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Iranian Soldiers Deployed to Protect Damascus

June 4, 2015

Iranian Soldiers Deployed to Protect Damascus as Rebels Advance

Iranian, Iraqi fighters sent to guard against rebel attack on Syrian capital, amid concerns Assad regime is failing.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

First Publish: 6/3/2015, 4:44 PM

via Iranian Soldiers Deployed to Protect Damascus – Middle East – News – Arutz Sheva.


Fighters from Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front in Idlib, Syria Reuters

Thousands of Iranian and Iraqi fighters have been deployed in Syria in past weeks to bolster the defenses of Damascus and its surroundings, a Syrian security source told AFP on Wednesday.

“Around 7,000 Iranian and Iraqi fighters have arrived in Syria over the past few weeks and their first priority is the defense of the capital. The larger contingent is Iraqi,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

“The goal is to reach 10,000 men to support the Syrian army and pro-government militias, firstly in Damascus, and then to retake Jisr al-Shughur because it is key to the Mediterranean coast and the Hama region” in central Syria, he added.

Syria’s government lost control of Jisr al-Shughur in northwestern Idlib province on April 25, as a coalition of opposition forces including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front swept through the region.

Yesterday, Iran’s official news agency IRNA quoted elite Revolutionary Guards General Qassem Soleimani as saying “in the coming days the world will be surprised by what we are preparing, in cooperation with Syrian military leaders.”

The agency cautioned however that it “takes no responsibility for the information.”

Iran is a key ally of the Syrian government, and it has provided Damascus with financial and military support throughout the conflict that began in March 2011 with anti-regime protests.

That support has included raising a Syrian pro-government militia known as the National Defense Force (NDF) to supplement the badly-stretched regular Syrian army, as well as sending battalions of fighters from the Hezbollah terrorist group, Tehran’s most important and powerful proxies.

Iran had also coordinated the training, arming and mobilization of Iraqi Shia Islamist militias to fight alongside Syrian government forces as well – though since the Islamic State’s lightening offensive through Iraq last summer most have returned home from Syria to fight ISIS there.

Iran has also sent an unknown number of soldiers and commanders from its own elite Revolutionary Guard corps to battle Syrian rebels.

But despite all that aid, in recent months the Syrian government has lost territory in several parts of the country to both an alliance of largely Islamist groups including Al-Nusra, and to the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group. In the south of the country as well, a more moderate rebel alliance has been making steady gains.

The rapid succession of defeats have led many to speculate the Assad regime may be nearing its demise, although other analysts have warned it is far too early to write it off yet.

Faced with those setbacks, the government has appealed to Tehran and ally Russia to step up support, a Syrian political figure close to the regime told AFP.

A diplomatic source in Damascus said Iran had been critical of the regime’s failure to achieve the last major offensive operation it undertook – a February bid to cut rebel supply lines to the northern city of Aleppo.

Tehran had opposed the operation, citing lack of preparation, the source said, and subsequently insisted that Syria change its strategy to focus on holding less territory more securely.

Analysts and observers have said the Syrian government now appears ready to accept the de facto partition of the country, focusing on the defense of strategically important areas and leaving others to rebels or jihadists.

According to one source close to the regime, it considers the coast, the central cities of Hama and Homs, and the capital Damascus as vital.

It also regards the Damascus-Beirut and Damascus-Homs highways as “red lines”, the source said.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war.

AFP contributed to this report.

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Sunni sheikhs pledge allegiance to ISIL in Iraq’s Anbar

June 4, 2015

Sunni sheikhs pledge allegiance to ISIL in Iraq’s Anbar

Several sheikhs and tribal heads say only way to achieve peace in province is to join ISIL after meeting in Fallujah.

04 Jun 2015 11:33 GMT

via Sunni sheikhs pledge allegiance to ISIL in Iraq’s Anbar – Al Jazeera English.

 

A number of Sunni tribal sheikhs and tribes in Iraq’s Anbar province have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The sheikhs and tribal leaders made the pledge in a statement read out by influential Sheikh Ahmed Dara al-Jumaili, after meeting in Fallujah on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said it was not yet clear if the tribes had been forced to pledge allegiance by ISIL fighters, who control Fallujah and most of Anbar province.

