WarSclerotic

Report: Iran summons Azerbaijan envoy over ‘Mossad activity’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Following London Times report on alleged Mossad activity in Baku, Foreign Ministry in Tehran demands Azeri government prevent ‘terrorists’ linked to hits on nuclear scientists from using its territory to launch operations

Dudi Cohen, AP

Iran’s state-run news agency said the country’s foreign ministry has summoned Azerbaijan’s ambassador to protest alleged Israeli intelligence activity in the oil-rich Caucasian state.

The Sunday report by IRNA says that the ministry handed a protest note to Azeri envoy Javanshir Akhundov and demanded that his government prevent Mossad from using its territory to launch operations against Iran.

The report said “terrorists” linked to the killings of Iranian nuclear scientists escaped to Israel through Azerbaijan.

“Following the movements of the terrorists involved in (the) assassination of Iranian scientists in Azerbaijan and the facilities provided to them to go to Tel Aviv in collaboration with Mossad spy networks, Azeri Ambassador to Iran Javanshir Akhundov was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear the protest of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Azeri government,” Tehran said in a statement.

According to the report, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Caucasus delivered a letter of protest calling on the Azeri government to halt anti-Iran operations of “Mossad spy networks” in Azeri territory.

Iran has frequently accused Israel of having a hand in the assassination of scientists such as Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, killed by a bomb in January.

Iran’s protest came on the heels of a London Times interview with a man claiming to be an Azerbaijan-based agent of Mossad who confirmed the Israeli intelligence agency has a base in the Caucasian country.

The man, identified in the article as “Shimon,” told the British paper that there were dozens of Israeli Mossad agents working out of the base.

“(Baku) is ground zero for intelligence work,” he said. “Our presence here is quiet, but substantial. We have increased our presence in the past year, and it gets us very close to Iran. This is a wonderfully porous country.”

Arastun Orujlu, a former Azeri counter-intelligence officer and director of the Baku East-West Research Center compared the area to “Norway during WWI or Casablanca during WW2 — it is at the centre of the espionage world.”

Orujlu believes that there are “only a few Mossad agents working there… but they operate in a more effective way,” than the Iranian intelligence agents, who he said number in the thousands.

“The Iranians act in the open, they want everyone to know that they are here. The Israelis are more subtle, like the Americans. But in the end everyone knows they are here too.”

Arab League calls on UN Security Council to send peacekeeping force to Syria – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Resolution to bring an end to Arab League monitoring mission, calls for Arab states to implement tighter economic sanctions, halt diplomatic cooperation.

By Reuters

The Arab League called on Sunday for the UN Security Council to send a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping mission to Syria and decided to scrap its own monitoring team, according to a resolution approved by ministers and obtained by Reuters.

Arab ministers met in Cairo to revive diplomatic efforts after Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution that called for President Bashar Assad to step aside. That resolution was based on an Arab peace plan and had Western backing.

	Members of the Arab League observers delegation walk in a government building during their visit Deraa city southern Syria.
	Photo by: Reuters

The Arab League called for “opening communication channels with the Syrian opposition and providing all forms of political and material support to it”. It also urged the opposition to unify its ranks.

As part of the Arab efforts, Tunisia said it would host the first meeting on Feb. 24 of a “Friends of Syria” contact group made up of Arab and other states and backed by Western powers.

“How long will we stay as onlookers to what is happening to the brotherly Syrian people, and how much longer will we grant the Syrian regime one period after another so it can commit more massacres against its people?” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal asked ministers at the start of the League session.

“At our meeting today I call for decisive measures, after the failure of the half-solutions,” he said. “The Arab League should … open all channels of communication with the Syrian opposition and give all forms of support to it.”

The resolution said Arabs would scrap their monitoring mission which had been sent to Syria in late December but which was criticized by Syria’s opposition as ineffective from the outset. It also faced internal dissent and logistical problems.

The Sudanese general leading the observers quit on Sunday.

