, whose husband Donald perished in the World Trade Center North Tower on 9/11 said, “This is a historic day.  For ten years we’ve wanted the truth to be known about who was responsible for our losses.  Now we have that answer.”

Ellen Saracini, the wife of United Airlines 175 pilot Victor Saracini, which the hijackers crashed into the WTC South Tower, said after the hearing last Thursday, “We just came from Judge Daniels’ court where he ruled in favor of holding accountable those who perpetrated the attacks of 9/11… I just smiled up to Victor and I said we’re still thinking about you … we’re there for you … we’ll always be there for you.  But today’s very special.”

In Havlish, et al. v. bin Laden, et al., Judge Daniels held that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran‘s agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (“MOIS”), and Iran‘s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11.

“The families have waited a very long time for this day and they have been through a lot.  So I was greatly relieved that the families received an answer to the question that they asked me ten years ago: they asked who was the responsible party?  How did this happen?  Today a federal court judge has said that a principal responsible party is the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Thomas E. Mellon, Jr. of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, law firm of Mellon Webster & Shelly, the lead attorney for the Havlish plaintiffs.

The evidence was developed over a seven-year international investigation by the Havlish attorneys who pursued the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation regarding an apparent link between Iran, Hezbollah, and the 9/11 hijackers, following the Commission’s own eleventh-hour discovery of significant National Security Agency (“NSA”) intercepts: “We believe this topic requires further investigation by the U.S. government.”  9/11 Commission Report, p. 241.  The Havlish evidence included sworn testimony and affidavits from the following:

• Ten expert witnesses including three former 9/11 Commission staff members, two former CIA case officers, two investigative journalists, and an Iran analyst who has testified in 25 cases involving Iranian terrorism.
• Three Iranian defectors who were operatives of MOIS and the IRGC.  Witness X, whose dramatic testimony was previously filed under seal, was revealed to be Abolghasem Mesbahi, a former MOIS operative in charge of Iran‘s espionage operations in Western Europe.  Judge Daniels found that Mesbahi has testified in numerous prosecutions of Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists, including the Mykonos case in Germany and the AMIA case in Argentina, and found to be highly reliable and credible.  Judge Daniels also credited Mesbahi’s testimony that he received messages during the summer of 2001 from inside the Iranian government that an Iranian contingency plan for unconventional warfare against the U.S. called “Shaitan dar Atash” had been activated.  “This is compelling proof that Iran was deeply involved in the 9/11 conspiracy,” said Tim Fleming, lead investigative attorney for the Havlish group.

Included among Judge Daniels’ findings in Havlish are the following:

• Members of the 9/11 Commission staff testified that Iran aided the hijackers by concealing their travel through Iran to access al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.  Iranian border inspectors refrained from stamping the passports of 8 to 10 of the 9/11 hijackers because evidence of travel through Iran would have prevented the hijackers from obtaining visas at U.S. embassies abroad or gaining entry into the United States.  The 9/11 Commission Report addressed these facts and called for further investigation.  9/11 Commission Report at pp. 240-41.
• Expert and U.S. government evidence also confirmed that Iran facilitated the escape of al Qaeda leaders and members from the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan into Iran and provided safe haven inside Iran after 9/11.
• Abolghasem Mesbahi testified he was part of an IRGC-MOIS task force that designed contingency plans for unconventional warfare against the U.S., code-named “Shaitan dar Atash” (“Satan in Flames”) which included crashing hijacked passenger airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the White House.  During the weeks before 9/11, Mesbahi received three coded messages from a source inside Iran‘s government indicating that the Shaitan dar Atash plan had been activated.
• Mesbahi also testified that in 2000 Iran used front companies to obtain a Boeing 757-767-777 flight simulator for training the terrorists.  Due to U.S. trade sanctions, Iran has never had any Boeing 757-767-777 aircraft, but all the airplanes hijacked on 9/11 were Boeing 757 or 767 aircraft.
• A May 14, 2001 memorandum from inside the Iranian government demonstrating that Iran‘s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, was aware of the impending attacks and instructing intelligence operatives to restrict communications to existing contacts with al Qaeda’s Ayman al Zawahiri and Hizballah’s Imad Mughniyah.
• Documents obtained from German federal prosecutors showing that 9/11 coordinator Ramzi Binalshihb traveled to Iran in January 2001 on his way to Afghanistan to brief Osama bin Laden on the plot’s progress.
• Evidence from the 9/11 Commission Report that a “senior Hezbollah operative,” which the Havlish evidence identifies as Hezbollah terrorist chief Imad Mughniyah, coordinated activities in Saudi Arabia and was present (or his associate) on flights the hijackers took to and from Beirut and Iran.  9/11 Commission Report at pp. 240-41.  Mughniyah, a longtime agent of Iran, orchestrated a string of terror operations against the U.S. and Israel during the 1980s and 1990s.  He was assassinated in Syria in February of 2008.

