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Iran Breaks With Arab States in Backing Hezbollah

March 9, 2016

Iran Breaks With Arab States, Continues Backing Hezbollah Iran blames Jews for forcing Arab states to designate Hezbollah as terrorist group

BY:
March 9, 2016 11:40 am

Source: Iran Breaks With Arab States in Backing Hezbollah

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Obama Administration: A UN Resolution That Would Divide Israel And Jerusalem Is Back In Play

Iranian leaders publicly broke ranks this week with major Arab Gulf nations in a series of statements criticizing these regional powers for formally designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, a regional governing coalition comprised of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain, announced last week that it is formally designating the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

The GCC joins the United States, Israel, Canada, and a host of other nations in labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization. These nations, including Saudi Arabia, have already taken steps to blacklist organizations and individuals associated with Hezbollah.

The decision by the coalition of Arab states to go after Hezbollah has sparked outrage in Iranian government, which is now claiming that “Zionists” secretly orchestrated the GCC’s effort.

Regional experts view Iran’s pushback as a sign that Tehran’s ongoing support for extremist groups has made it a pariah among other Arab nations, which have expressed concern Iran will spend the billions of dollars it received as part of the recent nuclear agreement to fund Hezbollah’s terror activities.

“No doubt the move was made upon an order by the Zionists and the sworn enemies of Islam and Great Prophet Mohammad,” said Major Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, the Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff, according to Iran’s state-controlled press.

Iranian leaders vowed to continue its support for Hezbollah, which is responsible for killing Israelis and Americans in terror attacks.

“Despite efforts by the House of Saud [Saudi Arabia] and its regional and trans-regional allies, Hezbollah’s deep-seated position will remain intact,” Firouzabadi said. “It will not shift the balance of power in the region. It will not help the Zionists extend their grip on the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary system, also blamed Jewish interests for the GCC’s latest move.

“The resistance movement of Hezbollah in Lebanon protects the integrity of Arabs and Muslims against the Zionist regime,” Larijani said Monday.

Iran’s foreign ministry also took aim at the GCC, specifically Saudi Arabia, which has had poor relations with Iran since its embassy in Tehran was burned down in January. Jaberi Ansari, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, accused the Arab states of aligning with “the occupiers of Palestine.”

“Certain Arab countries are against the Hezbollah resistance movement,” Ansari said. “The movement represents the efforts and ideals of Muslim nations for independence, freedom, justice, and integrity. Hezbollah stands against the Israeli oppression, occupation, racism, and terrorism.”

“Those who are behind the move are knowingly or unknowingly undermining the interests of the Muslim nations,” Ansari claimed.

Regional experts described the verbal conflict between Iran and the GCC as a sign that Hezbollah is becoming increasingly toxic on the international stage.

“It’s getting harder for Iran to defend Hezbollah on the world stage,” Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department, told the Washington Free Beacon. “The United States, Israel, Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, the EU and Australia have all designated the group, in some form, as a terrorist organization—and it’s increasingly clear that their concerns have increasingly less to do with Hezbollah’s terrorist activities against Israel, and more to do with the group’s global footprint.”

The nuclear deal helped to fuel the GCC’s designation of Hezbollah, according to Schanzer, who serves as vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Ironically, had Iran not signed the nuclear deal, it’s unclear whether the recent terrorist designations would have taken place,” Schanzer said. “But with Iran set to receive $100 billion in sanctions relief, one major concern is that Hezbollah will receive a significant portion of those funds for the purpose of terrorist attacks and other activities that would further destabilize the Middle East.”

“With Iran no longer under sanctions, the world is more alarmed about the activities of this Iranian proxy than ever before,” he said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also slammed the GCC over the weekend, saying in a video message that Saudi Arabia and its allies in the coalition are losing credibility.

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Ralph Peters on US-Iran Relations: ‘I Hate To Say This, But We’ve Lost This One’

March 9, 2016

Ralph Peters on US-Iran Relations: ‘I Hate To Say This, But We’ve Lost This One’

BY:
March 9, 2016 11:33 am

Source: Ralph Peters | Iran

Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters responded Wednesday to the Iranian launch of a ballistic missile that had ‘Israel must be wiped out’ written on it, saying that the Obama administration has positioned America as the perpetual loser in U.S.-Iran relations.

“Our president and the secretary of state have painted themselves into a very dangerous corner in which whatever we do or fail to do, we’re the losers,” Peters said.

