WarSclerotic

More Syrians flee to Turkey as fighting spreads – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Ankara official says 1,328 Syrian refugees crossed border by midmorning as government troops steadily shelling rebel-controlled parts of Aleppo. Jalili to Assad: Iran will absolutely not allow axis of resistance to be broken

Associated Press

More than 1,300 Syrians fled to Turkey overnight to escape the civil war as rebels tried to expand their hold inside Syria‘s largest city despite two weeks of withering counterattacks by President Bashar Assad’s troops.

Assad, meanwhile, met in Damascuswith an envoy from key ally Iran and was quoted by Syrian official media as vowing to fight on.

Heavily armed government troops have been steadily shelling rebel-controlled parts of Aleppo, particularly Salaheddine and other districts on the southwestern edge of the strategic city.

Aleppo-based activists said clashes were going on Tuesday near the historic city center. That suggests the rebels were making some inroads in Aleppo, which lies some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border.

Intense government bombardment of the Syrian town of Tal Rafaat closer to the border sent scores of people spilling into Turkey for safety, according to the activists.

A Turkish government official said 1,328 Syrian refugees had crossed the border by midmorning – nearly double the number of refugees who reached Turkey on Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.

Close to 48,000 Syrians have now found refuge in Turkey, which has served as a staging ground for rebels fighting Assad’s regime.

“We are expecting a massacre in Aleppo. The regime is bringing reinforcements to the city because they believe that if Aleppo falls, the regime will fall,” said a Syrian refugee in Turkey who identified himself as Abu Ahmad.

“The city is being bombed from the air and ground,” he said, adding he was in daily contact with residents still in the city.

Aleppo neighborhood (Photo: Reuters)

The rebels appeared also to be bringing in reinforcements.

A video posted online by activists Tuesday showed a large group of Free Syrian Army rebels in military fatigues and carrying rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles. The fighters were seen announcing that they were joining the “Unification Brigade,” the main group of rebels in Aleppo, to assist in the “liberation” of the city.

“They have Satan on their side, we have God on ours,” one rebel shouts. “We are coming, Aleppo,” shouts another. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

Despite a ferocious crackdown, rebels in Syria have grown more confident and are using increasingly bolder tactics both in Aleppo and in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

In a brazen, daylight attack, rebels on Saturday abducted a group of 48 Iranians near Damascus, branding them as spies assisting in Assad’s crackdown.

Iransaid those captured when their bus was commandeered were pilgrims visiting a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Damascus. On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it holds the US responsible for the fate of the abducted Iranians.

Iran’s state IRNA news agency said the ministry summoned the Swiss envoy in Tehran late Monday to stress that Iran expects Washington to use its influence to secure the Iranians’ release. The Swiss look after U.S. interests in Iran since Tehran and Washingtonhave no diplomatic relations.

The abductions threaten to suck Iran deeper into Syria’s civil war and the wider political brinksmanship around the region. Iran says it has no fighting forces aiding Assad, and it has sharply amplified its criticism of countries supporting the rebels such as Turkey and Gulf states led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Rebels in Idlib (Photo: Reuters)

The Iranian Embassy in Turkey said Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was traveling Tuesday to Turkey, where he was to meet with his Turkish counterpart to discuss Syria and the abducted Iranians.

In Damascus, a senior Iranian envoy, Saeed Jalili, met with Assad on Tuesday, according to the Syrian state-run news agency, SANA. State TV showed a picture of Assad sitting across from Jalili at the presidential palace – the president’s second appearance on TV since a July 18 bombing in Damascus killed four of his top security officials, including his brother in law.

Assad has not spoken publicly since, and his low profile has raised speculation that he fears for his personal safety as the civil war escalates.

SANA quoted Assad as saying Tuesday that the Syrian people and government are “intent on cleansing the country from terrorists and combating terrorism without leniency.”

