WarSclerotic

2,000 reserves called up to North border in surprise drill | JPost | Israel News.

Surprise Israeli military drill on Syrian, Lebanese borders. Reservists mobilized.

( Here we go… I think this is IT! – JW )

Israel’s Golan border with Syria

Israel’s armed forces launched a snap division-scale drill along the full length of the Syrian and Lebanese borders Tuesday, April 30, with call-up orders for thousands of reservists, debkafile’s military sources report.

It was taken into account that the unannounced exercise would send military tensions shooting up on the volatile Israeli, Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese borders. Moscow, Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah headquarters would assume that Israel is massing troops in advance of US military intervention in Syria.
Its timing is also connected to the speech Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver Tuesday night in case he announces military steps against Israel.
Our Washington sources report that President Barack Obama is poised for a momentous decision on whether to pursue military action against Syrian military targets, including Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons facilities.
These appear to be his three primary options:

1. An American aerial bombardment of the Syrian military bases and facilities which are the mainstay which keep Bashar Assad in power;

2.  A missile strike on his chemical weapons from the sea and from ground bases in Europe and the Middle East;

3.  The deployment of 20,000 American troops to the Jordanian-Syrian frontier.

Alternatively, Obama may choose to combine elements of all three options and activate them simultaneously.

The surprise Israeli military exercise and concentration of reserve units along the borders of Syria and Lebanon place the IDF including its air and naval branches on the ready for a role in a potential American military operation against Syria.
The Israeli military also stands prepared to repel possible reprisals by Iran, Syria or Hizballah against US, Jordanian or Israeli troops.

The Lies of the Iranian Nuclear Program.

Iran has a rich past when it comes to deceiving the world in hiding the illegitimate military components of its nuclear program under the umbrella of “peaceful purposes”. Why should we believe the regime in Tehran now?

Rafael Ofek

29/4/2013

The Atoms for Peace Program was announced by US President Eisenhower in 1955. Two goals were set for the program: stopping the nuclear race between the US and the USSR, and harnessing nuclear energy for the benefit of mankind – producing electricity, various applications for developing medicine, agriculture and industry, and promoting scientific research.

In retrospect, with more than 60 years having passed since, it should not be doubted that nuclear energy has contributed to the welfare of humanity around the world. However the seed of evil was also planted by it, as a result of the distribution of technologies used for developing nuclear weapons to various countries around the world, including those referred to by US President George W. Bush as “the Axis of Evil” in his January 2002 speech.

One of the countries mentioned was Iran, which has specialized in misleading the world, concealing its military nuclear program under the umbrella of ‘peaceful needs’. Many around the world are tempted to believe, either out of naiveté or due to convenience, that the nuclear program is in fact a legitimate civilian program. Others alternatively believe that the State of Israel and the Jewish people are a disease that must be done away with, and therefore it is a good reason to support Iran.

Otherwise, it is difficult to understand why the nuclear discussions with Iran continue as though nothing has happened, even when it has turned out time and again that Iran is misleading the world. Indeed, Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi, president of the Iranian organization for nuclear energy and former Vice President of Iran, admitted in a September 2012 interview to the London-based newspaper Al Hayat that Iran has presented falsified facts to protect its nuclear program and conceal its technical progress in several fields. According to Abbasi, “We sometimes made it seem as though we were weaker than we actually were, and sometimes projected strength when we actually had nothing.” He added that “many times, we delivered false information (to the IAEA inspectors) in order to protect our nuclear facilities and our accomplishments… we had no choice but to deceive the IAEA and the other spies.” In Islamic Shiite culture, legitimacy for lies has always existed, in certain circumstances.

The term is known in Arabic as Al-Taqiyya, which means “the caution commitment”, or loosely translated, means concealment or deception. The principle of Al-Taqiyya was first expressed during the period of Islamic dichotomy between Sunna and Shia sects. It was intended to conceal the Shiite identity when it was a minority, in order to survive and deal with the persecution of the hostile Sunni rule. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently demonstrated this personally in speeches that he held in various forums, including in his January 2012 speech before Iran’s top nuclear scientists. Khamenei claimed that Iran was not interested in nuclear armament, due to “reasonable, religious and theocratic reasons, since Iran views the possession of nuclear armament as a grave, unforgivable sin.”