Iranian hardliners who launched the missile are out to prove that they hold power both inside Iran post-parliamentary elections and on the global stage post-nuclear agreement, he said.

“This is the Revolutionary Guards and hardliners showing everybody who is still in charge, because, elections not withstanding, the people who hold the guns hold the power,” Peters said.

He said that the launch violates a U.N. Security Council resolution and shows that Iran is “rubbing it in” America’s face that they can “do whatever they want” after the nuclear deal because of the Obama administration’s weakness. As an example, Peters referenced the detention and “torment” of 10 U.S. sailors by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, after which Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Iranians for their cooperation.

“They can do whatever they want now because this terribly flawed nuclear deal was front-loaded with benefits for Iran, and the benefits we get, if we get them, are spread out over the long-term,” Peters said.

He said that the economic ties Iran is now forging are difficult to sanction even if Obama wanted to punish Iran for the missile launch.

“Even if President Obama decided to abrogate that bad nuclear deal and resurrect sanctions against Iran, it wouldn’t work because Iran has been flooded with European and global corporations signing contracts right and left,” Peters said.

In all, he said, the outlook for a strong U.S. role in relations with Iran is dim.

“I hate to say this about my country, but we’ve lost this one,” Peters said.

Peters is known for his blunt assessments of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. In the past, he has called Obama a “total pussy” on live television.

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Palestinians: Have The Donors Finally Woken Up?

March 8, 2016

Palestinians: Have The Donors Finally Woken Up?

by Khaled Abu Toameh

March 8, 2016 at 5:00 am

Source: Palestinians: Have The Donors Finally Woken Up?

  • The striking teachers are exposing the Palestinian Authority (PA) as playing Western donors for suckers.
  • No one, in fact, knows how many Palestinians are on the Palestinian payroll.
  • Donors might not be aware, for instance, that they are paying over 50,000 employees from the Gaza Strip to not work. This has been the case since 20007, when Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip. In response, the PA ordered all its employees to boycott Hamas and promised to pay them full salaries for sitting at home.
  • The Palestinian committee has been tasked to avoid scandal and ensure that donors do not get to the bottom of the case.

Western donors want to see a list of the names of Palestinians who are on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the PA is not happy about it.

What is driving this demand? Thousands of Palestinian school teachers in the West Bank are striking for better conditions. The Palestinian leadership, in response, has ordered a security crackdown on the strikers.

To justify the crackdown, PA officials have claimed that the strike was organized by Hamas as part of a conspiracy to embarrass and undermine the regime of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

What is really happening is that the teachers are blowing the whistle on PA corruption. They have accused the PA Ministry of Education of wasting donors’ funds and deceiving them by inflating the number of teachers. They claim that the list of employees (about 56,000) ostensibly hired by the ministry contains many fictitious names. These include teachers and administrative workers of the ministry.

The teachers also accuse the PA of lying to the donors about their salaries. The information provided by the PA to donors claimed that the PA pays higher salaries to the teachers than the teachers actually receive.

In other words, the striking teachers are exposing the PA as playing Western donors for suckers.

The PA’s Finance Ministry has yet to publish the general budget for the years 2015 and 2016. The last time the budget appeared on the ministry’s official website was in 2014. The striking teachers and other Palestinians say there is something fishy about the Finance Ministry’s failure to make public the annual budget for 2015 and 2016. They call this a lack of transparency.

According to various sources, the donors’ request took PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah by surprise. He has referred the request to the office of Mahmoud Abbas and is now awaiting the president’s personal intervention in the developing scandal.

One report revealed that the PA leadership has formed a secret legal committee, headed by Palestinian official Karim Shehadeh, to prepare a reply to the donors about the discrepancy in the salaries. The committee has been tasked to avoid scandal and ensure that donors do not get to the bottom of the case.

The donors’ request explains the hysterical response of the PA leadership to the ongoing teachers’ strike in the West Bank. In the past few weeks, PA security forces have rounded up dozens of striking teachers and imposed a reign of intimidation against others. When the teachers planned to hold a protest rally in Ramallah last week, the PA deployed hundreds of policemen and set up checkpoints in various parts of the West Bank in a bid to foil the protest and terrify the teachers.

Left: Striking Palestinian teachers protest in Ramallah last week. Right: Palestinian Authority policemen deploy in the street to intimidate the teachers.

