WarSclerotic

Syrian rebels push offensive for major airport – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Control of Aleppo’s airport would mark strategic shift in 23-month civil war; EU foreign ministers say keeping current sanctions against Syria in place for three months

Associated Press

The rebels launched a major attack on the airport and the adjacent Nairab military airfield last week, and have since overrun the main army base protecting the area. Control of the airport would provide a significant boost for the opposition, and mark a strategic shift in the country’s 23-month civil war.

The fighting has been raging for weeks, but it was only in early February after the rebels captured the strategic Aleppo neighborhood of Sheik Said near the airport, which has been shut down because of the violence, that the offensive gained momentum.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Center reported that rebels captured the main fuel station on the Nairab base. The Observatory said there were several regime casualties and five rebels, including foreign fighters, killed before rebels withdrew from the station a few hours later.

The fight for the international airport in Aleppo, Syria‘s largest city and commercial hub, highlights the importance that both sides in the conflict place on controlling strategic assets that could provide an edge in the larger fight for the country.

Last week, rebels seized a hydroelectric dam and a major oil field, cutting off President Bashar Assad‘s regime from key resources necessary for its long-term survival. Rebels also seized an air defense base and fought near two other army installations in Syria’s north.

Rebels attack Assad forces in Aleppo region (Photo: AFP)

Aleppo’s airport is crucial in the broader fight for the city itself. Rebels launched an offensive on Aleppo in July, and quickly seized several neighborhoods. Since then, the fighting has settled into a bloody stalemate that has destroyed entire districts, killed thousands and forced thousands more to flee their homes.

Determined to hang onto the city, Assad’s regime has thrown troops and resources into the fight. But his army has faced difficulties in sending reinforcements to Aleppo since October, when rebels captured the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Aleppo. Maaret al-Numan is on the highway that links Damascus with Aleppo.

The regime has not been able to fly supplies since the Aleppo airport closed weeks ago due to the fighting.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said over the past two weeks large army reinforcements were able to reach the town of Safira, near the city of Aleppo, after securing a desert road that links the central province of Hama with northern Syria.

He said the reinforcements, including dozens of vehicles and thousands of troops, have not been able to reach Aleppo because of heavy fighting in the town of Tal Aran between the city’s international airport and Safira.

Safira is home to military production facilities that rebels have been trying to capture in recent past weeks with no luck.

“The regime is doing all it can to open a road to Aleppo,” Abdul-Rahman said.

Significant boost. Aleppo’s airport (Photo: Reuters)

Abdul-Rahman, whose group relies on a network of activists around the country, said as the army convoys pushed north, more than 200 members of al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra were killed over the past two weeks in clashes with the reinforcements. The Obama administration designated Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization in December.

Also Monday, European Union foreign ministers said they are keeping the current sanctions against Syria in place for three months, blocking a push by some to ease restrictions so some countries could arm the rebels.

An EU official said before the meeting in Brussels that Britain was pushing to ease the embargo, but several foreign ministers from other countries said they opposed the move.

Since the opposition began taking up arms against Assad’s forces in late 2011, it has pleaded for military aid, calling it the only way to turn the tide against Assad’s forces.

The US and other countries have resisted such a move, saying there is no way to control how the arms are used, especially with Islamic radicals rising in the rebel ranks.

Bolstering those concerns, a UN-appointed panel said Monday that the civil war is becoming more sectarian and that both sides are becoming increasingly radicalized.

The panel’s 131-page report, released Monday, said regime forces and affiliated militias committed crimes against humanity such as murder, torture and rape. It said anti-government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, torture and hostage-taking, but said these did not reach the “intensity and scale” of the government’s violations.

It said the only way to end Syria’s crisis is a political solution between the two sides.

Also Monday, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah announced that one of its fighters had been killed while doing “his jihadist duty.” It gave no further details on his death.

The announcement followed reports from Syrian activists and a Lebanese official near the Syrian border that at least two Hezbollah fighters had been killed in sectarian clashes near the Syrian town of Qusair on Saturday.

