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Be Alert! - April 26, 2007
Shalom in Christ Jesus,
1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:7a
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;...
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Jeremiah 30:16-17
`Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity; And those who plunder you will be for plunder, And all who prey upon you I will give for prey. `For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,' declares the LORD, `Because they have called you an outcast, saying: "It is Zion; no one cares for her."'
Matthew 28:19-20
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
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1) A large, high-ranking Syrian delegation of 40 generals on secret mission to Tehran
Zechariah 12:9
"And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Isaiah 17:1
The oracle concerning Damascus. "Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city and will become a fallen ruin.
Luke 21:21-22
"Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.
Psalms 122:6a
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:...
DEBKAFILE - April 23, 2007
Led by Maj. Gen. Yahya L. Solayman, War Planning chief at the Syrian armed forces General Staff, the delegation represents all branches of the Syrian armed forces. On their arrival on April 18, the Syrian officers went straight into conference with Iranian defense minister Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad- Najjar, Revolutionary Commanders chief Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim-Safavi and dep. chief of staff Maj. Gen. Hassani Sa'di, who is Iran's chief of military war preparations. The Syrian visitors were taken around RG and armed forces training installations and given a display of the latest Iranian weapons systems, including stealth missiles, electronic warfare appliances and undersea missiles and torpedoes. They also visited the big Imam Ali training base in N. Tehran, where hundreds of Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami terrorists are taking courses.
In Washington and Jerusalem, there is little doubt that the two allies timed the Syrian delegation's mission to Tehran as a rejoinder to US defense secretary Robert Gates' Middle East tour last week.
Israel sees four causes for concern:
1. The unusually large size of the Syrian delegation and the presence of operations officers from the various army corps.
2. The elevated positions of the Iranian officials hosting the Syrians: the top men with responsibility for preparing the RGs and armed forces for armed conflict.
US and Israeli intelligence experts agreed in their talks during Gates' two-day visit to Israel last week on the object of the Syrian mission: to tighten operational coordination at the highest level between the Syria military and Iran's armed forces and Revolutionary Guards.
3. The installations and weapons shown the Syrian officers. The intelligence estimate is that they saw the weapons systems soon to be consigned by Iran to the Syrian army and Hizballah, as well as the types of assistance pledged for Syria in the event of a military showdown with the United States or Israel. Syrian- Iranian consultations must also be presumed to have cleared the routes by which these weapons would reach Syria and Hizballah in a military contingency.
During the 2006 Hizballah-Israel war, Iran ran an airlift to Damascus through Turkish airspace and over the Mediterranean.
4. The unusual length of the visit. Monday, April 23 the Syrian officers were still busy in Tehran after six days and showed no sign of leaving.
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2) 'Syria preps for summer war'
Officials: Iran helping Damascus produce rockets, move troops, missiles
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - April 23, 2007
TEL AVIV - Syria aided by Iran is making preparations for a summer war with Israel, including acquisition of advanced weaponry, placement of missiles near the Jewish state's border, and training and movements of strategic troop battalions, Israeli security officials told WND.
The information follows media interviews last week in which Syrian President Bashar Assad stated he doesn't rule out the possibility of war with Israel. Syrian officials recently have also been warning if Israel doesn't vacate the Golan Heights, Damascus will resort to "resistance."
The Heights is strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli and Syrian population centers; it was twice used by Damascus to mount ground invasions into the Jewish state.
According to Israeli security officials, the Syrian military in recent week has been carrying out stepped-up training of troops and has increased the readiness of its army.
The officials noted movement of Syrian Scud missiles near the border with Israel and said Syria has been increasing production of rockets capable of hitting central Israeli population centers.
The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles and rockets. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had.
In addition to longer range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah.
In addition, Israel has information Syria recently acquired and deployed Chinese-made C-802 missiles, which were successfully used against the Israeli navy during Israel's war against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia this pasty July and August. The missiles were passed to Syria by Iran, Israeli security officials told WND.