In a typical game of smoke and mirrors, the Palestinian government this week denied that the donor countries demanded to inspect the payroll records. Yet Palestinian sources in Ramallah insisted that the reports were true. According to the sources, this marks a watershed in donors’ demand for accountability from the PA leadership.

Striking teachers is only one of the PA headaches. The donors’ demand for a full report on the names of PA public employees is bad news for Abbas. No one, in fact, knows how many Palestinians are on the PA payroll. Some figures estimate the number of employees at over 160,000, while others have put the figure at 250,000.

According to one study, the Palestinians have one policeman for every 52 people, compared to one teacher for each 72. Since its founding more than two decades ago, the PA has established ten different security services that employ more than 70,000 people.

Some Palestinians have charged that these numbers have been vastly inflated by using names of the deceased, those who live abroad and some who do not even exist. In the main, these salaries are covered by donor governments such as the US and EU, who for years have failed to check the lists of the public employees or verify the sums.

Moreover, donors might not be aware that they are paying over 50,000 employees from the Gaza Strip to not work. This has been the case since 20007, when Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip. In response, the Palestinian Authority ordered all its employees to boycott Hamas and promised to pay them full salaries for sitting at home.

If the donors are indeed demanding the report, it could mark the dawn of a new era — one in which the PA leadership is called on the carpet for its financial shenanigans. Of course, President Abbas and his friends might still find a way to blame Israel. This tactic has worked wonders in the past.

Thus, the jury is still out on whether the donors will show themselves to be the suckers the PA is hoping for, or if the Palestinians will finally begin to be held accountable for their behavior.

Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.

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U.K. Police Warn ISIS Plotting ‘Enormous and Spectacular Attacks’ on West

March 8, 2016

U.K. Police Warn ISIS Plotting ‘Enormous and Spectacular Attacks’ on West

BY:
March 7, 2016 12:04 pm

Source: U.K. Police Warn ISIS Plotting ‘Enormous and Spectacular Attacks’ on West – Washington Free Beacon

ISIS, the terror group that claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks last November, is plotting “enormous and spectacular attacks” on the West, according to a senior British police official.

Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, said Monday during a press briefing on the terror threat against the U.K. that authorities have detected more plans to launch attacks on “western” lifestyles, The Guardian reported.

“In recent months we’ve seen … more plans to attack western lifestyle … [ISIS has gone] from that narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state to something much broader. And you see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we’ve seen foiled to date,” Rowley told reporters.

“You see a terrorist group that while on the one hand has been acting as a cult to use propaganda to radicalize people to act in their name … you also see them trying to build bigger attacks,” Rowley continued.

Rowley further stated that ISIS has encouraged operatives who have underwent military training in Syria to travel to northern Europe and launch attacks there. Concerns of possible terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States have increased with the rise of ISIS in the Middle East, particularly following the coordinated attacks in Paris last November that killed 130 people.

Rowley said that U.K. authorities are prioritizing the search for potential links to terror networks.

“[The] shared effort to look for any possible links of those networks or other networks that have reached the U.K. is obviously a massively high priority,” Rowley stated.

The U.K. has seen a considerable increase in terrorism arrests in recent years. The count of individuals arrested on suspicions of terrorism increased by 57 percent in the most recent three-year period when compared with the previous three years. Roughly half of these apprehensions led to suspects being charged.

Women accounted for 14 percent of counterterrorism arrests made in 2015, and 13 percent were age 20 or younger. Rowley said that these statistics point to the success of ISIS propaganda and the terror group’s ability to reach a diverse group of people.

“That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalization, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh [ISIS] are resonating with some individuals,” Rowley said.

ISIS has also made impressions on individuals in the United States; American authorities have arrested dozens of individuals in recent years for trying to join or provide material support to ISIS.

The terror group is also believed to have inspired the shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people last December, an attack carried out by a husband and wife who had been radicalized for years. The female attacker, Pakistani national Tashfeen Malik, immigrated to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia in July 2014.

The rise of ISIS has become a key issue in the 2016 presidential election in the United States.