Nuclear Electricity – Legitimate Cover for the Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Program
When Bush included Iran in the “Axis of Evil”, he referred to its rogue nuclear conduct, among the rest.  His words were made clearer in the midst of August 2002, when an Iranian opposition organization held a press conference in Washington DC, revealing for the first time that Iran was covertly establishing a facility for enriching uranium in Natanz as well as a heavy water reactor in Khondab, near Arak. The information was verified via satellite photography.

Despite its commitment according to the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Iran did not inform the IAEA in advance of the establishment of these nuclear facilities. Even though Iran initially denied the information entirely, the proof presented to it by IAEA director general Mohamed El Baradei brought it to confess it and agree to IAEA personnel inspections in Natanz. The visit of El Baradei and his entourage to Iran took place in February 2003. Raza Aghazadeh, Iran’s vice president and the president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, presented the Natanz enrichment facility and the Arak reactor as key components in the development of a grandiose nuclear program for ‘peaceful purposes’. According to the program, approximately six power reactors would be constructed by 2020 for the production of electricity, in addition to the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Both reactors of the Bushehr plant are cooled and moderated via light water (ordinary water with a high level of purity), and their operation requires fueling them with fuel containing uranium enriched to a low level of 3.5%. According to Aghazadeh, this is why Iran constructed the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. This factory includes two facilities: an industrial facility which was still under construction –  planned to include approximately 50,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel for the Bushehr reactors and the reactors of Iran’s future nuclear power plants – and a pilot plant for experimental centrifuge operation, which was nearing completion at the time. The display of centrifuges in Natanz was apparently viewed by El Baradei as a “Potemkin village” show (a display intended to impress, despite being virtual).

The heads of the Iranian nuclear program informed him that approximately 100 centrifuges were already installed in Natanz and that they intend to install another 900 by the end of 2003. Furthermore, they said that the design, research and development of the Iranian centrifuge project, which was based on model construction, simulations and centrifuge tests, were conducted independently by scientists of the Amir Khabir University in Tehran and experts from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. It should be assessed that in light of the impressive display, El Baradei deduced that the Iranian centrifuge project constituted a fait accompli. In addition, during the visit, he was informed that Iran had decided that it was willing to accept upon itself additional commitments in the framework of its inspection agreement with the IAEA.

Therefore it seems that the IAEA report on Iran published in June 2003 was fairly softened. Of each of the many issues and articles where Iran violated the inspection agreement only one “failure” in following after the commitments of the agreement was defined in the report. It is likely that El Baradei expected a positive attitude on the part of Iran at the time with regards to the nuclear issue, which would allow the IAEA to close the Iranian case.

However, the findings discovered by the IAEA inspectors in Iran in 2004, despite the  Iranian regime’s tendency to narrow their steps, proved El Baradei wrong. Traces of enriched uranium which matched the signature of first-generation Pakistani centrifuges were discovered at the Natanz facility and at the Kalaye Electric site in Tehran. This was proof that the Iranian centrifuge project began back in 1987, and that its first-generation centrifuges were created using technologies and components supplied by the network of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the “father” of the Pakistani nuclear bomb. It turned out that he also sold more advanced centrifuge model technology to Iran, even though Iran initially denied it. As a result, the trust in Tehran’s good intentions was broken. However, due to increasing pressures imposed on it to completely reveal the efforts to develop nuclear weapons, Iran went back on its agreement from 2003 to suspend its plans in the fields of producing fissile materials, with emphasis on enriching uranium.