Attorneys emphasized that it is important to understand that Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda formed a terror alliance in the early 1990s.  The attorneys cited their national security and intelligence experts, including Dr. Patrick Clawson, Dr. Bruce Tefft, Clare Lopez, Kenneth Timmerman, Dr. Ronen Bergman, Edgar Adamson, and 9/11 Commission staff members Dietrich Snell, Dr. Daniel Byman, and Janice Kephart, as well as the published writings of Robert Baer, to explain how the pragmatic terror leaders overcame the Sunni-Shi’a divide in order to confront the U.S. (the “Great Satan”) and Israel (the “Lesser Satan”).  Iran and Hezbollah then provided training to members of al Qaeda in, among other things, the use of explosives to destroy large buildings.  The Iran-Hezbollah-al Qaeda alliance led to terror strikes against the U.S. at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia (1996), the simultaneous U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (1998), and the USS Cole (2000).  Shortly after the Cole attack, Iran was facilitating the international travel of the 9/11 hijackers.

“It was a wonderful day.  A great day where the truth was finally revealed in a court of law with strong, strong evidence.  The judge allowed us to put on and present all the evidence that we had filed directly or under seal and he accepted it and made a ruling in our favor,” said Dennis Pantazis, one of the Havlish attorneys.  “Now we go on to prove damages for each one of the family members,” he added.

The case is Fiona Havlish, et al v. Usama Bin Laden, et al,  03-CV-9848 (GBD), and is part of the consolidated proceeding In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, Civil Action No. 03 MDL 1570 (GBD).

For full story information, background documents, and links to broadcast quality footage, including soundbites from Havlish attorneys and plaintiffs, please visit the case website at www.Iran911case.com.

A Look At What May Be The Foundation For A U.S. Attack On Iran.

Following an eight year occupation that gutted Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime, the U.S. has pulled out of Iraq to find North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il suddenly deceased, and Iran allegedly building a nuclear weapon.

The Axis of Evil didn’t exactly become foreign policy when George W. Bush coined the term in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, but there seems reason to believe the U.S. could be eyeballing a foray into Iran.

There is the unprecedented missile collaboration between the U.S. and Israel slated for early next year that would keep incoming Iranian missile strikes in Israel to a minimum, following any attack on Tehran.

There is the near war-mongering article in Foreign Affairs by Matthew Kroenig that has everyone talking. Kroenig, an articulate and thoughtful writer apparently not given to wild extremes of opinion, makes the argument that an attack on Iran is “The Least Bad Option” and sums that reasoning up in his piece titled “Time to Attack Iran.”

There is the IAEA report that systematically lays out Iran’s apparent attempts to generate weapons grade radioactive material.

There is Leon Panetta saying three days ago that the U.S. will simply not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. He told CBS News this would be “A red line,” for both the U.S. and Israel.

There is the $10 million bounty now being offered for information leading to the capture of the Iran-based al-Qaida money-man Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil.

And then, perhaps most interesting in its quiet release, there is yesterday’s ruling by a New York federal judge, who signed a default judgment holding the Taliban, al-qaida, and Iran responsible for the September 11 attacks.

Judge George Daniels ruled $100 billion is owed to victims families, and that Iran continues to “provide material support and resources to al-Qaida by providing a safe haven for al-Qaida leadership and rank-and-file al-Qaida members.”