“I won’t work one more time in the framework of the Arab League,” General Mohammed al-Dabi, whose appointment had been criticized because of Sudan’s own rights record, told Reuters.

“I performed my job with full integrity and transparency but I won’t work here again as the situation is skewed,” he added.

In place of the Arab team, the League called for the UN Security Council to issue a resolution setting up a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping mission to go to Syria.

League chief Nabil Elaraby has already proposed such a joint mission to the UN secretary-general but the plan has drawn lukewarm support from diplomats at the United Nations in New York. The United States and Germany said they were studying it.

The resolution said violence against civilians in Syria had violated international law and “perpetrators deserve punishment”. It also reaffirmed a call for Arabs to implement economic sanctions on Syria and decided on ending diplomatic cooperation with Damascus.

Analysts and diplomats say sanctions that Arabs agreed to impose last year had limited impact so far because Iraq and other neighbors have not implemented them.

Although the ministers lent their support to the opposition, the resolution did not recognize the opposition.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Ben Abdessalem told reporters that recognizing the Syrian National Council was “premature and requires the opposition get unified”.

Earlier he had told ministers: “The Syrian people deserve freedom as much as their brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other Arab states that witnessed major political change.”

Ben Abdessalem also announced that Tunisia would host the meeting of “Friends of Syria”, a plan proposed by France and the United States after Russia and China blocked the Security Council resolution.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the new forum would provide “a good opportunity to try to create a clear international direction to help the Syrian people to exit the crisis”.

Gulf states have been leading moves to isolate Assad. They announced last week that they were recalling their ambassadors from Syria and expelling Syria’s envoys.

Libya and Tunisia, both countries where popular revolts toppled authoritarian rulers last year, have done likewise.

The Saudi minister criticized the Security Council’s failure to back the Arab plan for Syria. Elaraby said the veto, cause of much Arab frustration, exposed the failings of the Council’s voting system.

The League resolution expressed the “disappointment towards the Russia and Chinese stance which used a veto against supporting the Arab peace plan”.

Diplomats at the United Nations said Saudi Arabia had circulated a new draft resolution backing the Arab plan for the General Assembly, rather than the Security Council, to consider. Assembly resolutions are non-binding but cannot be vetoed.

However, Riyadh denied on Sunday reports that it had formally presented the resolution to the assembly.

Egypt’s news agency said Elaraby had proposed appointing former Jordanian minister and UN envoy to Libya, Abdel Elah al-Khatib, as the League’s special envoy to Syria. But a source in the meeting said Khatib’s name was not put forward.

‘Israeli attack on Iran unlikely… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

Iran’s Khamenei warns Hamas agai… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

As Syria burns, neighboring Lebanon feels the heat.

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Recent violence in Tripoli between Sunnis and Alawites shows how the bloodshed in Syria is enflaming emotions in Lebanon. (File photo)

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The tensions between the two neighborhoods were building for days in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. On one side live Sunni Muslims who hate the Syrian regime. On the hill above are members of the Alawite sect, Bashar Assad’s strongest backers.

Overnight, the tempers exploded. For hours, gunmen in the two districts traded automatic weapons fire and volleys of rocket-propelled grenades across the avenue that divides them, ironically named Syria Street.

By the time a shaky truce was reached Saturday, two people were dead – one from each side ─ and 12 people wounded, half of them soldiers trying to stop the clashes.

The fighting underscored how the bloodshed in Syria, where Assad’s regime is cracking down on an 11-month-old uprising against his rule, is enflaming emotions in its tiny neighbor Lebanon. The already deep divisions between Lebanese are being strained, and many fear Syria’s chaos will bleed over across the border.

Lebanon is sharply split along sectarian lines, with 18 religious sects. But it also has a fragile political faultline precisely over the issue of Syria.

There is an array of diehard pro-Syrian Lebanese parties and politicians, as well as support for the regime on the street level. There is an equally deep hatred of Assad among other Lebanese who fear Damascus is still calling the shots here. The two sides are the legacy of, and backlash against, Syria’s virtual rule over Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and its continued influence since.