Russia recently sold to Syria advanced anti-tank missiles similar to the projectiles that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria and Russia are negotiating the sale of advanced anti-aircraft missiles.
Israeli security officials told WND Syria is preparing for a summer war, but said the war preparations are defensive in nature. They said Syrian war preparations are being coordinated by Iran. The officials said Syria believes Israel will attack first in response to ongoing support of Hezbollah, including the passage of large quantities of rockets to the Lebanese group. The officials also said Syria estimates the U.S. or Israel will attack Iran, and that Syria will be drawn into a larger military confrontation.
Israeli security officials don't rule out the possibility Syria may start a low-grade military conflict with Israel over the Golan Heights, noting multiple Syria officials in recent months warned if Israel doesn't vacate the territory, Damascus will launch "resistance." - - - -
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3) Hamas blasts Israeli locations around Gaza up to Ashkelon with mortars and missiles early Tuesday
DEBKAFILE - April 24, 2007
Ten mortar shells round struck Sderot's Hadar district by 8:30 a.m. local time; 6 Qassam missiles exploded in other parts of the W. Negev, causing damage but no casualties. The Hamas military arm, Ezz-e-Din al Qassam announced shortly before 8.00 a.m. that it had shot 80 missiles and mortar rounds at Israeli targets in retaliation for IDF operations. The Hamas announcement on Israel's 59th Day of Independence comes after nearly two years of an informal truce in overt violence. In fact, the daily missile barrage form Gaza resumed four days ago on Saturday.
DEBKAfile's military sources report: Hamas' strategic decision to go back to its missile, terror and suicide operations was taken recently, after the organization, which dominates the Palestinian unity government, judged its stockpile of ordnance sufficient to sustain a heavy blitz of Israel's towns and villages, and its units equipped and ready to withstand a responsive Israeli military incursion.
Military sources in southern Israel told DEBKAfile they do not rule out a further escalation capable of drag the sector into an open clash. They explain that Hamas' new offensive was no independence decision, but undertaken with backing from Tehran and Hizballah. The overall plan may be to extend it to other fronts.
Hamas' direction was clearly visible, said those sources. Many Israeli commanders view it as the consequence of the Olmert government's laxness which enabled Hamas and other Palestinian organizations to build up their strength, send units to train in Iran and work under the guidance of Revolutionary Guards instructors - who come and go to and from the Gaza Strip unhindered - and import ever more sophisticated weapons and explosives through Sinai.
The government also neglected to press Cairo and the European border monitors posted on the Gaza- Egyptian border to put a stop to Iranian and Hizballah passage. For two years, the border, including the Philadelphi sector evacuated by Israeli in 2005, has been wide open.
DEBKAfile adds: The Hamas offensive launched April 24 makes a mockery of Israeli, US and European bids to reach out to "unaffiliated ministers" of the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, in the hope of toning down its innate violence. The Europeans, Saudis, Egyptians and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, by lifting the international heat from the Palestinians, gave them the chance to top up their arsenal, perfect their skills, and hatch their schemes undisturbed.
Saturday, April 21, Hamas threatened to start abducting Israelis and Jews overseas.
The threat came in response to Israel's refusal to bow to the terms for releasing the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit and BBC correspondent Alan Johnston. Lacking networks outside the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hamas is expected to employ the extensive Lebanese Hizballah covert infrastructure which branches out across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The Shin Bet security service has circulated a kidnap alert to Israeli embassies, overseas firms and Jewish institutions.
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4) Hamas: Cease-fire officially over
Launches massive rocket attack, threatens suicide bombings
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - April 24, 2007
JERUSALEM - A truce Hamas made with Israel in Gaza last November is "officially over," Hamas leaders told WND today, threatening to send suicide bombers into Tel Aviv if the Jewish state retaliates for a major attack carried out this morning.
"We don't recognize Israel's right to exist. We will never allow Jews to remain in our lands. Today's attack was only a sample of what we can do. We have thousands of rockets ready to be shot. The cease-fire is officially over," said Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Izzedine al- Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' so-called military wing.