None of this means we’ll wind up bombing Tehran, but if the U.S. plans to address the final ‘Axis of Evil,’ this could be the time it will do so.

Is it all for show? – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Comments from senior U.S. defense officials this week reflected the Obama administration’s attempt to heighten the feeling that it supports Israel. But that’s a long way from giving the nod to an Israeli attack on Iran.

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

After a few weeks of relative quiet, speculation renewed this week about whether someone – Israel or the United States – would attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The catalyst was statements by two senior American defense figures, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.

Asked by CBS News anchor Scott Pelley if Iran could obtain a nuclear weapon in 2012, the defense secretary replied, “It would probably be about a year before they can do it. Perhaps a little less.” He added that if Iran decides to go nuclear, the United States “will take whatever steps [are] necessary to stop it.” He added, “There are no options off the table.”

	A Syrian missile being launched during an exercise.
	Photo by: AFP

In an interview on CNN, Dempsey warned the Iranians not to “miscalculate our resolve,” because “any miscalculation could mean that we are drawn into conflict, and that would be a tragedy for the region and the world.” He noted that the United States is training for a potential military operation, and that Israel would not necessarily notify Washington before attacking Iran.

Senior officials in Jerusalem immediately declared that the change stemmed from the meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. President Barack Obama last week. In the meeting, Barak told the president about the immediate danger the Iranians posed. Barak himself said this week that there’s still “time for diplomacy and very tough sanctions,” bragged about unprecedented American support for Israel, and claimed that the two countries see eye to eye on the situation.

But Israelis who took part in the Saban Forum in Washington earlier this month, where senior administration figures spoke, left worried about the extent of the differences on how to address the Iranian nuclear project. Their impression, based not least on Panetta’s skeptical tone, was that the U.S. administration is focused more on the domestic arena. Washington is extremely concerned that an Israeli attack on Iran will cause an oil crisis, driving up fuel costs and damaging the U.S. economy.

It currently seems unlikely that Obama will order an American attack on Iran. The bottom line is that there seems to be a year left to physically attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, before most of the critical assets are moved into underground bunkers. Yet there are also 10 months left until U.S. presidential elections. Obama wants to rein in Israel but not give American Jewry reason to think that he is undermining Israel’s security; he also doesn’t want a head-on clash with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

What we heard this week was most likely an attempt by the administration to tighten the embrace and increase the perception of support for Israel. That’s a long way from American support for an Israeli attack, let alone an American military initiative.

Losing control

U.S. attention was divided this week among Iran, North Korea (the West found out that its leader Kim Jong Il had died only two days later ), Syria and Egypt.

Haaretz reported this week that close to 15,000 people have now defected from the Syrian army. It’s true that this is only about one division’s worth of soldiers in an army of 250,000 troops, but for the first time the defectors include relatively senior officers. The number of casualties is climbing, and is now more than 5,000. On some days, more soldiers were killed than civilians. Huge demonstrations were held in central Damascus this week after the army killed a high-school girl participating in a demonstration against President Bashar Assad. Tens of thousands came out to denounce him in the capital – an exceptional event in the nine-month-long uprising. At least four demonstrators were killed in clashes in Damascus.

Between Monday and Wednesday, more than 250 people were killed in Syria, a large number even for this deadly conflict. The carnage took place immediately after Syria signed an agreement with the Arab League to halt the violence, which involved letting the League’s inspectors enter the country yesterday.

The agreement might give Assad’s regime some breathing room, but it’s hard to see how he will keep power in the long term. The Syrian uprising has been the bloodiest of all the Arab uprisings this year. The regime is losing its hold on remote areas. This is most visible in the northwestern Adlab district, Daraa in the south, and Homs, the heart of the resistance. The Free Syrian Army, a militia whose commanders are taking refuge in Turkey, is most active in these regions.

