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Mideast
War Jitters
News
Round Up
For
Week Ending
4-20-8
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LATE
NEWS FLASH
Developing
As We Publish This Page
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Syria
Signals Peace Talks
Flurry
of Messages Suggest Peace Breaththrough?
Syrian
President Bashar Assad confirmed April 20 that he has contacted
Israel through a third-party
about resuming peace talks, the country’s official news agency SANA reported. Assad’s
comments reportedly took place during a meeting with ruling Baath Party
officials.
During
a meeting with ruling Baath Party officials, Assad commented on media reports
about indirect contact between the two countries.
"There
are efforts exerted in this direction," he was quoted as saying by SANA.
An
Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, on Thursday quoted Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert as saying Israel
and Syria have been exchanging messages
to clarify expectations for any future peace treaty. He did not disclose the
content of the messages or provide other details about the contacts.
The
paper quoted Olmert as saying, "They know what we want from them, and I know
full well what they want from us."
Assad
echoed those comments on Sunday, saying Israel "knows well what is accepted and not
accepted by Syria."
But
he also rejected having any "secret" direct talks or contacts with Israel.
"Anything
Syria does in this regard will be
announced to the public," Assad was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate. Read
the full AP Newswire story, LINK HERE.
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Assad
& Syria Prep For War
Syria's President Assad said this week that his
nation is preparing for war with Israel. Syrian President Bashar Assad
has said that while the likelihood of war with Israel breaking out is low given
the current circumstances, he sees war with Israel as a real possibility, and is
preparing for it.
Speaking
to a group of Arab intellectuals at a conference in Damascus, the Syrian leader conveyed that whilst war is not
a preferable option, "if Israel declares war on Lebanon and Syria or if America declares war on Iran,"
his country would be prepared.
According
to Assad, there are those in the American administration who want this war, and
Damascus is
preparing for the worst. "We're acting as if war is imminent and are preparing
for it, but our intelligence does not indicate that such war is on the horizon."
"None
of us can rule out the option of war, but it is arguable whether
Israel will launch war
against Lebanon or
Syria, or whether the
U.S. will launch a war
against Iran.
"We
should analyze the situation from the perspective of American interests, because
the last war in Lebanon has shown that at some point Israel wanted to stop the
fighting, but was forced by the U.S. administration to pursue it further," Assad
conveyed, according to SANA news agency. More details, LINK
HERE.
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Syria
Masses More Troops
On
Israel's
Border
Adds
10th Armored Corps at Massaneh
DEBKAfile’s
military sources report that Damascus has
deployed the 10th armored corps at the Massaneh crossing of Mount Hermon. It links up with the northwestern positions
the 14th division took up last month on the Syrian-Israeli border which cuts
through the Hermon range.
Syrian
troops are now strung along a continuous crescent-shaped line from the central
Lebanese mountains through Mt Dov on the western slopes of Mt. Hermon
and up to southeastern Lebanon. This deployment, commanding
Syria’s Israeli and Lebanese borders,
is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad. More details, LINK HERE.
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War
Fever Grips Mideast
Spring
in the Middle East frequently raises fears of
war. This year war fever is intense. According to the Qatari newspaper al-Watan,
political and media sources in Syria believe war may break out with Israel
in late May or early June. More details LINK HERE.
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Syrian
Leaders Say:
"
Israel Planning War in Coming
Months"
In
Late May or June
Israel
reportedly sees the period between the end of May to mid-June as a window of
opportunity for waging another war in the Mideast.
Political
and media sources in Damascus expressed concerns
that a military conflict may break out between Israel and Syria during the coming summer, Qatar's
al-Watan newspaper reported Monday.
According
to the report, the nationwide emergency drill held by Damascus following the Israeli exercises last week, is one
of the preemptive steps taken by Syria.
Damascus
measures were taken after reports that Israel had held a strategy meeting with the
US to devise an attack plan
against Syria.
Israel's
military drill, covering the Golan Heights, was closely monitored by a
high-ranking American general, al-Watan quoted a senior Syrian official as
saying.
This
close cooperation is evident that the two wish to send a message to opponents in
the region, namely Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas.
The
regime staged "the national military drill" in a bid to restore "its military
deterrence, which was damaged in the 33-day Lebanon
War". LINK HERE.