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Former UK Ambassador To Syria: US/UK Foreign Policy Is Doomed, Even Corrupt

March 6, 2016

Former UK Ambassador To Syria: US/UK Foreign Policy Is Doomed, Even Corrupt Tyler Durden’s picture

by Tyler Durden on 03/04/2016 22:25 -0500

Source: Former UK Ambassador To Syria: US/UK Foreign Policy Is Doomed, Even Corrupt | Zero Hedge

Authored by Eric Zuesse,

Peter Ford, who was the UK’s Ambassador in Syria during 2003-2006, was asked by the BBC in their “The Big Questions” interview on February 14th, whether the current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would have to be a part of the solution in that country after the war is over, and Ambassador Ford said:

“I think sadly, but inevitably, he is. Realistically, Assad is not going to be overthrown. This becomes more clear with every day that passes. Western analysts have been indulging in wishful thinking for 5 years; it’s time to get real, we owe it to the Syrian people to be much more realistic and hard headed about this. The West has to stop propping up the so-called ‘moderate opposition’, which is not moderate at all.”

This was quoted by Almasdar News on February 18th, which went on to note that,

“The frustrated interviewer asked Mr. Ford about ‘what we should have done,’ and he responded that ‘we should have backed off, we should have not tried to overthrow the regime.’ Mr. Ford eloquently added that this policy has been ‘like a dog returning to vomit.’”

The video of the interview below showed him making that statement in this context:

The interviewer was clearly anti-Assad, and Ford responded with evident anger by noting (starting at 2:55 on the video) the shocking fact that:

“In Aghanistan, Iraq, Libya, like a dog returning to vomit, we go back to [and the audience already was started to clap here], we never saw a secular Arab regime that we didn’t want to overthrow.”

He was saying there that we support only non-secular regimes, sectarian regimes, in Arabia, this meaning fundamentalist Sunni governments — especially Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, the very same regimes that even the U.S. Secretary of State acknowledged in a 2009 cable that was wikileaked, are the chief regimes that are funding Al Qaeda, ISIS and other jihadist groups. Ford was noting that the United States and UK strive to keep in power those governments, the ones that are led by royal families that supply the bulk of funding for jihadist groups — jihadists who perpetrate terrorism in the United States and Europe. “We never saw a secular  Arab regime that we didn’t want to overthrow”: Ambassdor Ford was so bold as to imply that our governments are supporting, under the table, the very same ruling families that they know to be funding (as that cable only vaguely referred to them) “Sunni terrorist groups worldwide” (which includes in Western countries, too).

The BBC’s interviewer ignored that statement; he wasn’t struck by it, such as to ask: “Why are we supporting the chief funders of Islamic jihad? Why are we overthrowing (or in Syria are trying to overthrow) a secular regime, against which we join foreign jihadist groups in order to overthrow that non-sectarian regime; why are these dogs, as you call the U.S. and UK, returning time and again to that vomit?”

This was a live interview program, and so the BBC censors weren’t able to eliminate Ambassador Ford’s responses from the interview; but, instead, the interviewer did his best to interrupt and to talk over Ford’s shocking — and shockingly truthful — assertions about the government (ours) that supposedly represent our  interests (and not the interests of Western oil companies etc.). Ford will probably not be invited again to be on live television in the West to air his views about Syria.

Ford’s evident anger at what’s going on, and at the media’s resistance to letting the public know about the reality, appeared to reach near to the edge of his blurting out that ulterior motives have to be behind this addiction to “vomit” — but he was a professional diplomat, and so he was able to restrain himself there.

The U.S. Secretary of State who had specifically requested the fundamentalist-Islamic Arab ‘allies’ to stop funding terrorism was Hillary Clinton, the leading candidate now contending for the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination. Here she was, expressing her current view regarding Syria, in a recent debate against her Democratic Party opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders:

QUESTIONER: In respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle ISIS first? You have said, Secretary Clinton, that you come to the conclusion that we have to proceed on both fronts at once. We heard from the senator just this week that we must put aside the issue of how quickly we get rid of Assad and come together with countries, including Russia and Iran, to destroy ISIS first. Is he wrong?

 

CLINTON: I think we’re missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time.

 

QUESTIONER: But that’s what he’s saying, we should put that aside for now and go after ISIS.

 

CLINTON: Well, I don’t agree with that.

She’s still (now after five years, and even though she knows  that we’re supporting jihadist-backing Arabic royal families and their Shariah-law regimes) comes back to that “vomit”: that “we never saw a secular Arab regime that we didn’t want to overthrow.” She’s an example of this addiction, to that “vomit.”