Tempers between the two sides are high enough. But Syria opponents worry the regime may intentionally cause trouble.

“The Syrian regime holds a lot of cards in Lebanon, and the biggest fear is that as the Assad regime gets more desperate, it would decide to use them to create regional chaos,” anti-Syrian politician Mustafa Alloush said.

Among those cards is Hezbollah, the Syrian and Iranian-backed Shiite militant group with an arsenal of weapons more powerful than that of the Lebanese army.

Already, any talk about Syria is potential cause for a fight.

On a political talk show on Al-Jazeera TV earlier this month, Lebanese writer and Syria supporter Joseph Abu Fadel flew into a rage over taunts from the other guest, a Syrian opposition member.

Abu Fadel leaped from his chair and charged around the table, fists clenched – and though the host got between them, he managed to land a slap on his rival’s face.

An earlier show on Lebanese television turned into a brawl when Alloush called Syria’s president a liar. His rival guest, Fayez Shukur, the head of the Lebanese branch of Syria’s ruling party, hurled a glass of water in his face.

Northern Lebanon, in particular, is a potential powder keg.

It has a strong Sunni Muslim population, sympathetic to its sectarian brethren who have been the backbone of the Syrian uprising. But it also has pockets of Alawites, the Shiite offshoot that makes up the majority of the Syrian regime’s leadership and to which Assad himself belongs.

The Friday-Saturday night clashes were between the mainly Sunni Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood and the adjacent, Alawite-majority Jabal Mohsen, on a hill overlooking its rival.

Short bouts of gunfire or grenade-throwing between them has been going on for years because of the sectarian tensions. But the violence has become more frequent as Syria worsens. Sunnis in Bab Tabbaneh resent their Alawite neighbors’ backing of Assad, while Jabal Mohsen residents accuse their rivals of giving aid to the uprising.

In Beirut last week, hundreds of Lebanese demonstrators faced off outside the Russian Embassy after Russia and China vetoed a Western- and Arab-backed resolution at the U.N. Security Council aimed at pressing Assad to step down. An army cordon separated the anti-Assad crowd from the president’s supporters to prevent clashes.

“Bashar, we are your men!” supporters shouted unanimously.

“Come on, Bashar, leave!” opponents chanted back.

Many of Lebanon’s Christians, meanwhile, have been laying low on the subject of Syria.

Their community is divided between pro- and anti-Syrian camps. Even some Christian opponents of Damascus are hesitant about backing an uprising they fear will bring Sunni fundamentalists to power in Syria.

Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, head of the Maronite Church, which had long been critical of Damascus, raised an uproar in September when he warned that the Christian presence in the Mideast could be threatened if Assad falls. He said Assad should be given a chance to reform.

The tensions come at a time when anti-Syrian parties in Lebanon, which once ran the government, are weakened. They were replaced in 2010 by a government dominated by Hezbollah and pro-Syrian allies. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a personal friend of Assad, says he isn’t taking sides in the crisis, adopting a policy of “disassociation.”

Still, opponents accuse the government of complicity with Damascus.

Lebanon voted against suspending Syria from the Arab League in November and was the only member state that did not endorse a League plan calling on Assad to transfer powers to his vice president.

“The Lebanese government is cooperating with the Syrian regime, they are only using this policy of disassociation as a cover,” Alloush said.

A longtime Syrian military presence in Lebanon ended after massive 2005 protests sparked by the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a car bombing. Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in the assassination, a charge Damascus denies.

A Western-backed, anti-Syrian government was elected, but its stint in power was plagued by constant feuds with Hezbollah, until the Shiite movement succeeded in bringing it down and elevating pro-Syrians to power.

Writing in the leading An-Nahar daily, political analyst Abdelwahab Badrakhan warned that Syria could stir up trouble in Lebanon to intimidate the West and “settle scores” with Arabs it accuses of conspiring against it.