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More
on War Threat
Night
Watch: DAMASCUS - Syria is taking what appears to be pre-emptive
measures to prepare for what it states is a planned offensive by
Israel with active support
from Washington. At least that is what Syrian
officials are saying publicly and that they claim Israel
will start the war in either late May or mid-June.
This
of course could be just an official line to deceive the enemy as Syria
may actually be preparing its own offensive as it held nationwide drills last
week
in
response to Israel's own emergency maneuvers that
were also conducted last week. PressTV is reporting Syrian officials have been
making their defensive position known through Qatar's al-Watan newspaper and that during
Israel's recent maneuvers they were
closely monitored by a high ranking American general. His name was not mentioned
but it could have been Air Force Lieutenant-General William Fraser the high
level military liaison between the Pentagon and Jerusalem. It is quite possible Washington has placed warships off the Syria-Lebanon coast
for joint operations with Israel against Syria.
LINK
HERE.
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Israeli
Air Strikes In Gaza
Kill
A Dozen
Two
Israel Air Force airstrikes
have killed a dozen Palestinians in the Gaza Strip today. Details, LINK HERE. Still
More details - LINK HERE.
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Bloody
Clashes on
Israel-Gaza
Border
Fierce
battles erupted Wednesday (4-16-8) on both sides of the Gaza-Israeli border
barrier. The clashes attest to a further deterioration of security along
Israel’s southwestern border.
Terrorists
are reportedly breaking through the border and it is thought that the
breakthroughs are part of an effort to launch terror operations inside
Israel during Passover celebrations
this weekend. For more details see Debka's report, LINK HERE.
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Israeli
Soldiers Violate S.
Lebanon
LINK
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Iran
Threatens To Eliminate Israel
Iran
will destroy Israel if Israel attacks Teheran, Iranian Deputy Chief of Staff
Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned Tuesday in response to a threat issued last week
by National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
"We
are not worried by the recent Israeli maneuvers, but if Israel wants to take any action against the
Islamic republic, we will eliminate Israel from the universe," the
Iranian Mehr agency quoted Ashtiani as saying.
Ben-Eliezer
had warned that "Iran will be wiped off the face of
the earth if it dares to fire any missile at us."
Later
in the week, Ben-Eliezer would not retract his statement: "I do not regret the
threats I directed at Iran and its leaders. I am sick of
receiving threats to Israel's existence on a daily
basis." LINK
HERE.
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Iran
Complains To UN
About
Israeli Minister's Threats
After
all of the Iranian leadership's threats to wipe Israel off the face of the
earth, Iranian leaders have filed a complaint with the UN about an Israeli
leader's statement declaring that if Iran attacked Israel then Israel would
destroy Iran. It seems that turn about is not fair play with the Iranians who
apparently prefer a one-way street of rhetorical threats. For more on this
story, LINK
HERE.
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Bush
Targets Iran & Syria
On
Beirut Bombing
Anniversary
LINK
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US
& Iran
Reportedly
Holding
Secret Talks
For
the past five years, the United
States and Iran have been holding "back channel"
talks over the Iranian nuclear program and the relations between the two
countries, the British daily The Independent reported Monday.
The
report quoted one of the participants, Thomas Pickering, a former senior
US diplomat, as saying that former
diplomats and foreign policy experts met with Iranian academics and policy
advisers.
"Some
of the Iranians were connected to official institutions inside
Iran," Pickering told The
Independent. Although the nuclear issue was "prominent," he said, "we discussed
what's going on domestically in both countries and wide-ranging issues."
Pickering
said that the Bush administration "did not encourage" the talks, but added that
"each side kept their officials informed."
According
to Pickering, the talks were prompted by the fact
that US policy regarding
Iran was "stuck." He said that
preventing Teheran from obtaining a nuclear weapons was "feasible," but only "if
governments wish to make it so, technically and financially."
"It
will take a lot of negotiation," he added. LINK HERE.
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Israel
Requests USA's
Early
Missile Warning Alerts
Amid
New Iranian Threats
Israeli
leaders have requested that Israel be linked to America's new Ballistic Missile
Early-Warning System to help prevent a sneak attack from Iranian ballistic
missiles. The request comes on the heels of a new threat issued by
Iran to wipe Israel
"from the scene of the universe." More details on the link-up request from Debka
- LINK
HERE.
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Iran
Accuses Israel
Of
Planning War
In
Coming Months
LINK
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Syria
Braces for Israeli Attack
Expected
Late Spring or Summer
Qatar's al-Watan newspaper reported Monday that
political and media sources in Damascus expressed
concerns that war may breakout between Israel and Syria
before long.