The Syrian military’s large-scale exercise this week is a cause for concern in the West and in Israel. Assad is threatening to respond with force if foreign intervention increases. Strategically, Assad’s regime could give way to one that is friendly to Israel; in any event, the president’s fall will be a serious blow to Iran. Operationally, there is good reason to fear that chemical weapons and missiles will find their way to Hezbollah and even to Sunni terrorist organizations.

Courting the center

Not only analysts in Israel and the West were caught by surprise by the results of the second round of Egyptian parliamentary elections: The Muslim Brotherhood, which was certain it would win (and did ), was also thrown for a loop by the challenge from the Salafist Al-Nour party. Founded only a few months ago, Al-Nour garnered 35 percent of the second round, bringing it into a clear contest with the Brotherhood ahead of the third round of voting for the Lower House and the first round for the Upper House.

Al-Nour has traversed a very short road politically and a very long one ideologically in the past few months. A movement based on emulating the Islamic “forefathers” (which is the meaning of the word salaf ), which rejects both innovations in Islam and modern forms of government, has adopted the modern rules of the game in its contest against the Muslim Brotherhood.

This week, as his party strove to moderate its image, Al-Nour’s spokesman made the surprising statement that it does not rule out dialogue with Israel, in contrast to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s Islamist bloc has gleaned a full 70 percent of the vote so far. In comparison, in Tunisia a moderate Islamist party, Al Nahda, won 40 percent of the vote, with the remainder divided among the secular parties. Still, the sharp, open enmity between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists will make it difficult for them to form a coalition. The Brotherhood will likely try to form a parliamentary bloc with a few secular parties. But competition from Al-Nour will force its rival not to be seen as overly moderate religiously or politically. Thus, while Al-Nour will try to get votes by courting the center, the Brotherhood will take the opposite tack.

In the long term, Israel will have to monitor changes in the character of the Egyptian armed forces. Currently, the high command is still secular and still views the peace treaty with Israel as a strategic asset. If the army commanders try to undercut the religious movements and the new ruling parties, however, they may find themselves removed from power, as happened to their counterparts in Ankara.

Tough customer

In February, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz will have completed one-third of his term. After a stormy period, he has restored quiet among the General Staff. He displays sangfroid in handling special operations (and there are many of them ) and rare openness to criticism. The cult of personality around the chief of staff has also disappeared. The question is what imprint Gantz will leave behind.

Last week, he declared the establishment of a new unit, the Depth Corps, and a series of appointments, some of them surprising: Maj. Gen. (res. ) Shai Avital will command the corps; Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon will be promoted to major general and become GOC Central Command; and Brig. Gen. Noam Tibon will be promoted to major general and serve as head of the Northern Command’s Corps.

The media’s labeling of the Depth Corps as the “Iran Corps” misses the mark: The new unit’s main task apparently will be coordinating the activity of the IDF’s special units in wartime, thereby reducing the load on the chief of staff and his deputy.

The choice of Avital – who has been a civilian for 10 years – puzzled many generals. No subject preoccupies the senior officers more than the chief of staff’s appointments. The best example, of course, is the affair named after Boaz Harpaz, who allegedly forged documents in a bid to keep Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant from being appointed chief of staff.

The officers believe Avital’s appointment was dictated by Barak, who was Avital’s commander in the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal. “There are two possible explanations,” a senior officer says. “Either Barak forced the appointment on Benny, which is bad – or Benny decided on this silliness himself, which is even worse.”

The claim that Barak is running the army behind Gantz’s back is unfounded. Yet Gantz may think that bringing Avital back to the army (a move which Barak certainly supports ) will pave the way for Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel to become the next commander of the air force, despite Netanyahu’s support for his own military secretary, Maj. Gen. Yohanan Locker.

Gantz is not a weak chief of staff. His relations with Barak are not without tension and disagreements (God knows, the defense minister is a tough customer ). He’s also not argumentative, but this should not be held against him. On the other hand, it’s not clear what prompted Gantz to declare Sunday, a few hours after the criticism emerged about Avital, that “the appointments are all mine.” Speaking at a ceremony honoring a new military college commander, Gantz also suddenly referred to the Harpaz affair.