Anti-Syrian politicians say they fear possible assassinations, recalling a string of unsolved killings of Lebanese critics of Syria in 2006. Last week, media reported that legislator Sami Gemayel had been warned by a security chief to take precautions because of a threat.

Alloush, the anti-Syrian politician, said he takes the warnings seriously.

“The Syrian regime is in trouble and as it goes down, the concern is that it will try to bring everyone down with it.”

Al-Qaeda leader backs Syrian revolt against Assad – Israel News, Ynetnews.

(Zawahri is correct.  The United States is insincere in showing solidarity with the Syrian people. – JW )

Terror group’s leader releases video message to Syrian rebels urging them against relying on West, Arab governments in efforts to topple Syrian president

Reuters

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video recording posted on the Internet on Sunday, urged Syrians not to rely on the West or Arab governments in their uprising to topple President Bashar Assad.

In the eight-minute video, titled “Onwards, Lions of Syria” and posted on an Islamist website, the Egyptian-born Zawahri also urged Muslims in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan to come to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting Assad’s forces.

“Wounded Syria still bleeds day after day, while the butcher, son of the butcher Bashar bin Hafiz (Hafez al-Assad), is not deterred to stop,” Zawahri, wearing his white turban and seated against a green curtain, said.

“But the resistance of our people in Syria despite all the pain, sacrifice and bloodshed escalates and grows,” he added.

Zawahri took command of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a raid in Pakistan last May.

A Muslim should help “his brothers in Syria with all that he can, with his life, money, opinion, as well as information,” Zawahri says.

“Our people in Syria, don’t rely on the West or the United States or Arab governments and Turkey,” Zawahri said in what is believed to be his second such message to Syrian protesters.

“You know better what they are planning against you. Our people in Syria, don’t depend on the Arab League and its corrupt governments supporting it.”

Arab foreign ministers will discuss a proposal next week to send a joint UN-Arab mission to Syria, after a uniquely Arab team failed to end Assad’s crackdown on protests.

“If we want freedom, we must be liberated from this regime. If we want justice, we must retaliate against this regime,” Zawahri said.

“Continue your revolt and anger, don’t accept anything else apart from independent, respectful governments.”

Earlier this month, another video with Zawahri appeared on Islamist forums, announcing Somali militant group al Shabaab was joining its ranks in an apparent bid to boost morale and sharpen a threat to Western targets.

In July, Zawahri urged Syrian protesters to direct their movement also against Washington and Israel, denouncing the United States as insincere in showing solidarity with them.

IDF to ground warplanes, freeze Iron Dome production over budget woes – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Military officials say army missing NIS 3.7 billion from promised budget; top officer: measures could severely damage Israel’s preparedness for war.

By Amos Harel

The Israel Air Force may stop the production of the Iron Dome and David Sling missile interception systems in 2012 as a result of insufficient funds, a military budget breakdown revealed on Sunday.

Last month, the government backtracked on its intention to cut NIS 3 billion from the defense budget, meant to pay for social benefits in the wake of last summer’s wave of protests according to the recommendations of the Trajtenberg committee.

	An Iron Dome rocket being launched to intercept a missile near Be’er Sheva on Sunday August 21, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The move was decided after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the Defense Ministry’s stance, according to which such a dramatic cut would be unwise in the face of the political upheavals taking place across the Mideast. these, in turn, could increase terror threats against Israel.

However, despite succeeding in averting a drastic budget cut, the IDF’s financial woes are far from over.

Last year saw the end of the military’ years-long budget plan, known as “Tefen,” with 2012 scheduled to launch a new five-year plan – “Halamish,” postponed from 2011 over the social protests.

It seems, then, that discrepancies carried over from the “Tefen” program, along with funds allocated for special programs such as the rushed construction of the barrier along the border with Egypt, have created a deficit of NIS 7 million.

After a recent government addition of NIS 1.8 billion in defense funds, and an IDF-initiated NIS 1.5 billion cut, the military is still missing NIS 3.7 million compared to its projected budget.