The Heavy Water Reactor and the Plutonium Issue

Iran also sought to have the heavy water reactor it was constructing near Arak ‘approved’ by the IAEA, and relieve the concern of the international community that the reactor was intended, based on its technical characteristics, for the production of weapons-grade plutonium. On May 2003, Aghazadeh presented a position paper to the IAEA staff in Vienna for clarifying his country’s nuclear plan.
According to the document, Iran considered the possibility that some of the reactors that it would construct will be heavy water reactors based on the CANDU model, developed in the past by Canada. He thus sought to justify the need for a large heavy water research reactor, as well as an industrial facility for producing heavy water. As they are cooled and moderated by heavy water, these reactors have an advantage of light water reactors, as they utilize unenriched natural uranium fuel. However, this claim by Aghazadeh contradicted his words in February, when he guided El Baradei during his visit to Natanz, when he presented the uranium enrichment project as the central component in the electricity production power plant program. Furthermore, it was possible to refute his claim with the fact that even prior to 2000, all countries that developed or constructed power plants around the world, including Canada, tended towards abandoning the development of heavy reactors, due to economic reasons.
Iran had no economic rationale for focusing simultaneously on a heavy water power plant in addition to the light water power plants installed in the Bushehr facility. On July 2003, Iran’s claim to the IAEA was modified on July 2003, according to which the heavy water reactor in Arak was intended for producing radioisotopes for medical and industrial applications.
However, the IAEA learned in 2004 of Iranian contacts abroad for the acquisition of manipulators for hot cells. Such cells are intended for handling materials with high levels of radioactivity, and are shielded by cement sides and very thick lead glass windows.
Iran initially claimed that the equipment was not intended for constructing a “hot lab” for separating plutonium, but for hot cells that would be installed in the heavy water facility in Khondab, to produce radioisotopes for medical purposes, for handling nuclear waste and for other civilian applications. However, As discussions with the Iranian regime continued, the IAEA management pointed to discrepancies between the technical layout of the hot cells and Tehran’s claims. Therefore, Iran remove the hot cell plans from the details of the reactor building.

In this context – in 2003, when Iran agreed to allow IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities, the inspectors found that there was research activity at Tehran’s nuclear center for the production of plutonium. This was evidenced by samples of plutonium which were produced from the Tehran Research Reactor and were found in the reactor building, as well as evidence that the separation and handling of plutonium was done at a Molybdenum-Iodine-Xenon (MIX) facility, and the Jabir ibn Hayyān laboratory at Tehran’s nuclear center. The MIX facility is intended to separate Molybdenum, Iodine and Xenon radioisotopes for medical purposes from uranium samples radiated at the Tehran reactor. Plutonium was also produced as a byproduct of the production of these substances from the uranium. It can therefore be determined that despite Iran’s denial, the Iranian program for producing fissile materials for nuclear weapons also included a track for producing plutonium, in addition to the one for enriched uranium.

The heavy water reactor built near Arak, as well as the ‘hot lab’ for separating the plutonium from the reactor’s radiated nuclear fuel – once its construction is made possible – will constitute the main components of Iran’s plutogenic track.

Developing the Nuclear Explosive Device

While Tehran found civilian justifications for the construction of the nuclear facilities, it faced difficulties in explaining the information presented to it by the IAEA that clearly point to efforts in developing a nuclear explosive device. However, Iran came up with several ways of dealing with the incriminating facts. Iran claimed that facts were inconclusive, such as the Polonium-210 discovered by IAEA inspectors at the Tehran Research Reactor, an isotope that Iran claimed was intended for civilian use in producing thermo-electric devices, and not for developing a neutron trigger for a nuclear weapons. Another way was by destroying evidence, including the total destruction of part of the Lavizan-Shian suburb in Tehran, including disposing of vast quantities of soil from the area, in order to conceal the existence of the PHRC facility that operated there earlier, and served the military nuclear program. Iran additionally denied the facts, claiming that they were fabricated and based on forged documents, and lastly, hiding behind the claim that the IAEA’s findings pertain to fields that deal with Iran’s security and are state secrets that have no nuclear aspect, such as the issue of the Parchin facility for testing explosives.