She does this even though, in October 2014, the man who had collected the mega-donations to Al Qaeda (all of which had been in cash) had detailed, under oath, in a U.S. court proceeding, that the Saud family were the main people who paid the “salaries” of the 9/11 terrorists. The Saud family are now the chief backers of the overthrow-Assad campaign. Do politicians such as Clinton actually represent the Sauds? It’s not only the Bush family who do.

What’s exhibited here is a double-scandal: first, that a person such as that would even be a Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. Presidency (and Jeb Bush shares Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy prescriptions, though he’s virtually certain not  to win the Republican Presidential nomination); and, second, that the Western press try to avoid, as much as possible, to expose the fact that this is, indeed, “vomit,” and avoid to explain to their audience the very corrupt governmental and news-media system that enables people such as Ms. Clinton to become and remain a leading Presidential candidate in the United States. Clearly, a person like that isn’t qualified to be in government at all; she’s corrupt, or else incredibly stupid. And no one thinks she’s that stupid. But lots of people accuse her of being corrupt.

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Report: Hezbollah prepares for ‘biggest war ever’ with Israel

March 5, 2016

Report: Hezbollah prepares for ‘biggest war ever’ with Israel Sources tell Foreign Policy that the group has developed a new level of military organization, the ability to capture and hold Israeli towns, accurate guided missiles, and equipment that could target Israel’s air force and navy.

Ynet Published: 03.04.16, 16:43 / Israel News

Source: Report: Hezbollah prepares for ‘biggest war ever’ with Israel – Israel News, Ynetnews

“It will not look like the 2006 war at all,” a source told Lebanese journalist Nour Samaha. Another said that “Israel’s biggest concern is over Hezbollah’s experience in Syria, as it now has the experience to be offensive rather than just defensive.”

Hezbollah rally marking 15 years since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon (Photo: Reuters)
Hezbollah rally marking 15 years since Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon (Photo: Reuters)

While more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters have died in the Syrian quagmire, Samaha notes that the group’s military campaign means “it has also gained a level of tactical experience and weaponry that has made it a far more threatening force”.

An unnamed source told Samaha that the Syrian fighting led Hezbollah “to develop a sophisticated command-and-control structure, including advanced telecommunications networks, the use of drones for reconnaissance, and the ability to maintain long supply line” – all of which the group hopes it can use effectively against Israel.

Funeral of Hezbollah fighter killed in Syria (Photo: EPA)
Funeral of Hezbollah fighter killed in Syria (Photo: EPA)

Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal has been allegedly upgraded as well, writes Samaha. The article reports claims that the group now has “tactical ballistic missiles, Scud missiles, Fateh-110 Iranian missiles, and M-600 missiles, a Syrian modified version of the Fateh-110.”

Jeffrey White, a defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is quoted as saying that Hezbollah can now use guided munitions to hit targets throughout Israel with accuracy, “including command posts, airfields, and major economic targets”.

This alleged capability was recently touted by the group’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, as a way to strike Haifa’s chemical plant and kill thousands. What’s more, White said the group apparently possesses sophisticated air-defense systems and naval cruise missiles that could target the IAF and Israeli oil platforms.

Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address (Photo: AFP)
Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address (Photo: AFP)

Samaha reiterates reports that Hezbollah is not imminently seeking war – partly because of political considerations in Lebanon. Nevertheless, she recognizes the inherent instability in the border region where so many conflicting interests compete, pointing to two Hezbollah attacks in the Shebaa area – planting an IED near a military base in January and firing missiles at an IDF patrol in 2015 – as evidence that Shebaa is “the soft underbelly of Israel’s security” and a likely future flashpoint.

“What will happen, however, is getting more difficult to predict by the day,” she writes.

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EXCLUSIVE: Turkey ‘protects & supplies’ Al-Nusra camps at its border – Syria’s YPG to RT

March 4, 2016

EXCLUSIVE: Turkey ‘protects & supplies’ Al-Nusra camps at its border – Syria’s YPG to RT

Published time: 4 Mar, 2016 05:04 Edited time: 4 Mar, 2016 09:51

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Turkey ‘protects & supplies’ Al-Nusra camps at its border – Syria’s YPG to RT — RT News

And now a statement from the State Department ?