Hezbollah declined to comment on the clashes, and it could not be confirmed that the fighter buried Monday was killed in Syria.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees activist group also said government forces were shelling southern neighborhoods of the capital, Damascus, mostly around the rebel-held Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. There has been intense fighting in recent weeks in southern and northeastern districts of the capital.

A Syrian official said three mortars had fallen on the Qassaa neighborhood, a Christian area in central Damascus. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, the official said two mortars hit the roof of a hospital and another fell in a school playground, causing material damages.

The UN says nearly 70,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict since the revolt against Assad began in March 2011.

Syrian Islamists meet Hizballah head-on – take in arms from Bosnia, Kosovo.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 18, 2013, 12:52 PM (GMT+02:00)

Fagot anti-tank missile

  Reports Monday, Feb. 18, that Hizballah has transferred 1,000 fighters to the Syrian district of Homs are a red herring to distract attention from six new major developments in the Syrian civil conflict – revealed here by debkafile’s military and intelligence sources:
1. Contrary to reports of Hizballah attacks on villages in the Homs region, the thousand Hizballah militiamen have moved in to defend the predominantly Shiite villages of the area whose population is loyal to Bashar Assad. They are there to relieve the Syrian army of the burden of defending these Shiites against rebel attack.
Hizballah has also undertaken to guard Shiite holy shrines in Syria.

2.  The Muslim factions of the Syrian revolt have received their first heavy weapons consignments, mostly Kornet and Fagot anti-tank missiles. Their improved armaments account for the new edge they display in battles with Bashar Assad’s army, although reports of their conquests are much exaggerated.
3.  These arms are coming from two sources: radical Islamist organizations in Bosnia and Kosovo, some of them associated with al Qaeda – at least ideologically. It is hard to say who is organizing and bankrolling the new weapons sea route to Syria. According to one theory, it is the Albanian mafia.

4. For the first time, Syrian rebels are taking in arms unsupervised by any of the Western or Arab agencies involved in the Syrian revolt.

5. Most of the incoming weapons are destined for the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra, the rebel faction identified with al Qaeda.

6. The Jabhat al-Nusra, newly armed with hardware from Bosnia and Kosovo, have pushed across the border into Lebanon, our sources reveal, and are harassing Hizballah in its home bases in the Beqaa Valley. Night after night in the last ten days, small bands of Islamist fighters, weighed down by heavy loads of rockets, are attacking Hizballah strongholds and isolated guard and watch posts and ambushing military vehicles.
Both are designated terrorist groups by the United States government.
The Syrian conflict has indeed spilled over the border into Lebanon. It is also turning more and more into a sectarian confrontation between extremist Sunnis and radical Shiites.

Iran says it is willing to make nuke deal with West | The Times of Israel.

( Would that this was more than just another con… – JW )

Tehran indicates it is can ease concerns over enrichment work in exchange for ‘show of goodwill’ from US and others at upcoming talks

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks during a press conference in New Delhi, in January 2013. (Photo credit: AP/Tsering Topgyal)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran says it is willing to ease Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for pledges from the United States and others about its ability to enrich uranium.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says an “opportunity” awaits at the nuclear talks next week between Iran and world powers in Kazakhstan.

Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday that Iran seeks a “show of goodwill” by the US and its allies to recognize Iran’s nuclear “rights,” which include enriching uranium. Mehmanparast says Iran would respond with proposals to address Western concerns.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was prepared to talk directly to Iran. Tehran rejected the offer.

The West suspects Iran’s enrichment program could eventually produce material for a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is set to sit across from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the latest round of talks over its nuclear program next week.

Credible Military Threat Needed Against Iran: Netanyahu

By Calev Ben-David – Feb 18, 2013 9:12 AM GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a “credible military threat” is needed to stop Iran’s atomic program, the risk it poses to the flow of Middle East oil and what he called a global wave of Iran-led terrorism.