Iran’s methods of dealing with the nuclear weapons issue were described in the IAEA reports as of 2003. An issue that is always sensitive from Iran’s perspective was recently included as a chapter in the IAEA’s quarterly reports. Its title was phrased in a softened language, “Allegedly Military Dimensions,” in order to provide Iran a respectful way out and allow a continued dialogue with the country.

The Nuclear Fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor – A ‘Cover Story’
The recent example for the false Iranian stories is from the end of December 2012. The New York Times quoted US and other Western officials who were under the impression that Iran had moderated its uranium enrichment program, in order to signal to the six large powers (P5+1) that it wishes to avoid a future confrontation over the Iranian issue. Therefore, they believe that Iran will be willing to reach a deal of some form with the west on this issue. During the last summer, evidence was received for this impression when Iran diverted a significant quantity of its 20% enriched uranium for the production of nuclear fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. At any rate, according to the assessment of a US official, the purpose of Iran’s steps is to buy more time. In fact, Iran is moving with its nuclear dialogue with the IAEA and the P5+1 powers as though dancing a tango – one step forward and two steps back. The ‘shuffling’ on its part was expressed in talks with the IAEA delegation that arrived to Tehran during January 2013. As was reported by the media, the talks concluded without any results. At the end of January, Iran informed the IAEA that it intends to operate advanced centrifuges at its primary enrichment facility in Natanz, which will make it possible to significantly accelerate the uranium enrichment process.

This clearly points to the fact that Iran does not intend to withdraw its nuclear military program. It can be determined that the Iranian claim that the uranium it is enriching to a level of 20% is intended to produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor is clearly false. Its purpose is to serve as a ‘cover story’ for the program to continue enriching uranium to a level of 90% – weapons-grade quality for a nuclear weapon. It is possible that an examination of the issue of nuclear fuel, from a financial cost perspective, will show that it is cheaper to acquire it from abroad.

On one hand, the calculations indicate that as of November 2012, Iran has accumulated approximately 157 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, which is sufficient for producing nuclear fuel for the reactor in Tehran for the next 25 years.

On the other hand, approximately 300 centrifuges are operated at the Natanz enrichment facility, enriching  three kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, and approximately 700 centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment facility, with a monthly yield of 6.7 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium. Nevertheless, the installation of all the centrifuges at the facility, approximately 2,800,was recently completed, and it appears that all of them will be used for enriching uranium to a level of 20%. Once operational, the total monthly yield of enriched uranium at Natanz and Fordow will increase to 30kg of 20% enriched uranium. The obvious conclusion from these figures is that once all the centrifuges at the Fordow facility become operational, Iran will accumulate sufficient amounts of 20% enriched uranium to produce nuclear fuel for more than 40 years (including the amount produced thus far) or sufficient amounts for a nuclear bomb within seven or eight months.

It seems that until 2003, when the IAEA began deciphering the riddle of Iran’s nuclear program, it had yet to face an issue so complicated. Iran’s conduct vis-à-vis the IAEA has seen consistent denials and ‘cover stories’, in order to conceal and camouflage the military characteristics of its nuclear program. In light of this, the IAEA has developed admirable intelligence collection and research capabilities within the effort to reveal Iran’s true intentions.

 
**
Lt. Col. (Res.) Dr. Rafael Ofek is an expert of nuclear physics and technology. He served in the past in the Israeli intelligence community as a senior analyst and researcher

Ben-Eliezer: Hizbullah Receiving Chemical Weapons – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

MK Binyamin Ben Eliezer

Flash 90

Former Defense Minister MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said on Monday that the regime in Syria has begun to transfer chemical weapons to the Hizbullah terror group, its proxy in Lebanon.

“The process of weapon transfer to Hizbullah has begun,” Ben-Eliezer told The Associated Press. He would not elaborate.

Earlier, MK Ben-Eliezer told Kol Yisrael radio that he “has no doubt” that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has already used chemical weapons against rebels and that that “these weapons are trickling to Hizbullah.”

He told AP he is “amazed by the silence of the world” and that the international community needs to intervene to end the civilian death toll in Syria’s civil war.