In the first rocket attack it claimed responsibility for in five months, Hamas earlier today fired 39 Qassam rockets and 79 mortars from the Gaza Strip aimed at nearby Jewish communities. The projectiles were meant to be a diversion as the group attempted to storm an Israeli military base on the Gaza border to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
The attacks occurred as Israelis nationwide celebrated the country's Independence Day.
The Israel Defense Forces thwarted the kidnap attempt and dispatched helicopters to intercept the gunmen behind it. Missiles were fired at Qassam launch pads in Gaza. The IDF at first said only 10 rockets were fired by Hamas in today's attack but later admitted "dozens" of Qassams were launched.
IDF sources said the military's response to today's Hamas attacks will be limited.
Hamas' Abu Abdullah threatened if Israel raided Gaza "the Zionists will be entering hell. We are preparing a major cemetery for them. We will step up attacks, including dispatching suicide bombers to Tel Aviv."
Following today's attack, the Hamas-led Palestinian government issued a statement calling for calm. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh claimed his government would dedicate efforts to convince Palestinian factions to maintain the truce with Israel.
But Abu Abdullah told WND today's attacks were coordinated with the Hamas political leadership.
He said Hamas used the cease-fire to stockpile weaponry and train for attacks against the Jewish state.
In November, Israel agreed to a truce with Gaza militants in which the Jewish state vowed to suspend anti-terror operations in the Gaza Strip in exchange for quiet. Since then, more than 200 rockets have been fired from Gaza, but the IDF largely has restrained itself from operating in the territory.
Hamas has not taken responsibility for rocket attacks the past five months, but Israel says the group has been passing rockets on to other Palestinian organizations to carry out attacks. Hamas last month took credit for a shooting attack at the Gaza border.
Days after the Nov. 23 truce was made, Hamas leaders in Gaza granted a series of exclusive interviews to WND in which they said the new agreement would be used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip; reinforce and train "fighter units"; and produce rockets for a future confrontation with the Jewish state.
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5) Tehran arms Lebanese Hizballah militia with air defense missile wing as part of war build-up
DEBKAFILE - April 17, 2007
April 15, on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hizballah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders staged a grand ceremony at the Imam Ali base in northern Tehran to celebrate the launch of Hizballah's anti-air missile wing. They cheered the 500 Lebanese graduates of a course in the use of three anti-air missiles supplied by Iran:
The Sayyad 1 (Hunter), the Misagh 1 (Convention [with Allah]) and the Shahab Sagheb (Meteor), which is based on the Chinese Feimeng-80 system.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that these new weapons will seriously restrict the Israeli Air Force's tactical freedom over Lebanon. In the event of hostilities, Israeli warplanes will have to evade a dense array of Hizballah-operated anti-air missiles which will also defend the terrorist group's surface rocket batteries.
Those sources disclose that the Iranian-Chinese missile has already been smuggled into Lebanon and is in Hizballah's hands. It is designed to shoot down planes and helicopters flying at ultra-low altitudes under radar screens for surprise assaults on ground targets such as military bases, missile positions and artillery. Ordinary radar and air defense missiles are mostly ineffective against these low- flying tactics. The new missile makes up for this shortcoming.
On March 7, the 500 Hizballah trainees flew out of Damascus airport for Tehran aboard two civilian airliners; on April 16, they returned home - again through the Syrian airport - after training in the Imam Ali base under Iranian experts commanded by Iranian Col. Mohammed Mnafi.
DEBKAfile hears from military circles wry remarks to the effect that, while Israel's heads of state and chief of staff solemnly declared: "Never again!" in speeches marking Holocaust Remembrance day, they are seriously short on action for curbing Hizballah-Hamas preparations for their next war on the Jewish state. Surface missiles are routinely smuggled into Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, unopposed. But the arming of Iran's Lebanese proxy with deadly anti-air missiles poses a new and extraordinarily threat to the Israeli Air Force and, moreover, prevents air attacks on the Hizballah batteries shooting rockets into Israel. Questions are being asked about how Israel's policy- makers and top brass could have allowed 500 Hizballah trainees to fly out of Damascus airport unhindered and return as air defense specialists, highly trained for shooting missiles at the Israeli Air Force and preventing Israeli warplanes from halting surface rockets should they fly against Israeli civilian locations once more.