There was nothing accidental about that. Gantz believes he knows where the allegations of his weakness came from. Supporters of the former chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, have an interest in promoting this theory, because it ostensibly proves that the problem lies with the defense minister: Barak abuses all chiefs of staff, and the only difference is the military’s response. That explanation is aimed not at the state comptroller but at the media. The state comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, already knows what happened in the Harpaz affair. Ashkenazi, who recently testified before the comptroller again, probably already knows he will be the big loser.

The publicity campaign is intended to reduce the affair’s damage – from a knockout to a loss of points – and the main way to do this is through the media. In the public sector, Ashkenazi still holds the advantage. It’s doubtful whether Barak, even if he is partially exonerated in the final report, will be able to leverage it into any more of a political success than getting Netanyahu to guarantee his place on the next Likud Knesset list.

UPDATE: – Report Claiming U.S. Missiles ‘hit Iranian village’ actually from 2003 – Salem-News.Com.

The Daily Mail released a story from 2003 as a new report, there is no current strike on Iran.

(LONDON) – We have determined that the following story was carried in error by the Daily Mail in the UK. It is a 2003 report that was somehow recycled, we presented the material as unconfirmed, we now confirm that the information is carried in error.

The report indicated that a pair of U.S. missiles had hit a target in Iran and that the source was the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

A scan of their English site did not reveal the information and that was setting off alarms, however there have been plenty of cases in the past where news is carried in Arabic and other languages and simply not carried on the English versions of their news Websites.

We are in an age when Iran is continually threatened by Israel and the United States, and propaganda about the country’s ambitions, which are almost always extremely out of context with Iranian media, call perpetually for action against Iran.

US earmarks $235 million for Israel’s defense systems – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Washington to allocate unprecedented sum for development of anti-missile safeguards, including David’s Sling, Arrow systems

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – The Unites States has announced it will allocate $235 million for the development of safeguards against rockets and missiles that could be launched towards Israel by Hezbollah and Iran.

A large part of the funds will go towards the development of the David’s Sling system, designed to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, and the Arrow 2 and 3 systems against long-range ballistic missiles.

This unprecedented sum comes at an unexpected time, while the American government is dealing with large budget cuts, including at the Pentagon.

Iron Dome (Shaul Golan, Yedioth Ahronoth)

However, Pentagon officials were the ones who requested that Congress approve a $106 million aid budget for Israel’s defense systems against missiles, on top of the Iron Dome budget.

Congress chose to nearly double that amount, approving a budget of $235 million for 2012, amounting to $25 million more than in 2011.

This budget, however, is not considered to be part of the American aid to Israel, but rather, goes towards military cooperation between both countries, with each one allocating a similar amount in developing anti-missile systems.

The US’ defense assistance to Israel is estimated at over $3 billion for 10 years, beginning in 2007, two-thirds of which end up in the hands of America’s military industries.  

Battalion will keep IAF bases operational in a… JPost – Defense.

    Fearing that Hezbollah and Syrian missile attacks will target its bases in a future war, the Israel Air Force has decided to establish a special battalion at all bases that will be responsible for ensuring operational continuity.

In recent years, the air force has dramatically increased the number of exercises it carries out to prepare the bases for missile attacks. At the Ramat David Air Force Base in the Jezreel Valley, for example, squadrons have conducted over 100 drills since the beginning of the year, an increase of close to 200 percent compared to the same period in 2010.

Recently, IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan decided to establish a battalion that will be responsible for protecting each base, including making sure that runways damaged in bombings are quickly repaired and that air crews are able to rearm and refuel when landing in between sorties.

The IAF assessment is that Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas will direct their missile fire at air force bases during a future conflict in an effort to undermine the IAF’s ability to retaliate.

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah tried to hit Ramat David, the air force’s largest base in the North, and during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, Hamas fired rockets at bases in the South.

A senior IAF officer said this week that it was “critical, though, that we know how to continue operating despite [missile] attacks.”

Until now, the unit responsible for operational continuity was the Aviation Squadron, which provides services to the combat squadrons including management of the control tower and perimeter security around the base.