“I wouldn’t rule out preparing a plan for Israel to act if the world continues to remain silent and the weapons continue to flow to Hizbullah. These are crazy people, terrorists who will not hesitate to use this tomorrow morning,” he said.

Last week, the United States said for the first time that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against rebel forces, but emphasized spy agencies were still not 100 percent sure of the assessment.

In the past, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would cross a red line.

On Friday, Obama repeated his past assertions that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a line and produce an American response, but indicated that he was not yet 100% certain that the findings by U.S. intelligence agencies are an indication that such weapons had indeed been used.

“Knowing that there’s chemical weapons in Syria doesn’t tell us when they were used or how they were used,” Obama said. “We ourselves will be putting a lot of resources on this.”

“To use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line in terms of international norms and laws,” he said. “That’s going to be a game changer.”

“For the Syrian government to use chemical weapons on its people will change my calculus,” he added. “This is not an on and off switch. It’s an ongoing challenge that all of us have to work with.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that growing evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime was “extremely serious”.

Cameron agreed with President Barack Obama that such use would represent a “red line” for the international community, but said the response would likely be political rather than military.

The Region: The situation is looking better | JPost | Israel News.

What often seems to be the world’s most slandered and reviled country is doing quite well.

The economic and strategic situation for Israel is surprisingly bright right now. That’s partly due to the government’s own economic restraint, partly due to a shift in Obama administration policy, and partly due to the conflicts among Israel’s adversaries.

Let’s start with the economy.

During 2012, Israel’s economy grew by 3.1 percent. While some years ago this would not have been all that impressive, it is amazing given the international economic recession. The debt burden actually fell from 79.4% of GDP to only 73.8 percent. As the debt of the United States and other countries zooms upwards, that’s impressive, too.

Israel’s credit rating also rose at a time when America’s was declining.

Standard and Poor lifted the rating from A to A+. Two other rating systems, Moody’s and Fitch, also increased Israel’s rating. And that’s not all. Unemployment fell from 8.5% in 2009 to either 6.8%- 6.9% (according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics) or 6.3% (according to the CIA).

In terms of US-Israel relations, the President Barack Obama’s visit and Israel’s cooperation on Iran and on an attempted conciliation with Turkey brought quick rewards. For the first time, Israel will be allowed to purchase KC-135 aerial refueling planes, that could be most useful for attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, among other things.

The same deal – which includes sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to make US allies feel more secure vis-à-vis Iran – includes V-22 Osprey aircraft that can switch between helicopter and plane mode. Israel is the first foreign country to be allowed to purchase this system. It could be used for border patrols – a bigger problem given the decline in the stability along the Egyptian and Syrian borders – and troop transport.

Finally, there would be more advanced radars for Israeli planes and a new type of missile useful for knocking out enemy anti-aircraft sites, potentially useful against Iran, among other targets. In addition, an Israeli company is now going to be making the wings for the advanced US F-35 fighter planes.

The completion of the border fence with Egypt increases security in places where Palestinian and Egyptian Islamist groups are trying to attack. It also has reduced illegal civilian crossings to zero. Ironically, Israel has gotten control of its border while the US government proclaims that task to be impossible for itself.

And of course there is the usual and widely varied progress on medical, agricultural, and hi-tech innovations. Here is a summary of those inventions.

The picture is even bright regarding US-Israel relations, certainly compared to the previous four years. This point is highlighted by Wikileaks’ publication of a US embassy dispatch of January 4, 2010, describing my article that day in The Jerusalem Post: “[As far as Israel is concerned] what is important is that Obama and his entourage have learned two things. One of them is that bashing Israel is politically costly. American public opinion is very strongly pro- Israel. Congress is as friendly to Israel as ever. For an administration that is more conscious of its future reelection campaign than any previous one, holding onto Jewish voters and ensuring Jewish donations is very important….

“The other point is that the administration has seen that bashing Israel doesn’t get it anywhere.