The news agency said Assad and Jalili discussed their two countries’ “strategic cooperation relationship” and “attempts by some Western countries and their allies to strike at the axis of resistance by targeting Syria and supporting terrorism there.”

SANA also quoted Jalili telling Assad: “Iran will absolutely not allow the axis of resistance, of which it considers Syria to be a main pillar, to be broken.”

Syrian rebels, meanwhile, claimed three of the Iranian captives were killed on Monday during shelling by government forces in Damascus and its suburbs, and threatened to kill the remaining Iranians unless the army stopped its bombardment.

“The Syrian regime is responsible for anything that happens to the Iranians,” a representative of the Baraa Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the group’s abduction, told The Associated Press on Skype.

The representative’s claim that three were killed could not be independently verified. An official at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus said he had no information on the subject.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a visit to South Africa, said Tuesday that the defections of Syria’s prime minister and other officials increase the urgency of planning for Asssad’s ouster. She said it is important to make sure that Syrian state institutions remain intact once Assad loses his grip on power.

Clinton spoke a day after the defection of Prime Minister Riad Hijab, the latest in a string of high-level departures from the Assad regime.

She said the opposition is becoming increasingly effective and better armed, but that “this terrible violence” has been hard on the Syrian people.

While skirmishes were reported in the Syrian capital overnight and its suburbs Tuesday, the main battle has now moved 350 kilometers (215 miles) north to Aleppo, where rebels seized several neighborhoods two weeks ago and have proved difficult to dislodge.

If the opposition were to gain control of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub, that would be a major blow to the regime and give the rebels a base of operations inside the country.

Ahmad Saleh, a Syrian from the town of Tal Rifaat near the Turkish border, said the town was shelled Monday from the nearby air base of Minnegh, killing two people.

Saleh, who fled to Turkey after midnight Tuesday, said pharmacies and grocery shops in Tal Rifaat were closed.

“The situation is miserable and it is not possible to find goods,” he said. “We had to choose between dying in Syria or coming to Turkey.”

Iran threatens US, Turkey after Israel with spreading Syrian conflict.

DEBKAfile Special Report August 7, 2012, 3:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s top soldier Gen. Hasan Firuzabadi

Tehran is not done with threats after shaking its fist at Israel: Tuesday, Aug. 7, Iranian Armed Forces Chief Gen. Hassan Firuzabadi pointed at Ankara and other Middle East capitals when he declared: “Turkey will be next in line for violence after Syria if it continues to work on behalf of Western interests.”

He went on to assert that “Ankara is toeing the Western (American) line in the region, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They are therefore accountable for the bloodshed in the Arab Republic [Syria]”
The Iranian army chief warned: “If those nations carry on this way, they should realize that Turkey is the next in line.”  He was in fact holding them all responsible for a potential outbreak of war with Turkey.
Spreading around responsibility for violence with accompanying threats appears to be Iran’s latest diplomatic ploy.
Earlier Tuesday, Tehran passed a message to Washington in which the United States was held responsible for the lives of the 48 Iranians nabbed by Syrian rebels in Damascus last week. The message was dropped off at the Swiss embassy in Tehran which handles US interests in the absence of diplomatic ties. It denied that the hostages were Revolutionary Guardsmen and insisted they were pilgrims to Shiite shrines in Syria. All the countries “supporting current events in Syria, starting with the US,” would be held responsible for their safety by Tehran.
The rebel Free Syrian Army‘s Al-Baraa Brigade has threatened to execute its Iranian “prisoners” if Syrian army shelling continues against Aleppo. Three were reported already dead as a result of that shelling.
Gen. Firuzabadi addressed his threat to Turkey shortly before the arrival in Ankara of Iran’s foreign minister, Ali-Akbar Salehi, in the hope of galvanizing the Turks into forcing the Syrian rebels to let go of their Iranian hostages.
Tehran now holds at least three nations, the US, Turkey and Israel, in peril of military action in the context of the Syrian conflict.  Israel was the object of the first threat of engulfment by the “Syrian fire.”
Director of Iran’s National Security Council Saeed Jalili arrived Monday in Beirut for urgent talks with Hizballah leaders, as disclosed by debkafile in an earlier report.