“If this is a willing move then that is very worrying for the Iraqi government,” Khan said.”The statement they issued was very strong – it condemned the government.”It said the only way that peace would come to Anbar province is if the tribes joined ISIL.”Influential tribe Khan said the inclusion of the al-Jumaili tribe in the pledge was of particular concern for Iraqi authorities, given the tribe’s influence in Anbar province.”The al-Jumailis command a number of fighters and they have a large amount of influence over other tribes [in Anbar],” he said.The pledge comes after a number of Sunni leaders in Anbar province publicly criticised the involvement of Shia militias in the fight to retake areas of the province from ISIL, including the provincial capital Ramadi which fell last month.While a number of Sunni tribes have joined with government forces and Shia militias, Khan reported that a number of tribal leaders have asked for government support to fight the armed group.”They said ‘if you arm us, if you allow us to fight as Sunnis, we will be able to get rid of ISIL quite quickly’,” he said.”The fact that a number of these tribes have come together … and pledged allegiance to ISIL shows the level of anger the Sunni tribes feel towards the government in Baghdad.”

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ISIS-Affiliated Group: More Rocket Attacks Coming

June 4, 2015

ISIS-Affiliated Group: More Rocket Attacks on Israel Coming

The Islamic State linked group that fired rockets at southern Israel on Wednesday says it will continue “attacking the Jews.”

By Yaakov Levi

First Publish: 6/4/2015, 9:01 AM

via ISIS-Affiliated Group: More Rocket Attacks Coming – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

That happens if you keep playing the thit for that game.

Terrorists in Gaza
Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90
The Islamist group that fired rockets at southern Israel Wednesday night said Thursday that it would continue its “way of Jihad” and “attack the Jews” – whether or not Hamas approved. And the next attack, it said, would come within hours.

In a statement, the “Sheikh Amar Hadid Brigades” said that the rockets were fired in revenge for “the death of an Islamic State member in Gaza by Hamas members.”

“We have repeated that we will continue in the way of Jihad against the Jews, the enemies of Allah. No one will stop us from fulfilling our obligation and attacking the Jews.”

Several days ago, the same jihadist group took responsibility for the firing of a Grad rocket at Ashdod last week.

The group has since presented Hamas with an ultimatum demanding that it be allowed to attack Israel from Gaza and on Thursdaysaid it would conduct another attack on the Jewish state within 12 hours.

Earlier this week, a group claiming to be associated with ISIS operating in Gaza claimed it killed a top Hamas commander. According to the group, which calls itself the Army of the Islamic State, Saber Siam was killed when ISIS operatives placed a bomb on his car, blowing it up with him inside.

Siam was killed, the group said, because he was “a partner in a declared war against religion and against Muslims, working for the heretical government in Gaza.”

ISIS warned Hamas to immediately “end its war against religion in Gaza” or “face the consequences.” The group also sent out warnings on social media to Gaza residents to stay away from Hamas offices and buildings, lest they find themselves swept up in attacks against the group.

On Thursday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the IDF would continue attacking all terror threats against Israel, inside Gaza or out of it.

“Even if the groups that fired rockets at Israel Wednesday night were gangs of disaffected Jihadists seeking to challenge Hamas by attacking us, we see Hamas as responsible for these attacks. We will not tolerate attacks on our civilians.”

 

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Pentagon: Iran Continuing Work on Nuclear Systems

June 4, 2015

Pentagon: Iran Continuing Work on Nuclear Systems

Covert support for terrorism ‘unabated’

BY:
June 3, 2015 5:46 pm

via Pentagon: Iran Continuing Work on Nuclear Systems | Washington Free Beacon.

Iran is continuing to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons despite an interim agreement on its nuclear programs, according to a Pentagon report.

“Although Iran has paused progress in some areas of its nuclear program and fulfilled its obligations under the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), it continues to develop technological capabilities that also could be applicable to nuclear weapons, including ballistic missile development,” a one-page unclassified summary of the report says.

A copy of the report was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The report was due to Congress in January but was not sent to the Armed Services Committee as required by law until this month. Analysts said the delay appeared designed to avoid upsetting Tehran and the nuclear talks.