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6) The Iran War Theater's "Northern Front": Azerbaijan and the US Sponsored War on Iran
GLOBAL RESEARCH.ca : CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON GLOBALIZATION - By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - April 9, 2007
In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support for NATO's "supply route to Afghanistan". NATO's special envoy Robert Simmons insists that the agreement has nothing to do with US plans to wage aerial bombardments on Iran.
Media sources in Baku have intimated that this timely agreement is directly related to ongoing US-Israeli- NATO war plans. Its timing coincides with US naval deployments and war games in the Persian Gulf.
The airport and two military bases are slated to be "modernized to meet NATO standards". Washington has confirmed in this regard that it would "support the modernization of a military airport in the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO. - - -
Strategic Caspian Sea Maritime Border with Iran
Azerbaijan is also strategic in view of its maritime border with Iran in the Caspian sea. In this regard, the U.S. Navy is involved in supporting the Azeri Navy, in the area of training. There is also an agreement to provide US support to refurbish Azeri warships in the Caspian sea.
The US sponsored Caspian Guard Initiative was launched in 2003 to "coordinate activities in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan with those of U.S. Central Command and other U.S government agencies to enhance Caspian security." The initiative was implemented under the cover of preventing narcotics trafficking and counter- terrorism, Its ultimate objective, however, is to provide USCENTCOM with a strategic naval corridor in the Caspian sea basin.
The US has also participated in joint Naval exercises with the Azeri Army's 641st Special Warfare Naval Unit, headquartered at the Azeri Naval Station outside Baku.
More generally, both the US and NATO are in the process of deepening their military cooperation with Azerbaijan. In recent developments, military-political consultations between the US and Azerbaijan are scheduled to be held in Washington in the second half of April, according to a US Embassy source in Baku. (APA News, 4 April 2007)
"the consultations will cover issues on strategic cooperation, Azerbaijan-NATO relations, the mutual activity of both countries in Iraq and Afghanistan and some other issues.[Iran] (ibid)
The timing of these consultations is crucial. They coincide chronologically with a process of advanced military planning.
Azerbaijan could be the object of retaliatory strikes by Iran, if the country's military bases are used by NATO- US forces as a launch pad for waging war on Iran.
Media sources in Baku have suggested that retaliatory bombings by Iran could include Azeri oil fields and oil and gas pipelines. The strategic Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which links the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean could also be a target. The Baku Ceyan pipeline is controlled by an Anglo-American consortium led by British Petroleum (BP).
In early April, Iran deployed troops and military hardware along the Iranian-Azerbaijani border. According to an April 4 report of the Azerbaijani news agency Turan:
"Military experts think that the deployment of troops and hardware pursue defence ends. This means that the troops are being pushed forward to repel attacks... The start of an information [propaganda] war is obvious. An intelligence expert has told Turan that recent publications in the media saying that Iran has drawn up a list of facilities in Azerbaijan that will be bombed in case of a US attack [on Iran] are a glaring example of this. Most likely, the reports were prepared and passed to the mass media by the Iranian secret services to exert psychological pressure on Baku. The goal is to deter Baku from supporting Washington in a military conflict with Tehran. (Turan, 4 April 2007) (emphasis added)
The Iran War Theater's "Northern Front"
US and allied naval deployments are concentrated in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean. The March NATO/US agreement with Baku, while building upon previous military cooperation agreements, specifically reinforces what might be described as a "Northern Front" whereby Azeri military bases including airfields and naval facilities in the Caspian sea would be used by NATO and US forces in the case of US sponsored attacks on Iran.