Michael Oren: Time Is Short For Iran Diplomacy – WSJ.com.

Iran is the world’s leading terror sponsor without nuclear weapons. With them, it can commit incalculable atrocities.

By MICHAEL OREN

Nearly two decades ago, Israel started alerting the world about Iran’s nuclear program. But the world ignored our warnings, wasting 10 years until the secret nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz was exposed in 2002. Then eight more invaluable years were lost before much of the international community imposed serious sanctions on Iran.

Throughout that time, the ayatollahs systematically lied about their nuclear operations, installing more than 10,000 centrifuges, a significant number of them in a once-secret underground facility at Qom. Iran has blocked International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors from visiting its nuclear sites, refused to answer questions about the military aspects of its program, and rejected all confidence-building measures. Iran has tested long-range missiles capable of reaching any city in the Middle East and, in the future, beyond.

Iran is also the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. It has supplied more than 70,000 rockets to terrorist organizations deployed on Israel’s borders and has tried to murder civilians across five continents and 25 countries, including in the United States. In July, Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists killed five Israeli tourists, among them a pregnant woman, in Bulgaria. Iran’s forces have attacked American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its agents are operating in Yemen, Africa and South America. By providing fighters and funds, Iran is enabling Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to massacre his own people.

Iran has done all this without nuclear weapons. With them, it can commit incalculable atrocities anywhere in the world, beginning with Israel. As the chief of staff of the Iranian military recently stated, “the Iranian nation stands for the full annihilation of Israel.” Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said “the annihilation of the Zionist regime is the key for solving the world problems.”

Accordingly, Israel believes that Iran is far from forfeiting its nuclear ambitions. Our conviction is based on Iran’s record of subterfuge and terror together with its genocidal rhetoric. It also reflects the inability of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany (the “P5+1”) to negotiate a compromise with Iran.

In their first round of talks with Iranian officials, late in 2009, the P5+1 demanded the suspension of all enrichment activities in Iran and the transfer of its stockpiles, then enriched to 3.5%, abroad. Iran rejected those conditions and escalated its enrichment process to 20%, which can be enhanced to weapons-grade in a matter of weeks.

Iran now has amassed roughly 225 pounds of 20% uranium and 11,000 pounds of 3.5%, sufficient for almost five nuclear bombs. Rather than stand by its initial demands, however, the P5+1 is now seeking merely the cessation of Iran’s 20% enrichment, the removal of its 20% stockpile, and the closure of the facility at Qom. Arguably, this would be the first stage in the phasing out of Iran’s nuclear program. But Iran has rejected even this preliminary gesture.

Iran will continue to drag out the negotiations while installing more centrifuges. These, according to the IAEA, are spinning even faster. The sanctions, which have dealt a blow to Iran’s economy, have not affected the nuclear program. Meanwhile, more of Iran’s expanding stockpile will be hidden in fortified bunkers beyond Israel’s reach.

No country has a greater stake than Israel in using negotiations and economic pressure to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We appreciate the determination of President Obama and the U.S. Congress to advance the sanctions and their pledge to keep all options on the table.

At the same time, the president has affirmed Israel’s right “to defend itself, by itself, against any threat,” and “to make its own decision about what is required to meet its security needs.” Historically, Israel has exercised that right only after exhausting all reasonable diplomatic means. But as the repeated attempts to negotiate with Iran have demonstrated, neither diplomacy nor sanctions has removed the threat.

A combination of truly crippling sanctions and a credible military threat—a threat that the ayatollahs still do not believe today—may yet convince Iran to relinquish its nuclear dreams. But time is dwindling and, with each passing day, the lives of eight million Israelis grow increasingly imperiled. The window that opened 20 years ago is now almost shut.