Disclosure of the continuing development of nuclear delivery capabilities comes amid reports that Iran increased the amount of nuclear material that could potentially be used to build nuclear weapons despite the JPOA.

The State Department sought to challenge International Atomic Energy Agency reports on the increase in Iranian nuclear material, despite President Obama’s claim that the nuclear agreement had halted Iran’s nuclear program.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said this week that the increase in nuclear production was expected and that the amount has increased and decreased.

Iran’s military also continues to threaten the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon report said.

“Iran continues to develop its capabilities to control the Strait of Hormuz and avenues of approach in the event of a military conflict,” the report said, adding that Tehran is “quietly fielding increasingly lethal weapon systems, including more advanced naval mines, small but capable submarines, armed unmanned aerial vehicles, coastal defense cruise missile batteries, attack craft, and ant ship-capable missiles.”

U.S. officials said Iranian backing for Houthi rebels in Yemen is also aimed at gaining access to the strategic Red Sea strait called the Bab-el-Mandeb, which, like the Strait of Hormuz, could be used by Iran to disrupt oil and other shipping.

Tehran’s support for terrorism also has not stopped, according to the Pentagon.

“Iran’s covert activities appear to be continuing unabated,” the report says. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of lran’s foreign policy and power projection, particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Yemen.”

The IRGC Quds Force also is continuing to improve its access within foreign countries and its ability to carry terrorist attacks “to safeguard or advance Iran’s interests,” the report said.

U.S. officials disclosed to the Free Beacon last week that Iran is increasing the number of Quds Force fighters and Lebanese Hezbollah militants it is sending to Yemen, to support pro-Iran Houthi rebels there.

The report asserts that Iran’s military doctrine is “primarily defensive” and seeks to insulate Iran from more aggressive Iranian policies involving covert action and terrorism.

Iranian military forces seek to deter attacks, survive initial strikes, and retaliate against aggressors.

“The ongoing civil war in Syria and the instability in Iraq have tested, but not fundamentally altered, this posture,” the report said. “Meanwhile, over the past year, the tone of publicity surrounding major military exercises has remained tempered, a trend that began in 2013, probably in support of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activities.”

Iranian forces have been working with Iraq’s government to battle Islamic State forces that have taken over large portions of that Middle East state. They have included IRGC fighters.

The report, dated January 2015, concludes that Iran has not substantively altered its military and security strategies in the past year.

“However, Tehran has adjusted its approach to achieve its enduring objectives, by increasing its diplomatic outreach and decreasing its bellicose rhetoric,” the report said.

President Hassan Ruohani has sought to project a global message of “moderation and pragmatism” in support of those objectives.

Also, Iran is seeking to become the dominant regional power and in pursuit of that aim has “unwaveringly sought to improve its deterrent capabilities and increase its regional influence.”

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is thought to be ill, “remains atop Iran’s power structure as both the political-spiritual guide and the commander in chief of the armed forces.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee, in its report on the fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill passed May 19, expressed concerns about the annual report on Iran’s military.

The report was due to Congress on Jan. 30 but said as of May it had not been provided.

“The committee remains concerned about the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile development programs,” the report said.

Last year Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that Iran “would choose a ballistic missile as its preferred method of delivering nuclear weapons.” And in February, Iran launched a Safir long-range missile system.

“In 2013, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) made the following statement about this system: Iran could develop and test an ICBM capable of reaching the United States by 2015,” the report said.

“Since 2008, Iran has conducted multiple successful launches of the two-stage Safir space launch vehicle (SLV) and has also revealed the larger two stage Simorgh SLV, which could serve as a test bed for developing ICBM technologies.”

The committee asked the secretary of defense to provide an update on Iran’s ballistic missile programs.

As a result of the delay in the annual Iran military power report, the committee directed the Pentagon to provide a briefing on the Iranian missile threat, and to update the January report.

Ilan Berman, an Iran specialist with the American Foreign Policy Council, said the release of the report is good news but “has long been conspicuous by its absence.”

“The study is long overdue, and its delay suggests that the administration has been leery of injecting inconvenient facts into the Iran debate as it closes in on a nuclear deal with the regime in Tehran,” Berman said.

“The findings of the report confirm that Iran’s destructive regional activities have not abated over the past year,” he added.