Read also : https://warsclerotic.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/state-department-issues-new-warning-about-terrorist-threat-to-u-s-citizens/#comment-84060

Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorists have pitched their camps right next to the border and receive regular supplies from the Turkish side, Syrian Kurdish forces told RT’s Lizzie Phelan, who traveled with YPG to investigate suspicious activity there.

An RT crew has filmed a number of vehicles coming through the Bab al-Salam crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border, on the outskirts of the northern town of Azaz, which is partially controlled by Al-Nusra, according to reports.

“We can actually see here the important border town of Azaz, that Turkey is determined to prevent YPG from taking. Just a little beyond that you can see the Bab al-Salam border crossing and a heavy flow of vehicles coming from Turkey into Azaz,” the RT correspondent said, reporting from the Turkey-Syria border, an area that TV crews rarely gain access to.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCc9siFSq4o/

“When we zoom in we can see Turkish military vehicles, probably around a kilometer away, maybe less. And just in front here’s another small village that YPG say Al-Nusra uses for training,” Phelan said.

“Beyond that we can see the Turkish flag flying, that’s on the Turkish side of the border, and through there the YPG says they monitor a regular supply of weapons coming from Turkey to that Al-Nusra camp.”

Lizzie Phelan ‎@LizziePhelan

2.&just a few km from Nusra controlled Azaz that is determined 2 prevent YPG from taking.

5:48 AM – 2 Mar 2016

According to the Kurds, after the terror group was excluded from the ceasefire, Al-Nusra have taken down most of their flags, which would give their location away and invite airstrikes. However, the RT crew still managed to film some flags flying above their positions.

YPG are unequivocal about Turkey’s sponsorship of terrorist groups in Syria.

Head of the YPG in Afrin, Abdu Khalil, says Turkey is definitely providing support for terrorist groups in the area.

“Turkey wanted to make a coalition against terrorism, but any country which would be in a coalition against terrorism should not open its border to Al-Nusra Front,” he said.

“When there is a Kurdish prisoner, when he is in Turkish hands, they deliver him to Al-Nusra Front, whereas a wounded man from Islamic State who is in a Turkish hospital: he gets immunity and guards. No one can even look at him. What more evidence do you want than that?”

Ankara says its direct strikes against the YPG are justified due to its links with the Turkish-based militant group the PKK, which Turkey has recently resumed its war against at home.

The rebel fighters on the ground say they are certain Turkey is providing assistance to IS, Al-Qaeda and Al Nusra.

“The reason Turkey is on the ground is to support groups like Al-Qaeda. Support for ISIS is coming from Turkey. They are shelling because it wants to occupy our land, not to help our people. Turkey dismissed many of the armed groups, and supported Al Nusra against us,” Abu Jouma Benawii, a general in the FSA and co-founder of Jaish al-Thuwar (Army of Revolutionaries), told RT.

“Our fronts against the regime have stopped, but our fronts against ISIS are going on and against Al Nusra as well. We are committed to the ceasefire, one million percent,” he added.

Asked if he would have changed his mind about joining the uprising, Abu Jouma Benawii said in hindsight: “Really I would have changed my mind, because everybody contributed to destroying Syria, at the beginning and the end it is only the people who lose.”

“Had we known that Syria’s friends would be like this, we wouldn’t have been with them. All our people were forced to flee,” he added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said Turkey has the right to carry out military operations not only in Syria, but in any other country hosting terror groups that threaten the Turkish state. He alleged that Ankara’s stance has “absolutely nothing to do with the sovereignty rights of the states that can’t take control of their territorial integrity.”

“On the contrary, this has to do with the will Turkey shows to protect its sovereignty rights,” Erdogan added.

Turkish forces have been shelling YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization, as well as government army positions in Syria, since mid-February. The bombings of YPG targets, the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), have been underway despite the US, Ankara’s ally, viewing the Kurdish fighters as a vital partner in fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

There were reports of dozens of Turkish military vehicles crossing into Kurdish northern Syria, with servicemen digging trenches in the area. Turkey’s “provocative” military buildup on the border and shelling of the Syrian territory could thwart the fragile truce and disrupt the peace process in the Arab Republic, the head of the Russian ceasefire monitoring center Lt. Gen. Sergey Kuralenko said this week.