Mr. Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

Assad’s time is running out in SyriaIsrael News – Haaretz Israeli News source..

The defection of Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab is the most significant of all those who have already deserted the Assad regime. It is a hard slap in the face to the president’s prestige and a win for the rebels, especially on a symbolic level.

Iran said to be upgrading fighter jets.

Arie Egozi

7/8/2012

Iran has begun upgrading its Mig-29 fighter jets in preparations of a possible strike, IsraelDefense learned Tuesday.

The Islamic Republic has about 80 Mig-29 jets, which it received from the former Soviet Union.

According to foreign media reports, the Iranian Migs are in “mediocre condition,” prompting Tehran to order serious upgrades, including the installation of advanced systems.

Several such electronic systems have already been installed on some of the jets.

The Iranian have attempted to improve several of their US-made F-14 jets, sold to them during the Shah’s regime, but were unsuccessful. Several changes have been made to their F-5 jets, but those, according to experts, are far from impressive.

Several top American officials have visited Israel over the past few weeks to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat.

According to media reports, the United States has a timeframe of 18 months until it gives a final decision regarding a strike. Washington believes that in that time period, Iran may reach “critical stage” after which it will able to build a nuclear bomb.

Israel has made it clear to the US that the diplomatic efforts and financial sanctions vis-à-vis Iran are failing and that the Islamic Republic remains defiant.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed that Israel alone will make decisions regarding its security. It is these statements that are likely worrying Iran.

Iran’s Speaker in Beirut to bring Hizballah up to speed on Syria, Israel.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 7, 2012, 9:44 AM (GMT+02:00)

Khamenei’s emissary Ali Larijani on urgent mssion to Beirut

Monday, Aug. 6, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani had no sooner declared: “The fire that has been ignited in Syria will take the fearful (Israelis) with it,” than he was on a plane bound for Beirut for urgent on-the-spot coordination with Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
One of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei’s most trusted advisers, Larijani’s first action on arriving in the Lebanese capital was to pay homage at the tomb of Imad Moughniye, HIzballah’s late military commander. He said: “The resistance against Israel had many stars, but Moughniye was the moon.”
His movements were closely guarded by a bevy of Hizballah security forces and Al Qods Brigades heavies in civvies.
Since the dead arch-terrorist Moughniye spent his latter years devising innovative clandestine operations against Israel, including the kidnap of soldiers (His earlier years were marked by spectacular outrages against Americans), Israel clearly dominated his meeting with Nasrallah.
Nasrallah set the tone by his speech Monday marking iftar (the nightly meal breaking the Ramadan fast): “All Muslim sects do not accept the approach of slaughtering and killing over differences with each other. This is among the biggest threats our societies are facing and I say there are two threats: Israel and Takfiri, who [have the] minds of murderers.”
Neither therefore concealed the object of their concern. According to debkafile’s military sources, their discussion turned on military action against Israel in the context of the next stage ahead of the Syrian crisis.

That stage was already marked by the rumors circulating in Syria and Lebanon. They claimed that Bashar Assad had died in mysterious circumstances, and his wife Basma, children and close family, including his brother Gen. Maher Assad, were at Latakia port awaiting vessels or aircraft to lift them to safety.

debkafile’s sources say those rumors are without foundation. At the same time, the visible crumbling of the top Syrian leadership is making wild scenarios believable. Sunni figures who had cast in their lot with the Alawite-dominated Assad regime have begun heading for the exits, depriving it of a major prop.
Assad’s grip on power is further shaken by the spreading conviction among his enemies and friends alike that he and his family have made plans for their getaway and are bound to carry them out sooner or later.