“The sanctions alone won’t stop Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at a conference in Jerusalem today. “They have to be coupled with a robust, credible military threat.” Iran will be at the top of President Barack Obama’s agenda next month when he visits Israel and the Palestinian territories, followed by violence in Syria, Netanyahu said.

Iran faces sanctions including a European Union ban on oil purchases and new U.S. measures this month that restrict the Persian Gulf country’s access to cash from oil exports.

Netanyahu has called for “red lines” to be set for military action if Iran continues to enrich uranium for what Israel believes is a nuclear arms program. He said on Feb. 11 that Iran is accelerating efforts to enrich uranium.

The Islamic Republic says the enrichment is for civilian use. U.S. officials have said they prefer to focus on economic sanctions with European partners to pressure Iran.

To contact the reporter on this story: Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at cbendavid@bloomberg.net

via Credible Military Threat Needed Against Iran: Netanyahu – Bloomberg.

Report: Israeli Subs Spotted Off Lebanese CoastIsraeli submarines have allegedly been spotted cruising off the coast of Lebanon between Sidon and Nakura.AAFont SizeBy Chana Ya’arFirst Publish: 2/18/2013, 7:56 PMIsraeli navy Dolphin-class submarineIsraeli navy Dolphin-class submarineFlash 90Israeli submarines have allegedly been spotted cruising off the coast of Lebanon between Sidon and Nakura, according to a report in Lebanese media.French tracking installations informed the United Nations that the subs had been detected, according to the report, published in the Al-Dayar daily newspaper.Israel Air Force jets regularly patrol the skies of Lebanon for a number of reasons, deterrence against weapons transports from Syria to the Hizbullah terrorist organization among them. Lebanon has filed complaints with the United Nations that Israel is in violation of the U.N. 2006 cease fire resolution 1701 each time IAF aircraft are detected in Lebanese air space. However, resolution 1701 calls for disarmament of all groups other than the Lebanese government army, and particularly the disarmament of terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah.U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon UNIFIL which were to oversee that process, to be carried out by the Lebanese Army, declined to enforce the order, and the Lebanese government refused to carry it out.Hizbullah, meanwhile, has never laid down its arms, and has restocked its arsenal of missiles to a capacity far beyond that which it had prior to the start of the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The terrorist group is generously funded, equipped and trained by the Iranian and Syrian governments.

via Report: Israeli Subs Spotted Off Lebanese Coast – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Iran scoffs at world powers’ offer to ease sanctions –.

( That’s it!  Here kitty, kitty… – JW )

DUBAI – Iran criticized on Monday a reported plan by major powers to demand the closure of a uranium enrichment plant in return for an easing of sanctions on Tehran’s trade in gold and other precious metals, Iranian media reported.

The Islamic Republic, which claims that its nuclear program is peaceful, started building the Fordow plant inside a mountain in secret as early as 2006, to protect it from air strikes.

Last week Reuters reported world powers were planning to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for steps to shut down the Fordow plant.

On Monday Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, suggested the reported offer was unacceptable.

“Lately they have said ‘Shut down Fordow, stop (uranium) enrichment, we will allow gold transactions’,” Mehmanparast said, according to the Mehr news agency. “They want to take away the rights of a nation in exchange for allowing trade in gold.”

Western officials said last week the offer to ease sanctions barring gold and other precious metals trade with Iran would be presented at talks between Iran and world powers scheduled to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 26, acknowledging that it represented a relatively modest update to proposals that the six major powers made in talks last year.

On Sunday, the head of Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said Fordow would never be shut down and that proposing its closure was “meant to help the Zionist regime (Israel)”.

Mehmanparast emphasized that talks on the nuclear issue must take account of Iran’s sovereign rights.

“We are ready for negotiations, negotiations that have a logical approach which officially recognizes our rights completely. Of course steps must be concurrent and of equal weight,” he said.

Israel, which is assumed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power, has threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear project, raising fears of a regional war.

Fordow lies at the heart of concerns over Iran’s nuclear activities because of the enrichment of uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which, according to the US and its allies, counts as a major step towards developing nuclear weapons capability.