For one thing, the current Israeli government won’t give in easily and is very adept at protecting its country’s interests. This administration has a great deal of trouble being tough with anyone. If in fact the Palestinians and Arabs were eager to make a deal and energetic about supporting other US policies, the administration might well be tempted to press for an arrangement that largely ignored Israeli interests.

“But this is not the case. It is the Palestinians who refuse even to come to the negotiating table – and that is unlikely to change quickly or easily. Arab states won’t lift a finger to help the US on Iran, Iraq, or Arab-Israeli issues. So why bother?” I think this analysis really fits the events that came to fruition in March 2013 with Obama’s coming to Israel, signaling a change in US policy.

Face it: The obsession with the “peace process” is misplaced and misleading. The big issue in the region is the struggle for power in the Arabic-speaking world, Turkey, and Iran between Islamists and non-Islamists. And, no, the Arab- Israeli conflict has very little to do with these issues. Those who don’t understand these points cannot possibly comprehend the region.

Secretary of State John Kerry may run around the region and talk about big plans for summit conferences.

But nobody really expects anything to happen.

This is not, of course, to say that there aren’t problems. Yet what often seems to be the world’s most slandered and reviled country is doing quite well. Perhaps if Western states studied its policies rather than endlessly criticized them they might gain from the experience.

The author is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center.

‘US mulls way to hit Syria chemical weapons sites’ | JPost | Israel News.

Senior US official says Pentagon is preparing various military options; Iran and Egypt meet to discuss possible US action.

IAF kills global jihadi member in the Gaza Strip | JPost | Israel News.

Targeted assassination represents 1st such action by IAF since end of Operation Pillar of Defense; Channel 10 names terrorist as Hitham Mashal, a rocket manufacturing expert and member of Aknaf Bet Al-Maqdes group.

Hizballah loses two high officers in major defeat at al-Qusayr near Homs.

Al Qusayr battlefield where Hizballah was routed

debkafile’s military sources report that Hizballah’s elite Al Qods Brigade suffered a grinding defeat – its gravest since first intervening in the Syrian civil war – and heavy losses in the battle for al Qusayr in the Homs sector of northern Syria Monday, April 29. Among the dead were two high-ranking officers, the Al Qods Brigade commander, known as “Abu Ajib” and his lieutenant Hamza Ramloush, as well as dozens of dead and wounded.

The joint Hizballah-Syrian force abruptly broke off its assault on this front under attack from a mixed rebel force of local militias reinforced by radical Sunni Salafists from Lebanon.

Having just taken delivery of a large quantity of Grad rockets and launchers, these Lebanese radicals were able to catch the Hizballah brigade in a surprise artillery ambush and inflict heavy casualties.

At home, Hizballah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah will have to face the music. Apart from the effect of this defeat on his personal standing in Beirut, he will have to explain why he bowed to Iranian pressure during a secret visit to Tehran in the second week of April to increase the number of Hizballah combatants fighting for Bashar Assad beyond the 5,000-strong force already there.
Hizballah was already under the threat of Lebanese Sunni radicals to hit Hizballah hard unless it pulled out of the Syrian war. The voices raised quietly against his  decision in his own movement will grow a lot louder now and put his authority at risk.
The Lebanese Salafists, for their part, will be encouraged by their triumph in Syria to tackle the weakened Hizballah on home ground.

The Syrian army has suffered reverses on additional fronts. Contrary to the reports circulating this week that the rebels were focusing much of their strength on capturing Syrian Air Force bases, debkafile’s military sources report they have turned their energy on seizing Syrian army’s short-range ground rocket bases. With their sights on Scud B and Fateh A-110 missiles, they this week attacked the Mount Kalmoon missile base in southern Damascus and the Mangh missile facility near the Syrian air force base outside Aleppo. They were counseled to go for those bases by their foreign advisers when those rockets began ramping up casualties, and have managed to demolish much of the Damascus missile base. This success has loosened Bashar Assad’s army’s hold on the capital.

With regard to the chemical weapon dispute, our military and Washington sources report that the Obama administration has lodged a strong complaint with the offices of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon over the claim published Monday by a senior Israeli official (unnamed) of  “clear evidence based on raw, real and solid material” – not just assessments – that Bashar Assad is using chemical weapons against rebels.