The defections to Jordan of Riad Hijab Monday, two months after he was appointed Syrian prime minister, and three members of his cabinet, were not in themselves a direct blow to the regime. In Damascus, where the president reigns supreme, the prime minister is a technocrat rather than a political figure and easily replaced.  However, they did contribute dramatically to the general sense of a government cracking fast under the pressures of the revolt against Assad rule.
It must therefore be taken fore granted that Larijani and Nasrallah, both shrewd operators, will have realized their ally in Damascus is going down. Instead of lamenting his impending undoing, they will have got down to brass tacks for asserting their command and control after his departure – before it is too late. Military plans for Israel are no doubt part of their schemes.

New intelligence reveals Iranian military nuclear program advancing faster than previously thought – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Western diplomat and Israeli officials who asked not to be named say U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Israel share same intelligence information, agree that assessment.

Terrorists were more than a kilometer inside Israel, speeding toward kibbutz, when air force blew up their armored vehicle | The Times of Israel.

Gunmen, who were wearing suicide bomb belts and planned to attack local civilians, burst through the border despite initial IDF fire

Benjamin Netanyahu, next to burned out APC, and Ehud Barak, far right, at Kerem Shalom on Monday. (photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)

The terrorists who smashed into Israel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday night managed to drive about a mile into Israel, and were traveling at 70 kilometers an hour along the road toward Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, before the Israeli Air Force was able to get a clear shot and blow up their armored vehicle without risk to civilian traffic on the road or nearby.

That was one of the findings of the IDF’s initial investigation into what officials said Monday was a very carefully planned and complex terror attack.

The Shin Bet intelligence service on Friday gave the army a general warning of the danger of an attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing, two days before the terror cell — apparently comprised of Bedouin and other gunmen from the Sinai Peninsula, with close links to and possible participation of Gaza-based terrorists — launched the attack that left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead and penetrated the Israeli border.

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Tal Russo visited the Kerem Shalom crossing a few hours before the attack, and ordered a guard tower next to the crossing to be closed as troops braced for the terrorists to make their move. Residents of the area, including Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, were ordered to stay in their homes, with doors locked and lights off.

Initial army investigations of the incident described a coordinated defensive response to the attempted terrorist attack involving the IDF’s ground, armored, and air forces.

Troops stationed at Kerem Shalom border crossing heard gunfire as the terrorists attacked the Egyptian border police position and then  discerned the armored vehicle, commandeered from the base, and a truck approaching the border from a distance of two kilometers.

Bedouin reconnaissance unit troops stationed on the border were the first to engage the vehicles after the armored vehicle began bypassing concrete barriers situated along the road. The soldiers fired on the armored vehicle but failed to hinder its approach to the Kerem Shalom crossing.

An additional army force started firing on the armored vehicle with heavier weaponry. Simultaneously, the truck crashed into a guard tower, detonating half a ton of explosive material.

IDF tanks closed in on the armored vehicle, but the terrorists commandeering the vehicle accelerated away. At that point the IDF decided to bomb the hijacked armored vehicle from the air — marking the first time that an IAF aircraft fired on a target inside Israel. The IAF had to wait until the road was clear of civilian traffic.

One of the tanks fired an additional two rounds at the armored vehicle, blowing it up.

The IDF on Monday transferred the bodies of the eight terrorists killed inside Israeli territory and the wreckage of the armored vehicle to Egyptian authorities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday visited the site of the attack, which Netanyahu said proved that only Israeli security can protect the country’s citizens.

“I think it’s clear that Israel and Egypt have a common interest in keeping the border quiet,” said Netanyahu. “Having said that, it becomes clear time after time that when it comes to the safety of Israeli citizens, Israel must and can rely only on itself. No one can fulfill this role except the IDF and different Israel security forces of Israel and we will continue to conduct ourselves like that.”

Barak noted the eight terrorists killed by Israeli forces were armed with suicide belts and could have wreaked terrible harm inside Israel.

“Once again it was proven here how acute intelligence, a quick response, and operational capabilities, can make all the difference,” he said. “I appreciate that this will not be the last time that we come across attempts to harm us. … I hope that we will have many more successes of this type, but we must also stay vigilant for the opposite.”