If this were to occur, several Central Asian countries could be drawn into the conflict, leading to a process of military escalation. The latter could also extend into a ground war in which Iran would target US, British and NATO facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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7) Iran Mends Fences with Arabs - Starting with Saudis
DEBKAFILE - April 1, 2007
The live wire at last week's Arab League summit in Riyadh was undoubtedly the non-Arab guest of honor, Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
He breezed around the Arab delegations hard-selling the notion of a mutual defense treaty between Iran and the Arabs on the lines of the Tehran-Damascus pact. Mottaki argued that a treaty of this kind would allay Arab fears of an Iranian nuclear threat, put a stop to a Middle East nuclear arms race, provide the Arabs with a protective umbrella against Israeli aggression and set up an Arab-Islamic front against US and other foreign intervention in the region.
The Iranian diplomat's proposition fell on willing ears.
DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report that he had a long conversation in Riyadh with Saudi foreign minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal, at which they looked the treaty plan in some detail and agreed that their defense ministries would assign special teams to explore it further. The Iranian minister argued that the joint effort of Riyadh and Tehran to pacify Lebanon and reconcile the internal differences among its rival factions could work as well for the Palestinian Authority. He said increasing Saudi-Iranian cooperation in joint diplomatic-strategic projects across the Middle East ought to extend to the military sphere.
Our source also reported exchanges between the Iranian and Egyptian delegations to the Arab summit last week on the resumption of diplomatic ties.
Saturday, March 31, Iran's chief of staff Gen. Hassan Fayrouz Abadi, prodded the Arabs again; he urged them to hurry up and join Iran in a defense treaty because, he claimed, Israel threatened a war offensive in summer, two months hence. According to the Iranian general, Israel was bent on a "suicide assault" against a number of Arab states to save the Americans from having to pull their troops out of Iraq.
Before the conference ended, the Saudi foreign minister arranged a four-way meeting between King Abdullah, Mottaki, and the two Palestinian leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Together they discussed how Iran and Saudi Arabia could work together to apply the Mecca reconciliation accords which established a unity government between Fatah and Hamas. This was taken by Iran as Riyadh's approval of the military assistance Tehran gives the Palestinians and a formal, collective Arab endorsement.
DEBKAfile's political analysts take this step as a mark of Saudi contempt for Israel, and further, the collapse of the Saudi initiative led by national security adviser Prince Bandar bin-Sultan for direct Saudi-Israeli talks. Instead, the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement led by Saudi al-Faisal has prevailed. The Israel-Palestinian issue has been shifted to the Saudi-Iranian ken by the Faisal faction which has attained ascendancy in Riyadh and argues that the time has come for the Arabs to take their fate in their own hands and drop their dependence on foreign powers, namely the Americans.
DEBKAfile's sources have learned that talks for the resumption of Egyptian-Iranian diplomatic relations have already begun. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak entertained for breakfast in Cairo last week Iranian ex-president Muhammad Hatami, who now heads the Institute for Dialogue among Cultures. Present too was Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Natif. Relations were broken off in 1979, the first year of the Islamic revolution, after Ayatollah Khomeini praised the murderers of President Anwar Sadat and a Tehran thoroughfares for one of the assassins, Muhammad Islambouly.
Hatami pressed his host to seriously consider resuming diplomatic relations, maintaining that the Muslim world is beset by a crisis caused by Western domination. Muslim powers must therefore work together to recover control of their own countries. He spoke highly of Egypt's importance in the Arab and Muslim worlds. By working together, the two governments could make a difference, he said.
After the meal, Hatami and Natif put their heads together and agreed that a high-ranking Iranian delegation would visit Cairo in April to set up arrangements for the two embassies to re-open. The Iranian leader made a similar attempt to restore relations in 2001 when he was president. It broke down when Iranian extremists refused to take down Islambouli's street name as demanded by Cairo.
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8) A Cup of Trembling: News Briefs
Zechariah 12:2-3
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Major Offensive in Gaza Under Consideration
ARUTZ SHEVA - By Hillel Fendel - April 25, 2007
Following Tuesday's barrage of dozens of Kassam rockets and mortar shells on the western Negev area by Hamas terrorists, the top military and political echelons are once again considering a large-scale offensive into Gaza.