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A general view shows the Kurdish city of Afrin, in Aleppo's countryside March 18, 2015. © Mahmoud Hebbo

Dozens of Turkish military vehicles cross Syria border, dig trenches – report

The ceasefire in Syria, which came into force on February 27, brokered by leading world powers, including the US and Russia, is designed to pave the way to reconciliation between the Syrian government and moderate rebel forces. They would together agree on a peaceful transition in the country. Some of the forces in Syria, including IS and Al-Nusra, are not subject to the ceasefire.

Experts have been criticizing moderate rebel forces, but even they think that the situation is shifting now.

Moderate rebels used to be “a fable, a pure lie,” Syrian political analyst Taleb Ibrahim told RT.

“Everyone remembers what happened to the rebels who had been trained in Turkish camps by the CIA, and when they returned to Syria, and turned to Al-Nusra Front”.

However, the situation is starting to change slowly, as more and more Syrian rebel fighters “discover that they are destroying their country and serving external plans to divide Syria.”

Russian aircraft continue to carry out airstrikes against Al-Nusra front militants to “stabilize the situation” in the regions north of the city of Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

READ MORE: Russia presents proof of Turkey’s role in ISIS oil trade

There have been at least 31 violations of the Syrian ceasefire over the past three days, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, adding that during the same period the number of local ceasefire agreements between various factions had increased to 38.

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Hillary Emails – NATO Commander on Libya War Mission: ‘Inshallah, Soon’

March 4, 2016

Hillary Emails – NATO Commander on Libya War Mission: ‘Inshallah, Soon’

by Aaron Klein

3 Mar 2016

Source: Hillary Emails – NATO Commander on Libya War Mission: ‘Inshallah, Soon’ – Breitbart

TEL AVIV – James Stavridis, who led the 2011 intervention in Libya as NATO’s 16th Supreme Allied Commander, used unusual terminology to express his hope that the United Arab Emirates would step up its involvement in the Libya war.

In an email forwarded to Hillary Clinton’s private server, Stavridis discussed a mission change that would put U.S. bombs on UAE aircraft for strikes in Libya.

“As to how long … inshallah, soon,” wrote Stravridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral.

The dispatch was contained in Monday’s batch of roughly 3,900 pages said to be the last of Clinton’s work-related emails. The messages were reviewed in full by this reporter.

Stravridis was replying to an email sent from one of Clinton’s top deputies, Jake Sullivan, to Ivo H. Daalder, the U.S. Permanent Representative on the NATO Council.

“Any way to get the UAE suggestion that they will contribute aircraft for strike missions firmed up and announced by the SYG?” Sullivan asked.

Daalder forwarded the query to Stravridis, asking, “Gather you and Clinton talked about this. When do you think they will be able to start?”

Here is Stavridis’s full reply:

What the UAE For Min said was they wanted US bombs so we’ll have to work that on DoD circuits (Centcom presumably) We’ll also go mil-to-mil via force gen, JFC Naples, and JTF and push them to use their own air to ground ordnance in the interim Suggest you guys work the political side up there

As to how long … inshallah, soon

Best, Jim Admiral, USN Supreme Allied Commander, Europe Commander, US European Command “Stronger Together”

Inshallah is Arabic for “Allah willing” or “if Allah wills it.”

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.

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State Department Issues New Warning About Terrorist Threat to U.S. Citizens

March 4, 2016

State Department Issues New Warning About Terrorist Threat to U.S. Citizens

BY:
March 3, 2016 5:59 pm

Source: State Department Issues New Warning About Terrorist Threat to U.S. Citizens – Washington Free Beacon

Did the state department declare now Turkey as a criminal state ?

The State Department issued a new Worldwide Caution on Thursday that warned about the ongoing terrorist threat to U.S. citizens across the world from groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.

“Current information suggests that ISIL, al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions,” the State Department said in a release updating the Worldwide Caution, using another name for ISIS.

“Recent terrorist attacks, whether by those affiliated with terrorist entities, copycats, or individual perpetrators, serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. ”

The new alert replaced a previous alert issued in July of last year, months before ISIS launched terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people last November. Authorities believe that ISIS continue to plot attacks against U.S. and Western interests worldwide, especially in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Asia, the new alert stated.

The State Department warning cited major terrorist attacks that have been carried out in France, Belgium, Mali, Turkey, and other countries, and emphasized that U.S. citizens are at risk of kidnapping by operatives from ISIS, al Qaeda, and other groups. It noted that terrorists targeting U.S. citizens at home and abroad generally focus on places that attract crowds, including sporting events, hotels, restaurants, and public transportation systems.