“If anything, they have increased despite Iran’s dialogue with the West,” Berman said. “The product can be seen in the battlefield victories of Yemen’s Iran-supported Houthi rebels, of the persistence of the Assad regime in Syria, and of the growing profile and capabilities of Iraq’s Shi’a militias.”

“Iran’s activities represent a significant challenge to peace and security in the Middle East,” he said.

“The real question is what, if anything, the White House is prepared to do about it?” he said.

Mark Dubowitz, another Iran expert, said Tehran is continuing to develop long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, in violation of U.N. Security Council limits.

“The Obama administration ceded to Iranian demands that their missile program was non-negotiable and, instead, has tried to reassure Congress that this missile threat can be mitigated by constraining Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear warhead,” said Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“This major administration concession to Iran will greatly complicate the U.S. intelligence community’s ability to detect whether Iran has develop a nuclear warhead-carrying ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States,” he added. “By its very nature, it is much more difficult to detect and prevent warhead development, which can take place in small, covert facilities, than it is to determine the nature and extent of a hostile missile program. In yet another example of how deeply flawed the emerging Iran deal will be, Tehran will have a much easier pathway to develop systems.”

 

 

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Exiled Fatah Terrorist Amna Muna on PA TV: We Will Continue Until Our Entire Land is Liberated

May 26, 2015

Exiled Fatah Terrorist Amna Muna on PA TV: We Will Continue Until Our Entire Land is Liberated, MEMRI TV via You Tube, May 26, 2015

(The Palestinian Authority is Israel’s “partner for peace” and its titular leader, Abbas, can be an angel of peace according to the Pope. Some angel; some peace.– DM)

In a May 15 interview on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel, Amna Muna, a Palestinian terrorist who was freed in the Shalit prisoner swap and exiled to Turkey, said: “Nothing will break our resolve – not imprisonment, not exile, and not martyrdom… We shall continue on our path until our entire land is liberated.” Muna, who was speaking to PA TV over the Internet, was imprisoned for her involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenager Ofir Rahum in 2001.

 

Categories: Abbas, Foreign policy, Israel, Jerusalem, Jihad, Middle East, Obama, Peace process, Pope, Two state solution, West Bank
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Cartoonists are Controversial and Murderers are Moderate

May 5, 2015

Cartoonists are Controversial and Murderers are Moderate, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, May 5, 2015

garland1-450x330

[I]f you believe the media, cartoonists are more controversial than killers. A former Muslim sketching a cartoon of Mohammed is bigoted, but justifying attacks on Jews is moderate. Plotting to overthrow the United States and replace it with an Islamic theocracy is right up the alley of your local civil rights group, but a cartoon contest threatens the nation and all of creation by bringing down the wrath of men who spent their time at moderate and Muslim organizations which only occasionally support terrorism.

****************

Controversial, intolerant and provocative. Mainstream media outlets broke out these three words to describe the “Draw the Prophet” contest, the American Freedom Defense Initiative and Pamela Geller.

While the police were still checking cars for explosives and attendees waited to be released, CNN called AFDI, rather than the terrorists who attacked a cartoon contest, “intolerant.” Time dubbed the group “controversial.” The Washington Post called the contest, “provocative.”

Many media outlets relied on the expert opinion of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a multi-million dollar mail order scam disguised as a civil rights group, which had listed AFDI as a hate group. Also listed as hate groups were a number of single author blogs, including mine, a brand of gun oil and a bar sign.

The bar sign, which hangs outside a bar seven miles outside Pittsburgh, appears to be made out of metal and plastic. It is reportedly unaware that it is a hate group and has made no plans to take over America.

The SPLC’s inability to conduct even the most elementary fact checking did not stop news networks from inviting its talking head on to suggest that AFDI got “the response that they — in a sense — they are seeking.” Neither CNN nor MSNBC were impolitic enough to mention that no AFDI supporter had used its materials to plan a killing spree, while at least one of SPLC’s supporters had done just that.

But being “controversial” and “provocative” has nothing to do with who is doing the shooting. It’s a media signal that the target shouldn’t be sympathized with. The Family Research Council, which was shot up by a killer using the SPLC’s hate map, is invariably dubbed “intolerant.” The SPLC, which targeted it, is however a “respected civil rights group” which provides maps to respected civil rights gunmen.