Prime Minister Ehud OImert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and top IDF officers and officials have been meeting, as of early Wednesday afternoon, for several hours.
The head of the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council, senior Labor Party member Shmulik Rifman, calls upon Prime Minister Olmert to "respond sharply" to the rocket attacks. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Rifman writes, "Enough restraint in the face of the continued Kassams! I call upon you to respond sharply. Do not [despite the recent war in Lebanon] repeat the Sabra and Shatila syndrome [a reference to the fear to act militarily that overtook Israeli leaders following the events of 1982 - ed.]. The longer we wait, the more painful and complex it will be."
The IDF, whose tunnel-searching and local Kassam- thwarting operations have continued all the while, seeks permission to carry out a stronger offensive against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
Many military experts have long warned that a large- scale offensive in Gaza - along the lines of Operation Defensive Shield of 2002, in which dozens of terrorists in Shechem and Jenin were killed - will soon be necessary. Now, in light of Hamas warnings of additional attempts to kidnap IDF soldiers, Israel's military option has taken on increasing urgency. - - - -
Read Full Article
59th Independence Day Stats
ARUTZ SHEVA - By Hillel Fendel - April 23, 2007
Israel's population, currently 7,150,000, increased by 121,000 over the past year - a growth rate of 1.8%, twice as high as that of the United States.
The Central Bureau of Statistics released a series of national statistics on Monday, in honor of Israel's 59th Independence Day, falling on Monday night and Tuesday. The Jewish population comprises 76% of the country, and Arabs and Druze - 20%. - - - -
Read Full Article
Kuwait government sets up emergency team to prepare for an Iran-US military conflict
DEBKAFILE - April 25, 2007
Deputy Saleh Ashour reported Tuesday that the Kuwait cabinet had formed a team to draw up plans to keep the country running during a war. Parliament will be briefed.
Read Full Article
Olmert promising leftists Israeli withdrawal
PM solidifying support ahead of report expected to be damaging
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - April 19, 2007
JERUSALEM - Anticipating the release of a report of his handling of last summer's war in Lebanon that is expected to be damaging, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has held meetings in recent days with leading leftist figures pledging to carry out Israeli withdrawals in exchange for their continued support, WND has learned.
Excerpts of testimony given to the Winograd Committee, a commission established to probe the performances during the Lebanon War of various Israeli government and defense branches, are expected to be released in the coming days pending an Israeli Supreme Court decision. The court, which oversees the Committee, is debating when to allow the excerpts to be released. - - -
According to political sources here, Olmert held meetings the past two weeks with leftist political officials, leading intellectuals, prominent leftist groups and leftist media figures. The sources said Olmert told the leftist leaders he is willing to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians, including an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv. - - -
Since the war, there have been widespread calls for Olmert to resign. The prime minister has faced devastatingly low poll numbers, but some analysts speculated his ratings could rise if Olmert reached out to his leftist base and conducted negotiations with the Palestinian Authority or Syria. Already the IDF's Halutz resigned. - - - -
Read Full Article
US sanctions imposed on 14 foreign people, companies and agencies including Syrian navy and air force and Hizballah
DEBKAFILE - April 24, 2007
They are penalized for transferring advanced weapons, missile technology or materials for weapons of mass destruction to and from Iran and Syria.
DEBKAfile adds that the main effect will be on Iranian weapons exports to Indian companies.
US aid, government contracts and exports licenses are barred for two years from a list that includes three Chinese and two Malaysian firms as well as a Singaporean and a Mexican company. The Syrian navy and air force and the Hizballah have never before been named as violators of the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
Read Full Article
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10) Al-Qaeda 'planning big British attack'
THE SUNDAY TIMES of LONDON - By Dipesh Gadher - April 22, 2007
AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first "large- scale" terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.
Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on "a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki" in an attempt to "shake the Roman throne", a reference to the West.
Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a "change in the head of the company".
The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.