Some bases have invested in dispersing resources – such as fuel and munition depots – throughout the compound so that if one is hit, a second site will be available.

Nehushtan has designated “operational continuity” as one of the IAF’s primary objectives over the past year. The drills are sometimes held on a weekly basis, and pyrotechnics, such as fireworks, mock explosions and real fires, are used to make the scenarios as realistic as possible.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 23, 2011, 1:40 PM (GMT+02:00)

Victims carried from Damascus scene of terror

The Sunni Muslim war on the Shiite-Allawite ruler of Syria and the Shiite-led regime of Iraq has gained deadly momentum in the last 48 hours, debkafile‘s military sources report. Friday, Dec. 23, two suicide bombers blew up cars loaded with explosives at the Syrian state security building and intelligence center in the heart of Damascus, killing at least 40 military personnel and civilians, and injuring dozens more. It was the first such attack to take place in the Syrian capital in the 10-month uprising against Bashar Assad.

In Baghdad, Thursday, more than 70 people died and at least 200 were badly hurt by a series of roadside bombs, an exploding ambulance and sticky bombs. Most were directed against Shiite targets.

Since Assad and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki share the same backer, Tehran, the spate of terror which erupted this week was not just a trigger for civil war in both their countries but signaled a new and violent round in the Sunni-Shiite struggle for control of the Middle East.

Standing to one side are Iran, the Damascus and Baghdad rulers, Hizballah and the Palestinian extremist Hamas and Jihad Islami. Ranged against them are the Muslim Brotherhood and elements or associates of al Qaeda. They are backed with arms, funds, training and fighting strength by several Sunni Arab regimes, chiefly Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and Libya.

Our counter-terror sources report an expanding flow of extremist Sunni infiltrators from Iraq into Syria and Lebanon. Not all are al Qaeda, as Assad claims. Some belong to the “Awakening Councils” which have evolved into the Iraqi Sunni tribal community’s principal military arm. They were originally set up by Gen. David Petraeus, presently CIA Director, to fight al Qaeda. With US funding, training and commanders, these Sunni tribal fighters were successful from 2006 to 2008 in beating al Qaeda into the ground.
But the final US military departure from Iraq this week left the Awakening Council fighters high and dry by. Prime Minister al-Maliki, who takes his orders from Tehran, refused to honor the contract to pay their wages and their families are destitute.

As a result, many Iraqi Sunni fighting men decided to join up with al Qaeda. Their pursuit of a source of arms and a livelihood is taking them across borders into Syria and Lebanon where they join the ranks of anti-Assad Sunni militias, including the Free Syrian Army.
Seasoned in the ways of violence, they were fully competent to carry out the deadly terrorist attacks in Baghdad and Damascus. More such outrages are certain to come, adding a whole new dimension to the popular campaign to unseat Bashar Assad as well as post-war Iraq.

Two blasts hit Syrian security sites in Da… JPost – Middle East.

    Two booby-trapped cars blew up at Syrian security sites in Damascus on Friday, killing several civilians and soldiers,state television said. Witnesses reported hearing large blasts rock the capital.

“The terrorist attacks left a number of martyrs, both civilian and military. Most of the victims were civilian,” it said in a news flash.

Syrian state television said initial investigations indicated that al-Qaida was behind the attacks. A witness from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he heard heavy gunfire break out after the blasts.

The attacks came a day after the first wave of an Arab League observation mission landed in Damascus to prepare for an monitoring team that will check if Syria is implementing a peace plan to halt months of bloodshed.

Syrian security forces have launched a fierce crackdown on nine months of anti-government protests.

In recent months, the peaceful pro-democracy movement has been overshadowed by pockets of armed insurgency that have begun to launch what they call defensive attacks against Syrian forces.

Friday’s attacks hit a state security administration building and a local security branch, state television said.

Last month, a small blast was reported near a Syrian intelligence building in Damascus, but there was little damage.

DEBKA.