Iran continues to assert that its aims are purely peaceful and that it seeks to enrich uranium to make isotopes for medical purposes.

Tighter US sanctions on Iran are killing off Turkey’s gold-for-gas trade with The Islamic Republic and have stopped Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank from processing other nations’ energy payments to the OPEC oil producer, bankers said on Friday.

US officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports, which indirectly pay Iran for its natural gas, from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions over its nuclear program.

Netanyahu to Jewish leaders: North Korea nuclear test shows sanctions alone won’t stop Iran

Speaking to Jewish Agency Board of Governors in Jerusalem, the prime minister said ‘sanctions alone will not stop’ Iran’s nuclear program.

By Reuters and The Associated Press | Feb.18, 2013 | 1:44 PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a meeting of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a meeting of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors in Jerusalem February 18, 2013. Photo by Reuters

By Barak Ravid and Reuters

Feb.18,2013 | 1:44 PM | 19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that North Korea’s recent nuclear test shows that “sanctions alone will not stop” Iran’s atomic program. Netanyahu told the Jewish Agency Board of Governors that Western sanctions against Tehran “have to be coupled with a robust, credible, military threat. If they are not, then there is no chance to stop them.”

Netanyahu also said Iran would top his agenda when President Barack Obama visits Israel next month.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test last week despite warnings of more international punishment. Iran, like North Korea, is under stiff sanctions from the West over its nuclear program.

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat. Netanyahu often hints about a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear sites if sanctions fail.

Israel said last week that the international community must make clear to North Korea after its latest nuclear test that such activities cannot be tolerated.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the test, North Korea’s third in defiance of UN resolutions, and a ballistic missile launch in December raised “grave concerns” about proliferation of nuclear and ballistic technologies.

“These actions by North Korea, in violation of its international obligations, must be met with a swift response by the international community,” the ministry said.

“A clear message must be sent to North Korea and to other countries that such activities are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

Also last week, Netanyahu urged world powers to put more pressure on Iran to stop what Israel and Western countries fear is a drive toward developing atomic weapons. Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful purposes.

Israel, which is generally believed to possess the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal but refuses to confirm or deny the fact, says a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten its existence, and has hinted strongly that it will take military action if international efforts fail to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions

via Netanyahu to Jewish leaders: North Korea nuclear test shows sanctions alone won’t stop Iran – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Rebels: 1,000 Hezbollah fighters invaded Syria – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Fourteen Hezbollah men killed in past two days in battles over control of villages near Lebanon border

Roi Kais

Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war continues to grow. Syria’s main opposition group claimed Sunday that no less than 1,000 Hezbollah men have entered Syria in the past 24 hours.

“It’s a coordinated ground invasion,” the Free Syrian Army spokesman said. “Hezbollah has started a war against us.”

At least two Hezbollah operatives and five rebels were killed in battles southwest of Homs. Earlier on Sunday, rebels claimed they killed 12 members of the Lebanese terrorist group on Saturday.

Hezbollah fighters, who control eight villages around Homs, attacked three Syrian villages in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border. Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Almokdad warned civilians residing in villages near the border to leave the area.

He added that Hezbollah has declared “an open war against Syrian civilians in full coordination with the Assad regime that does not bomb areas where Hezbollah is present.”

Battles between Hezbollah and the Syrian rebels escalated after the death of Revolutionary Guard official Hassan Shateri.

Meanwhile, the rebels are trying to distance themselves from Israel. The Military Revolutionary Council in Golan Quneitra said that none of its men had been injured in clashes on Saturday and therefore could not have been treated in Israel.

Conversely, Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Syrian regime reported extensively on the aid Israel provided to the seven wounded Syrians.

Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that the seven rebels underwent surgery overnight. One of them is still in serious condition in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit after sustaining injuries to his abdomen.

The condition of the remaining rebels, who mainly sustained injuries to their extremities, is stable.

Ziv Medical Center Director Dr. Oscar Ambon told Ynet that the injuries were caused mainly by shrapnel and bullets, adding that the medical team will not question the injured parties regarding the cause of their wounds.