A contest in which Bosch Fawstin, an ex-Muslim, drew a cartoon of a genocidal warlord is “controversial” and “provocative,” while the MSA, which has invited Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who has inspired a number of terrorists, including apparently one of the Mohammed contest attackers, is a legitimate organization that is only criticized by controversial, intolerant and provocative Islamophobes.

Khalid Yasin has held such controversial and provocative views as claiming that the US created AIDS, that gays should be stoned to death and that women should be beaten. But the mosques and MSAs that he has appeared at have not been described as controversial, intolerant and provocative for inviting him.

Elton Simpson, the first gunman, attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. The mosque was listed as being controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood’s North American Islamic Trust front group.

The Muslim Brotherhood holds such controversial and provocative views as “waging Jihad” against American infidels, “raising a Jihadi generation that pursues death” and “destroying the Western civilization from within.” Despite these extremely provocative and intolerant views, the Muslim Brotherhood is usually described by the media as a “moderate” group.

The Brotherhood’s American arm believes in launching a “Grand Jihad” to Islamize America. Its final phase calls for “Seizing power to establish their Islamic Nation” in the United State.

Some might say this is a slightly more controversial activity than drawing cartoons of a dead warlord.

The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix featured an appearance by Lauren Booth, a convert to Islam employed by Iran, who has been photographed with the leader of Hamas, and holds such controversial and provocative views, as the Boston Marathon bombing being faked and attacks on Jews being justified as “a frustrated backlash.”

Some might say Booth’s views are controversial, provocative and intolerant. And that the gunman’s mosque was intolerant for inviting her. But don’t expect the media to call out terrorist intolerance.

Booth came as part of a fundraising effort for the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which funded the defense for Islamic Jihad boss Sami al-Arian and aided some of the terrorists involved in the provocative and controversial Fort Dix terror plot to “kill as many soldiers as possible.”

If the two Mohammed cartoon gunmen had survived, the Muslim Legal Fund of America might be having Lauren Booth spout Jewish conspiracies to fundraise on their behalf.

But if you believe the media, cartoonists are more controversial than killers. A former Muslim sketching a cartoon of Mohammed is bigoted, but justifying attacks on Jews is moderate. Plotting to overthrow the United States and replace it with an Islamic theocracy is right up the alley of your local civil rights group, but a cartoon contest threatens the nation and all of creation by bringing down the wrath of men who spent their time at moderate and Muslim organizations which only occasionally support terrorism.

Cartoons can be provocative, but the only people inspired to kill over them, are killers. No one took a shot at Gary “Punching Up” Trudeau, despite decades of mocking conservatives. None of the assorted arts projects that involve defiling and mocking the sacred symbols of Christianity and Judaism resulted in gunmen in body armor trying to storm a cartoon competition. And yet it keeps happening with Islam.

Satire exposes sociopaths and sociopathic ideologies. And it’s the very attack on the “controversial” and “provocative” contest that shows why exposing them is so important.

Elton Simpson had already been on the radar of the FBI. He should have been in jail, but Judge Mary H. Murguia, a Clinton appointee who has been bandied about as a possible Obama Supreme Court nominee, chose to believe a claim by his public defender that when he was taped talking about Jihad, it might have meant “an internal struggle to maintain faith,” instead of killing non-Muslims.

Simpson had said that Allah loves those who fight non-Muslims, that Jihadists go to paradise and stated, “I’m tellin’ you man. We gonna make it to the battlefield… it’s time to roll.”

But that was just too ambiguous for Judge Murguia, who wrote, “It is true that the Defendant had expressed sympathy and admiration for individuals who “fight” non-Muslims as well as his belief in the establishment of Shariah law, all over the world including in Somalia. What precisely was meant by “fighting” whenever he discussed it, however, was not clear.”

“Neither was what the Defendant meant when he stated he wanted to get to the ‘battlefield’ in Somalia,” she added.

If nothing else, events like these help clarify the question of just what “fighting” non-Muslims involves, and whether it’s an internal struggle to maintain faith or an external struggle waged with assault rifles.