The Middle East saw abnormally heavy NATO air traffic this week: Unmarked cargo planes landing in waves at air bases in Turkey were quietly airlifting fighters and weapons for the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army-FSA from Libya.
The fighters are being recruited from the various Libyan militias which fought the Qaddafi regime. About 3,000 have volunteered to fight with anti-Assad forces, accepting the purse offered of $1,000 plus a monthly wage of $450.
Upon landing in Turkey, the Libyan fighters and the arms shipments are trucked by night to FSA bases, most of which are located in the Iskenderun region of Turkey on the border of northwestern Syria
The arms distributed to the rebels are flown in from Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, as well as Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro. In Libya, arms dealers go around the big arsenals remaining there and buy up weapons on the lists received from Turkey. In East Europe, the arms merchants follow lists received from Western intelligence agents and local military officials.
The estimated size of the Free Syrian Army fluctuates wildly between 5,000 and 15,000 fighting men. The figure is hard to pin down – not least because of the varying rate of defections from the Syrian military.
Of late, the stream of Syrian deserters reaching these camps has swelled from a few dozen a week to several hundred.
The Free Syrian Army doesn’t stand a chance without foreign back-up
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military and intelligence experts, the fact that this renegade army of Syrian army deserters, mercenaries and volunteers, has begun organizing into military frameworks of companies, battalions and brigades, indicates it numbers thousands.
Still, our military sources do not credit reports of thousands of deserters per week. Western intelligence officials believe that no more than 4,000 soldiers have so far gone AWOL.
They receive military training from Western, Turkish and Arab army instructors, as well as civilian security consultants and ex-special forces trainers from the US, Britain, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.
Every camp has a Turkish commander whose staff report to the US joint headquarters directing the Syrian Revolt from the Turkish town of Gaziantep, as we reported last week.
Present too at the training facilities are Western intelligence officers, some of them American, who brief FSA units on the various battle sectors before they enter Syria at the end of their training.
Any expectations of this mini-force managing to turn the tide of the war against Assad are dismissed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s military experts as unrealistic in view of the inner structure of the Syrian army.
Of the 300,000 men in uniform, 200,000 are career officers and soldiers and loyal to the Assad regime; only 100,000 are conscripts. Mass desertions would only happen if the command echelon broke up or rose up for a coup against the regime. There are no indications that either eventuality is anywhere near.
Russia feeds Assad spy satellite intelligence
Is an invasion of Syria by the small rebel force probable? It is hard to see the FSA managing an orderly military incursion unless it is part of a major Turkish army and air operation carving out a military buffer area and enforcing no fly zones – at least in northern and central Syria.
The cards stacked against the deserter force were further augmented this week: Two Russian spy satellites monitoring military movements in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey, Israel and Syria began feeding Syrian President Bashar Assad‘s strategists precise intelligence on FSA units in Turkey and rebel concentrations within Syrian cities, our military sources report.
This new resource enabled the special Syrian armored forces stationed along the Syria-Turkey border to waylay the deserters moving back and forth, capturing some and liquidating many.
The daily death toll of victims gunned down day by day on Syria’s borders with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan may not be counted in hundreds as claimed by Syrian opposition activists and the FSA but certainly amounts to dozens – and is rising. Since the Syrian ruler gained access to reliable Russian intelligence, he no longer seeks to capture deserters for information and has ordered his troops to shoot them on sight where they stand.
The presence of Russian satellites over the eastern Mediterranean also presages the imminent docking at the Syrian port of Tartus of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and its fleet escort.
Assad prepares to fight outside Syrian borders
Assad is now preparing for the Western-Turkish-Arab effort against his regime to move into its next stage: The expansion of attacks on his forces from Turkey and Lebanon amid a major effort to spur the cities of Aleppo and Damascus to join the revolt against him.
To prepare for this, Tuesday, Dec. 20, the Syrian army conducted a large-scale air force, navy, special forces and air defense exercise. They practiced tactics for repelling foreign invasions by land, sea and air.
Units of Air Force fighters, fighter-bombers, fire support helicopters, air defense units and naval warships, took part in the exercise.
An airdrop by Syrian Special Forces was also staged to warn potential invaders that the Syrian ruler had no intention of respecting frontiers and would fight the enemy inside Turkey or any other country from which an incursion was staged.