He said this information is known to every concerned intelligence agency and none question it. The officer added that Israel should be concerned about chemical weapons leaking from Syria to Hizballah or other terrorist groups trying to reach the Israeli border. Their possible acquisition of chemical or even conventional weapons which they have never before laid hands on is of great concern to Israel.
In their complaint, US officials said they knew nothing of this evidence and US intelligence had not been made privy to such material.

Missiles fired at Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria — RT News.

Published time: April 29, 2013 16:14
Edited time: April 29, 2013 18:09

AFP Photo / Pascal Pavani

Two missiles were fired at a Russian passenger plane flying over Syrian territory with at least 159 people onboard, an informed source in Moscow told Interfax news agency. The source of the attack remains unknown.

“Syrian [officials] informed us that on Monday morning, unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles which exploded in the air very close to a  civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline,” the source told the Russian agency.

The pilots managed to maneuver the plane in time however, “saving the lives of passengers.”

It is believed the aircraft was intentionally targeted in the attempted strike, “but it remains unclear whether the attackers knew whether it was Russian or not,” the source added.

The targeted plane belongs to Nordwind Airlines – a Russian charter air carrier, says the Ministry of Transport. It was en route to the city of Kazan, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, from Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, reports RIA Novosti.

When the Airbus 320 passenger plane was flying over Syria, “the crew spotted signs of combat activities which, they believed, could pose a threat to the safety of the plane,” states Russia’s Transport Ministry, citing the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia).

“No one was injured, and the plane was not damaged. The aircraft landed in Kazan as it had been planned,” the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism told news agencies.

Russia’s embassy in Damascus is looking into the report of the attack on the Russian passenger plane, RT has been told.

Meanwhile, Syrian aviation authorities received no indication of the alleged attack on the Russian plane,says the director of Syrian Airlines, Ghaida Abdullatif:

“We contacted the service that monitors traffic within Syrian airspace. None of the air traffic control services or other ground services at the airports in Damascus and Latakia have confirmed the information of a Russian plane plane being fired at“.

The civil war in Syria between the government of President Bashar Assad and opposition forces has been raging for over two years, claiming the lives of more than 70,000 people according to UN estimates. Assad says he is fighting an insurgency which has been sponsored from abroad.

Navy’s launches $500m Dolphin submarine – Globes.

( So proud, I just had to share!​ – JW )

The submarine, the most expensive weapon ever procured by Israel, can carry nuclear missiles according to foreign reports.

Israel Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ram Rotberg and Ministry of Defense director general Udi Shani today launched the new Dolphin submarine at Kiel Port in Germany. The submarine, named “INS Rahav”, will cost $500 million, one third of which will be financed by Germany. The INS Rahav is the most expensive item ever procured by the Ministry of Defense.

The INS Rahav will arrive in Israel in one year, after completing tests and is declared operational.

The Navy and Ministry of Defense said that the INS Rahav is one of the most advanced submarines in the world, and that its long-range secret mission capability would extend the IDF’s operational capabilities. According to the foreign media, the Dolphin-class submarines can also carry nuclear missiles.

Israel will receive the sixth Dolphin-class submarine, also built by HDW Shipyards GmbH, in a few years. The defense establishment calls this cutting-edge submarine an “improved Dolphin”. It will reportedly be delivered to the Navy in 2017 or 2018, and will also cost $500 million.

The Navy does not talk much about the operations of its submarine fleet, which the defense establishment calls “Israel’s very long arm”. Former Navy Commander Vice Admiral (res.) David Ben-Bassat once told “Globes”, “Doubling the submarine fleet will reflect Israel’s recognition of the strategic depth of its maritime space and will give the Navy immense capabilities. The IDF’s defense concept will be significantly improved and upgraded when it receives more submarines.”

Israel developed many of the Dolphin submarine’s systems. Defense sources say that Germany is making reciprocal procurements from Israeli civilian and defense companies as part of the program.