Satire helps expose the idiocy and absurdity of our betters, whether it’s Gary Trudeau or Judge Murguia. Every act of Islamic terror discredits them and their dishonest worldview even further. And they know it.

We cannot fight Islamic terrorism until we deal with it and we cannot deal with it as long as we are burdened by a political establishment that frantically censors any mention of its existence or its agenda.

The two gunmen did not attack the cartoon event simply because they were offended, but because they believed that their religion gave them a mandate to impose Islamic law on Americans. Until we deal with this supremacist reality, any effort to fight Islamic terrorists will be futile and will ultimately fail.

The Mohammed cartoons are so vital because they expose the theocracy at the heart of Islamic terrorism. When Muslim terrorists attack cartoonists, they’re not fighting our foreign policy; they are killing and dying to impose the foreign policy of the Muslim Brotherhood and its numerous daughter groups, such as Al Qaeda, Hamas and ISIS, on us.

The controversial and provocative cartoonists go into battle with pencils in their hands. The terrorists come with body armor and assault rifles. This clash is what real political dissent looks like.

The cartoonists believe in the controversial, intolerant and provocative idea that America should not be a theocracy. But the only people who should be provoked by that provocative idea are the Jihadists who want to impose a theocracy on America and the useful idiots lying and denying on their behalf.

Categories: Blasphemy, Charlie Hedbo, Freedom, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islam, Islamic jihad, Islamic slaughter, Islamism, Islamophobia, Jihad, Moral equivalence, Multiculturalism, Muslim Brotherhood, Sharia law, Terrorism, Theocracy
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Islam Has Worn Out Its Welcome In America. (And Many Other Countries As Well)

May 5, 2015

Wild Bill – Did Pamela Geller Bait the Muslims?


(Why yes…now that you mention it, yes they have worn out their welcome. – LS)

Categories: Religion of Peace
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Report: US working to stop Iran arms reaching Yemen

April 13, 2015

Report: US working to stop Iran arms reaching Yemen

US expanding intervention in Yemen, has forces board Panamanian freighter suspected of delivering Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen, Wall Street Journal reports.

Yitzhak Benhorin

Published: 04.13.15, 15:41

via Report: US working to stop Iran arms reaching Yemen – Israel News, Ynetnews.

 

The US has expanded its intervention in the current Yemen crisis in order to prevent Iran from aiding the fighting in the country.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sunday, US forces aboard the USS Sterett boarded a Panamanian freighter suspected of delivering Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

 

Fighting in Aden, Yemen. (Photo: AFP)
Fighting in Aden, Yemen. (Photo: AFP)

 

The search, conducted on April 1, came up empty and marked the first US Navy’s boarding operation in a growing effort to ensure Iran does not supply the Houthi fighters with surface-to-air missiles that could be a game-changer in the fighting and threaten the Saudi-led airstrikes against the Houthis.

The US has been helping Saudi Arabia with intelligence information and recently announced it would expand its assistance to help optimize airstrikes in Yemen and reduce adverse impacts on civilians.

 

Destruction caused by Saudi airstrikes in Sana'a. (Photo: EPA)
Destruction caused by Saudi airstrikes in Sana’a. (Photo: EPA)

 

According to the WSJ report, the Saudi airstrikes have already struck hospitals, schools, refugee camps and residential neighborhoods.

The airstrikes began two weeks ago after Houthi rebels forced US-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country. The rebels have taken over the capitol of Yemen and flooded much of the country.

US and Saudi officials have said that Iran has been providing arms, weapons, funding and training for the Houthi rebels for years, according to the WSJ report. Iran has denied the claims.

The Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, presented more than 100 high-value targets at the CIA headquarters in order for them to be examined by US intelligence.

The examination by the Pentagon found that several of the targets were of little military value, while others were labeled high value targets but were located in population centers. The US provided the Saudis with satellite imagery but did not choose targets for the Saudis to strike.

The US government fears a growing indignation among the Sunnis in Yemen and other Arab countries, and questions the ability of the Saudis to change the situation in Yemen through aerial attacks.

The American government also fears Saudi Arabia will expand its airstrikes in northern Yemen – a move that could lead to a war of attrition that could last years. Thus, the US warned the Saudis to limit their airstrikes to solely progress Houthi progress.