As a result of this gap, the IDF plans a series of measures, the most dramatic of which is to ground a considerable part of the IAF’s forces for the year. Such a step, not taken in a few decades, severely damages the air force’s preparedness.

Other measures include an almost utter stop of acquisitions from Israel’s military industry, which would put a halt to Rafael’s Iron Dome production line, despite the fact that the U.S. gave Israel $205 million to finance four more batteries.

Budget issues will also have to sideline the development of the David Sling system, geared at targeting longer-range missiles. The acquisition of Merkava 4 battle tanks, planned for 2013, will also be postponed.

A top military official told Haaretz that the planned measures could severely injure the IDF’s war readiness, adding that the “government is aware of the gravity of situation, but until now our demand to reduce budget discrepancies has not been answered.”

Haaretz exclusive: Syria documents show Iran helping Assad to sidestep sanctions – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Documents leaked following cyber-attack by hacker group Anonymous, show Tehran has given Assad more than $1b in effort to overcome oil embargo.

By Barak Ravid

Iran has been helping Syria bypass the international sanctions imposed on it for massacring civilians, according to documents from the Syrian president’s office obtained by Haaretz.

The documents show that Iran has given the Syrian regime more than $1 billion, which would help it overcome the oil embargo and other moves including restrictions on flights and sanctions against the central bank.

	Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad
	Photo by: AP

To read the original document in Arabic, click here

The documents were leaked following a cyber-attack by hackers known as Anonymous against the e-mail server of the Syrian president’s office. Seventy-eight employees in President Bashar Assad’s office had their e-mail hacked. One of these accounts belonged to the minister of presidential affairs, Mansour Azzam; it included two documents signed by him that dealt with relations between Syria and Iran.

	Syrian document obtained by Haaretz.

The two documents were authored two months ago and detail discussions by senior Iranian delegations visiting Syria. The documents are written in ambiguous language and only in a number of places do they detail ways Syria would be aided to bypass sanctions. The document repeatedly refers to Syria’s wish to “learn from the Iranian experience in this area.”

The United States, Turkey, the European Union, the Arab League and other countries have imposed severe sanctions on Syria due to the regime’s attacks on civilians. As part of the sanctions, all Arab League members have ceased contact with the Central Bank of Syria, and commercial flights from Arab countries to and from Syria have stopped. The European Union has imposed an oil embargo on Syria.

Around 20 percent of Syria’s gross domestic product derives from oil sales, with 90 percent of Syrian oil being exported to the EU.

On December 8, Azzam sent Assad and other senior figures a document entitled “Memo on the visit of the Iranian delegation to Syria.” The delegation included 10 senior members of the office of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and representatives of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian ministries. The delegation met with Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar, the head of the Syrian central bank, and the ministers of finance, trade and oil.

As a result of the disturbances around the country and the sanctions, the Syrian regime is undergoing an economic crisis. The regime needs revenue, in part to pay the armed forces and the gangs of thugs – the Shabiha – it uses against the demonstrators. It also needs to pay the salaries of the tens of thousands of officials whose loyalty is vital.

According to the document authored by Azzam, the Iranian delegation announced that it has allocated $1 billion so Iran could buy basic supplies from Syria. Most of the items are very basic and include meat, poultry, olive oil and fruit. It is unclear if Iran actually needs these items or if this is a way to pump up the Syrian economy.

In parallel, the Iranians agreed to export to Syria fertilizer and raw materials for the petrochemical industry; it would spread out payments over a long period.

The Iranian delegations also discussed ways the Syrians could bypass the embargo on oil exports. The Iranians, who have large petroleum deposits, promised to examine the purchase of 150,000 barrels of oil from Syria per day for a year “to use it domestically or resell it to others.” This way Syria would be able to continue to export oil despite the sanctions.

In return, Iran would supply Syria spare parts for the petroleum industry that are hard to come by due to the sanctions.