There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi'ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran's leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation's activities.
The intelligence report also makes it clear that senior Al-Qaeda figures in the region have been in recent contact with operatives in Britain.
It follows revelations last year that up to 150 Britons had travelled to Iraq to fight as part of Al- Qaeda's "foreign legion". A number are thought to have returned to the UK, after receiving terrorist training, to form sleeper cells. - - - -
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11) In Turkey, a Sign of a Rising Islamic Middle Class
NEW YORK TIMES - By Sabrina Tavernise - April 25, 2007
ISTANBUL, April 24 - Turkey's ruling party on Tuesday chose a presidential candidate with an Islamic background, a move that will extend the reach of the party - and the emerging class of devout Muslims it represents - into the heart of Turkey's secular establishment for the first time.
The selection has focused the worries of secular Turks who fear that sexual equality, as well as drinking alcohol and wearing miniskirts, could eventually be in danger.
Abdullah Gul, 56, the foreign minister, whose wife wears a Muslim head scarf and who is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's closest political ally, is expected to be confirmed as president by Parliament in several rounds of voting that begin Friday. That will boost Turkey's new political class - modernizers from a religious background.
"These are the new forces, the new social powers," said Ali Bulac, a columnist for a conservative newspaper, Zaman, in Istanbul. "They are very devout. They don't drink. They don't gamble. They don't take holidays. They are loaded with a huge energy. This energy has been blocked by the state."
Turkey is a Muslim country, but its state, founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is strictly secular, and the presidency is its most important office. The current president is Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a secularist with a judicial background whose term is expiring.
Mr. Gul, an affable English speaker who has long been his party's public face abroad, nodded to secular concerns in a news conference in Ankara after his nomination, saying, "Our differences are our richness." His candidacy was a concession: the choice most distasteful to the secular establishment was Mr. Erdogan himself, who deftly bowed out.
Still, if Mr. Gul is confirmed, his party would occupy the posts of president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker, a lineup that the opposition party leader, Deniz Baykal, called "unfavorable." His party later announced that it would boycott the vote. - - - -
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12) Muslims in UK tracked with cameras
High-tech CCTV units keep eye on activity in Islamic neighborhoods
Ed. Note: This is one of those interesting reports that can be interpreted two ways.
We may be tempted to cheer for the government attempt at stopping the Islamic Terrorists before they can strike. But this same technology could eventually be used to identify and control or "stop" fundamental Christians who will not compromise the Word of God.
BE/\LERT!
WORLDNETDAILY - From JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN - April 21, 2007
Britain's national security service MI5 is testing surveillance cameras in enclaves of London and other Muslim-dominated area of Britain where terrorists are known to operate, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Based on the latest satellite technology, the $10,000 cameras have a ring of eight powerful lenses that can provide a panoramic view.
Software in the system can also indicate up to 50 behavior traits to identify a person "as a potential terrorist."
Within a year the cameras will be able to signify "facial movements indicating tension and other furtive behavior," confirmed an MI5 officer.
Known as "The Bug," the camera can pinpoint "individual groups loitering or acting in a suspicious manner," the officer added.
The moment a target is identified, a ninth lens mounted on the base of the system zooms in and follows every move of suspected individuals.
"It can track him down a street, in and out of a building and follow him as he drives away," said the MI5 officer.
The cameras have undergone exhaustive tests in Muslim areas of London, Bradford, Luton and other Midland cities. - - - -
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13) DHS evaluating chipped license proposal
Would encode personal information on driver's ID
Revelation 13:16-17
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name...
Daniel 11:38a
"But instead he will honor a god of fortresses...
WORLDNETDAILY - By Jerome R. Corsi - April 19, 2007
The Department of Homeland Security is proceeding to evaluate Washington state's proposal for a driver's license "enhanced" with a radio frequency identification, or RFID, chip that would encode personal information.
As WND reported , in a recorded interview earlier this month, DHS spokeswoman Naomi Elmer told WND the Washington state proposal was being considered as an initiative under the Rea | |