Iran to host its own regional summit on Syria violence – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Islamic Republic will invite countries with ‘realistic stances’ on Syria in order to find ‘way out of current crisis;’ Iranian currency sinks 5 percent in trading against U.S. dollar.

Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2nd R) review the guard of honour in Damascus January 19, 2006. P

By The Associated Press and Reuters

Aug.06,2012 | 4:48 PM | 2

Iran plans to host a meeting of regional and other countries that have “realistic stances” on Syria later this week to find ways to resolve the country’s crisis, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

“A consultation meeting on Syria will be held in Tehran on Thursday with the participation of those countries who have realistic stances on this country,” IRNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying on Monday.

The aim of the meeting is to find “ways out of the current crisis, the return of stability and calm to that country and also supporting all constructive regional and international efforts,” Abdollahian said.

The report did not say which countries were invited to the meeting but, because of their involvement in the Syrian crisis, any meeting held without Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey is unlikely to have any significant result.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad in his struggle to crush the 17-month-old rebellion against his rule, although it had backed other popular uprisings which removed leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Iranian leaders have accused the West of plotting with Arab countries to overthrow the Syrian leadership and bolster the status of Israel in the region by backing extremist militant groups.

Last month, Iran said it was ready to host talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups, an offer rejected by members of the Syrian opposition.

Iranian currency sinks

Meanwhile, Iran’s rial sank about 5 percent in trading against the U.S. dollar on Monday after the central bank said it would change the currency’s official exchange rate, prompting fears of another devaluation.

The rial was trading in the free market at around 21,510 per dollar, according to Persian-language currency tracking website Mazanex, down from about 20,440 on Sunday.

Central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani said on Sunday he would announce a change to the government’s “reference rate” of 12,260 rials to the dollar “within the next 10 days”, Iranian media reported.

Iranian media speculated that the new reference rate might be between 15,000 and 16,000 rials.

Most Iranians are unable to obtain dollars at the official rate and must instead use the free market, which is much more expensive.

The drop in currency comes days after the Washington Post reported that the chief commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said that the biggest threat to his country is a “soft war” launched by enemies to force the Islamic Republic to give up its nuclear program.

In comments posted on the Guard’s website, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iran is in a “sensitive and fateful period” in its history. He did not define the term “soft war,” but it likely implies non-military measures like economic sanctions, espionage and attacks on computer networks.

Stuxnet And Flame Scare Iranian Critical Infrastructure Offline | TechWeekEurope UK.

Iran is set to take critical infrastructure offline next month, following highly sophisticated cyber attacks such as those carried out with the Stuxnet and Flame malware.

Reza Taghipour, the country’s telecommunications minister, said “one or two” countries who were hostile to Iran were controlling the Internet, making it untrustworthy, according to the Daily Telegraph.

It is believed the US and Israel have been cooperating on cyber attacks against Iranian infrastructure. Reports suggested they created Stuxnet, which was thought to have set Iran’s nuclear programme back two years, and Flame, which attempted to collect vast amounts of information from those working on the nation’s critical operations.

A ‘national intelligence network’

“The establishment of the national intelligence network will create a situation where the precious intelligence of the country won’t be accessible to these powers,” Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at Tehran’s Amir Kabir University.

Iran is planning on creating a domestic Internet, from which outside forces would be banned. Taghipour believes this intranet-esque system will be up and running within 18 months.

Just last week, Iran denied it became a victim of a virus that forced computers to play the AC/DC’s classic ‘Thunderstruck’, including infected systems helping run its nuclear programme.

The troubled nation has a history of Internet censorship. Reports earlier this year indicated Iran had begun blocking sites using the HTTPS secure protocol, effectively censoring major bank sites, Google, Gmail, Facebook and many other commercial sites.

Earlier this year, Iran sentenced Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian-born web programmer living in Canada until his 2008 arrest, after one of his web programs was used to post pornographic images without his knowledge.