The document also shows that the two countries discussed ways to bypass sanctions on flights and air cargo. Turkey, for example, has closed its airspace to aircraft traveling to or from Syria, and most Syrian flights cannot land in most airports in Europe and the Arab world.

One option discussed is the creation of a hub in Iran for Syrian aircraft, bypassing the current hub in the United Arab Emirates. The Iranians also offered to service Syrian Air’s planes.

The Iranians also proposed the creation of an air-and-ground corridor for transferring goods to and from Iran. This would be done through Iraq, bypassing Turkey.

As for banking, they discussed setting up a joint bank for transferring money through Russia and China, which are not taking part in the international sanctions against Syria and Iran.

“Iran has promised to relay to Syria its know-how on ways for transferring funds from the country abroad and back, based on the experience Iran has accumulated in this field,” it says.

The second document, dated December 14, 2011, states that “the central banks of Syria and Iran agreed to use banks in Russia and China to ease the transfer of funds between the two countries, in view of the current conditions in Syria and Iran.”

Krauthammer: Israel ‘will strike’ Iran to ‘prevent a second holocaust’ | The Daily Caller.

On Friday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer doubled down on an assertion he made last week about the inevitability of an Israeli strike on Iran to limit the Islamic republic’s nuclear capabilities.

Krauthammer referred to a Washington Post column in which David Ignatius indicated, generally, when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta thought such an attack might happen.

“Our own secretary of Defense has said it’s highly likely and he gave a timeframe — April, May, June — which means the Israelis think that the moment, the zone of immunity where they can no longer attack successfully, is approaching,” Krauthammer said.

“I think he is right. I think the Israelis are serious unless happens between now and midyear or even November that will threaten the regime, because it won’t change the policy. I think Israel will strike because it cannot live under the threat of annihilation from Iran.”

Krauthammer also had some strong words about why he thought an attack was likely.

“Unless something intervenes,” Krauthammer replied. “I cannot imagine the Israelis are going to allow Iran to go nuclear and to hold the Damocles sword over 6 million Jews all over again. Israel was established to prevent a second Holocaust, not to invite one.”

Pentagon calls for ‘urgent’ upgrade of massive bunker-busting bombs, as Iranian threat looms.

The military’s so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb, requires an “urgent” upgrade, according to Pentagon officials who are trying to ensure that 20 of the bombs are battle-ready — possibly for use against Iran, though officials have been tight-lipped on potential targets.

The Air Force developed the bomb in conjunction with Boeing to attack concrete bunkers and tunnel facilities, and the Pentagon has requested $81 million in reallocated funds from Congress to get it ready for use.

Defense appropriators on Capitol Hill agreed to the request on Wednesday, just one month after Iran announced it would begin uranium enrichment at a hardened underground facility near the city of Qom in the Fardow mountain range. The tunneled facility is thought to be beyond the range of the bunker buster in question — the largest non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. Air Force’s arsenal.

A Pentagon spokesman said the funding was needed to “make the system more survivable.”

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is delivered by a B-2 or B-52 bomber plane. According to Boeing, it “allows the warfighter to hold adversaries’ most highly valued military facilities at risk, especially those protecting weapons of mass destruction.”

Publicly, the Air Force denies this weapon is being rushed for use in the Middle East. Air Force Chief General Norton Schwartz dismissed suggestions that the upgrades are tied to tensions with Iran.

Former Rep. Ike Skelton, who once served as House Armed Services chairman, was at the Pentagon on Friday to dedicate a new Navy ship in the name of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He was asked whether the MOP faced problems when his committee was responsible. He said, “no,” adding that the U.S. has the conventional firepower to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Israel successfully tested upgraded radar for its Arrow Missile Defense shield that it jointly developed with the Pentagon. The Blue Sparrow 2 missile was fired from an undisclosed location deep in the Mediterranean Sea towards Israel.

The test comes just days after Iran tested its Shahab 3 missile, which is capable of hitting Israel, and on the same day that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran to improve ties.