Meanwhile, the Saudis say that the airstrikes must continue because the tribes in Yemen “appreciate the strong.” The Saudis biggest accomplishment thus far has been taking the port city of Aden.

As the fighting continues, the US hopes that a stalemate on the battlefield will force the parties to reach the negotiating table before the Yemeni military is harmed to the point the country will no longer be able to be stabilized and have its politicians return.

 

 

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Islamic State seizes most of camp in south Damascus

April 1, 2015

Islamic State seizes most of camp in south Damascus

via Islamic State seizes most of camp in south Damascus – Breaking News – Jerusalem Post.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus

BEIRUT – Islamic State took control of large parts of Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in southern Damascus on Wednesday, witnesses and a monitoring group said.

“They pushed from the Hajar Aswad area,” one witness said, adding that the violence was ongoing. Yarmouk has been caught between government forces and Syrian insurgent groups including al Qaeda’s Nusra Front.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Islamic State controlled some of the main streets in the camp and that clashes continued.

 

Syria says Jordan shuts main border crossing
BEIRUT – Syria’s state news agency said Jordanian authorities had closed the main border crossing between the two countries on Wednesday, citing a source in the Syrian foreign ministry.

The source said Syria held Jordan responsible for the social and economic impact of the closure of Nasib crossing, which had blocked traffic.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported earlier on Wednesday heavy clashes between insurgents and Syrian forces near Nasib after the insurgents encircled the crossing area.

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Syria-says-Jordan-shuts-main-border-crossing-395827

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Iran is Smuggling Precision Missiles to Hezbollah

April 1, 2015

Iran is Smuggling Precision Missiles to Hezbollah

Top colonel in missile defense system says Iran upgrading warheads to give Hezbollah pinpoint accuracy in striking Israel.

By Ari Yashar

First Publish: 4/1/2015, 2:26 PM
Smuggled Iranian missiles (illustration)

Smuggled Iranian missiles (illustration)
Yehuda Ben Itach/Flash 90

A senior Israeli security source revealed on Tuesday that Iran is smuggling rockets souped-up with advanced guided warheads to its terror proxy of Hezbollah in Lebanon, posing a direct threat to the Jewish state of Israel from right over its northern border.

Col. Aviram Hasson, a leader in the IDF’s top-level missile defenses, brought up the threat at the Israel Air and Missile Defense Conference held in Herzliya, an event hosted by the iHLS (Israel’s homeland security) defense website and the Israel Missile Defense Association.

The colonel said Iran is taking unguided Zilzal rockets and upgrading them into guided M-600 missiles by swapping out their warheads with more advanced components.

The Islamic regime is a “train engine that is not stopping for a moment. It is manufacturing new and advanced ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. It is turning unguided rockets that had an accuracy range of kilometers into weapons that are accurate to within meters,” he revealed.

Hasson stated that Hezbollah “is getting a lot of accurate weapons from Iran. It is in a very different place compared to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.”

The statements come the same day reports revealed the IDF had updated its worst case scenarios for a war against Lebanon for the first time since 2007. The assessment posited that Hezbollah would hit Israel with 1,000-1,500 rockets every day, and the number of Israelis killed daily will be in double or even triple digits.

As far as what Israel can do against the major threat, Hasson said the “ultimate defense is a combination of counter-attack, active defenses, and passive defense,” with the later consisting of civilians following orders to stay secure.

American backing?

Also addressing the missile threat at the conference was Riki Ellison, founder and chairman of the US Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

Ellison remarked that the US has a policy of always leaving a warship with an Aegis naval missile defense system in the Mediterranean to provide Israel with defense from Iranian long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state from Iran.

He described how the warship “can stand off the coast and shoot long-shots coming in from Iran.”

However, Ellison noted how the US wants Israel to complete developing its missile defenses for all ranges of missiles, through such systems as Arrow 3 and David’s Sling, which would free up the Aegis ships.

If needed the US could take its defense of Israel a step further, revealed Elisson, noting that Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries could be deployed to secure the Jewish state.

Even as nuclear talks reached a deadline on Tuesday that was extended by the US, Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said “wiping Israel off the map is not up for negotiation,” illustrating the dangers posed by the state’s nuclear program coupled with its missile capabilities.

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