“Extremists may use conventional or non-conventional weapons and target both official and private interests,” the State Department warning said. “Examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas, shopping malls, and other tourist destinations both in the United States and abroad where U.S. citizens gather in large numbers, including during holidays.”

The alert included information about threats in various regions, including Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and parts of Asia. It noted that “credible information” indicated that all countries in Europe are “vulnerable” to attacks from terrorist organizations.

“Authorities believe there is a high likelihood terror attacks in Europe will continue as European members of ISIL return from Syria and Iraq. European governments are taking action to guard against terrorist attacks; however, all European countries remain potentially vulnerable,” the warning said.

The agency also reminded U.S. citizens that it is a crime to provide support to terrorist groups like ISIS.

“Private U.S. citizens are strongly discouraged from traveling to any country to join in armed conflict.  U.S. citizens are reminded that fighting on behalf of or providing other forms of support to designated terrorist organizations, including ISIL, can constitute the provision of material support for terrorism, which is a serious crime that can result in penalties including prison time and large fines,” the alert warned.

American citizens have been arrested for attempting to join or provide material support to ISIS. More than 200 Americans have tried to fight for ISIS, the head of the FBI said in 2015.

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Report: Hamas fully restocked its missile arsenal

March 4, 2016

Hamas said to have fully restocked its missile arsenal Israeli assessment says terror group back at rocket total from before Operation Protective Edge, just 1.5 years later.

By Ari Yashar

First Publish: 3/4/2016, 10:24 AM

Source: Report: Hamas fully restocked its missile arsenal – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva

Hamas terrorists parade rockets (file)
Flash 90

Just over a year-and-a-half has passed since Israel’s government agreed to a ceasefire with the Hamas terrorist organization in August 2014, ending Operation Protective Edge, but new Israeli assessments indicate Hamas has already fully restocked its missile arsenal.

The appraisal, reported by Walla on Friday, notes that most of the missiles that bring Hamas back to the amount it had before it launched its third terror war on the Jewish state are of a shorter-range, and are domestically produced and therefore of a lower quality.

Back in June 2014 the terror group had around 12,000 rockets of various ranges, including long-range missiles. According to reports Hamas used around 4,600 of its rockets during the Operation, and another 4,000 or so were damaged in Israeli strikes, leaving the terrorists with a third of their arsenal by the end of the fighting.

But in the 18 months that have passed, Hamas has worked intensively to rebuild its military capabilities while largely ignoring the civilian population in Gaza that continues to suffer from poor conditions, to the point that the UN has estimated Gaza will be “unlivable” by 2020.

Hamas has been rebuilding its terror tunnel system breaching into Israel, and likewise has ramped up its domestic production of rockets given that the Israeli naval blockade and Egyptian construction of a buffer zone has largely cut off the influx of weapons to the terrorists. However, Hamas is unceasing in its efforts to illegally smuggle in materials for building weapons and digging tunnels.

In addition to the many short-range missiles held by Hamas it has added many mortar shells, which were proven to be lethally effective in the last round of fighting.

Israel estimates that the number of Hamas terrorists and members of the various Hamas mechanisms in Gaza including its civilian police force stands at roughly 40,000 people. Around half of that number are members of the terror group’s Al-Qassam Brigades, with around 1,000 of them working on the tunnel digging project.

Mohammed Deif remains the terror chief for Hamas, after having survived a sixth assassination attempt by Israel against him during Protective Edge, and is playing a key role in rebuilding the terror group’s capabilities. Deif is supported by Yahya Sanwar, who serves as a sort of “defense minister” for him – Sanwar sat in an Israeli jail for 22 years before being released in the 2011 Shalit deal.

Deif, who is missing his legs from previous assassination attempts, had his wife and son killed in the strike that missed him during the Operation.

According to a report as Protective Edge wound down, Israel delayed striking Deif three full days when it had concrete information on his whereabouts due to a ceasefire agreement, thereby missing the chance to take out the elusive terrorist – even though Hamas had breached numerous ceasefires during the war.

Amos Yadlin, formerly the head of Military Intelligence, revealed in August 2014 that in the last attempt on Deif’s life in 2006, “instead of a one ton bomb, we decided to shoot two quarter ton bombs in order to avoid hitting innocent civilians. One of them didn’t explode, and Deif survived.”

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