Iran to establish navy base near Pak port under Chinese control

ANI : Islamabad, Mon Feb 18 2013, 16:01 hrs

Gwadar port pakistan

0

0

0

0

G+

0

SU

0

0

Reddit

0

Iran has planned to establish a new base near Pakistan’s border in the Sea of Oman. According to Iran’s state-run media, the location is Pasabandar, near Iran’s border with Pakistan.

The move came as Pakistan prepared to sign an agreement with a Chinese firm to hand over the control of Gwadar Port, the News reports.

Iran’s state run media quoted Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying that the naval base which is under-construction is located in the country’s far east coasts in the Gwatr Gulf along the borders with Pakistan.

According to the report, he said that the Navy has intensified its efforts to develop the Makran coasts, which stretches from Iran’s port city of Bandar Abbas to Makran, also called Pasabandar.

China douses India’s concerns of taking control of Gwadar port

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Liu Jian has asserted that no one should be worried or annoyed by Pakistan’s handing over Gwadar Port to China.

Talking to Nawa-i-Waqt at a function, the dignitary disclosed that the agreement regarding the transfer of management of the deep-sea port will be signed on Monday.

According to the Nation, about India’s criticism and concerns regarding the handing over of the port, he said that no country should have apprehensions over Pak-China cooperation.

He added that the bilateral arrangement is in the economic interest of the peoples of China and Pakistan. Asked that certain countries were thinking China would use this port for military purposes, he said that the hypothesis was absolutely baseless.Asked if the change in government in Pakistan after the elections would have any impact on Pakistan-China ties, the ambassador said the friendship of the two countries was time-tested.

via Iran to establish navy base near Pak port under Chinese control – Indian Express.

Syrian Islamists meet Hizballah head-on – take in arms from Bosnia, KosovoDEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 18, 2013, 12:52 PM GMT+02:00Tags: Hizballah Jabhat al-Nusra Syria Lebanon Balkans Fagot anti-tank missileFagot anti-tank missile Reports Monday, Feb. 18, that Hizballah has transferred 1,000 fighters to the Syrian district of Homs are a red herring to distract attention from six new major developments in the Syrian civil conflict – revealed here by debkafile’s military and intelligence sources:1. Contrary to reports of Hizballah attacks on villages in the Homs region, the thousand Hizballah militiamen have moved in to defend the predominantly Shiite villages of the area whose population is loyal to Bashar Assad. They are there to relieve the Syrian army of the burden of defending these Shiites against rebel attack.Hizballah has also undertaken to guard Shiite holy shrines in Syria.2. The Muslim factions of the Syrian revolt have received their first heavy weapons consignments, mostly Kornet and Fagot anti-tank missiles. Their improved armaments account for the new edge they display in battles with Bashar Assad’s army, although reports of their conquests are much exaggerated.3. These arms are coming from two sources: radical Islamist organizations in Bosnia and Kosovo, some of them associated with al Qaeda – at least ideologically. It is hard to say who is organizing and bankrolling the new weapons sea route to Syria. According to one theory, it is the Albanian mafia.4. For the first time, Syrian rebels are taking in arms unsupervised by any of the Western or Arab agencies involved in the Syrian revolt.5. Most of the incoming weapons are destined for the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra, the rebel faction identified with al Qaeda.6. The Jabhat al-Nusra, newly armed with hardware from Bosnia and Kosovo, have pushed across the border into Lebanon, our sources reveal, and are harassing Hizballah in its home bases in the Beqaa Valley. Night after night in the last ten days, small bands of Islamist fighters, weighed down by heavy loads of rockets, are attacking Hizballah strongholds and isolated guard and watch posts and ambushing military vehicles.Both are designated terrorist groups by the United States government.The Syrian conflict has indeed spilled over the border into Lebanon. It is also turning more and more into a sectarian confrontation between extremist Sunnis and radical Shiites.

via Syrian Islamists meet Hizballah head-on – take in arms from Bosnia, Kosovo.