According
to the report, the nationwide emergency drill held by Damascus in response to a
similar drill held by Israel last week, is one of the preemptive steps taken by
Syria, which is supposedly responding to reports of Israel holding strategy
meeting with the US in an attempt to devise an attack on both Syria and Iran.
Israel,
claimed the report, is eyeing the period between the end of May to mid June as a
possible window of attack; and the proof, as a senior Syrian official told
al-Watan, is in the fact that the Israeli drill covering the Golan Heights was closely monitored by a high-ranking
American general.
This
close cooperation, added the source is evident that the two wish to send a
message to the "resistance" in the area, namely Syria, Iran, Hizbullah and
Hamas, that any the US is aware of the fact that any American strike against
Iran may entail the latter bombing Israel and launching two new fronts against
Syria and Lebanon.
Though
titled a readiness drill against natural disasters, the Syria-crossing drill,
added the report, has raised public concerns of a Mideast war pending in the summer. LINK
HERE.
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Middle
East
Times Reports
Israel
& Syria Staring At Each Others
Armies
LINK
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Israel
Accuses Syria
Of
Supplying Rockets
To
Hezbollah
LINK
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More
Iranian Saber Rattling
Air
Force "Parade" Thursday
Iran
will mark Iranian Army Day on Thursday with a massive air parade, the largest in
its history. One hundred and forty aircrafts will participate in the show, Air
Force Chief Muhammad 'Alavi told local
reporters.
Among
the aircrafts will be the MIG-29, Sukhoi, F14, aerial refueling aircrafts,
interceptors and passenger planes (Boeing 707 and 747). The air parade aims to
reveal the power of the Iranian armed forces to defend their homeland, added
'Alavi. LINK
HERE.
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Iranian
Prez Casts
More
Doubt on 9-11
Iran's
hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cast doubt Wednesday over the U.S.
version of the Sept. 11 attacks, calling it a pretext used to invade Afghanistan
and Iraq Last week, the Iranian leader stated doubts about 9-11 and reiterated
those doubts again on Wednesday. Although Iran has condemned the 2001 al-Qaida attacks on
New York and Washington in the past, this was the third
time in a week that Ahmadinejad questioned the death toll, who was behind the
attacks and how it happened.
"Four
or five years ago, a suspicious event occurred in New York. A building
collapsed and they said that 3,000 people had been killed but never published
their names," Ahmadinejad told Iranians in the holy city of Qom. Under this pretext,
the U.S. "attacked
Afghanistan and
Iraq and since then a million
people have been killed only in Iraq," Ahmadinejad said in the speech
broadcast live on state-run television.
On
the last anniversary of the attacks, the names of 2,750 victims killed in
New York were
read aloud at a memorial ceremony.
In
Washington,
the State Department rejected the comments out of hand, calling them "another
example of misinformed misguided rhetoric" from the Iranian leader. For more
details, LINK HERE.
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Bush
Targets Iran & Syria
On
Beirut Bombing
Anniversary
LINK
++++
Iran
Training Media for
Israeli-Syrian
War Coverage
The
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corporation (IRIB) has begun a training
course for war journalists, who will be sent to Syria and Lebanon in case these
countries engage in war with Israel, the Iranian news agency 'A'sr Iran
reported. More details, LINK
HERE.
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US
Congress To Hear Details
on
Israel's
Strike on Syrian Nuke Plant
on
Sept 6, 2007
Details
Won't Be Released To Public
The
details of the attack in Syria on Sept. 6 will not be revealed in public
by the U.S. Congress. Israel has agreed to a
hearing in Congress, but it will take place behind closed doors on Thursday,
April 17, with the members of the committee on the matter. Israeli security
sources welcomed the decision not to publicize the attack, hoping that this
would prevent Syria from
being pushed into a retaliatory attack against Israel.
The details of the discussion will not be released for publication.
The
goal of the discussion in Congress is to examine the involvement of
North Korea in establishing
the nuclear compound on the banks of the Euphrates River in Syria that, according to the foreign reports, was
the target of the attack by Israel approximately seven months
ago.
It
is feared that, if an authoritative source such as the U.S. Congress reveals exact details about the
target that was attacked by Israel, pressure upon Syrian President Bashar
Assad to order a retaliatory attack against Israel
could increase. The security establishment has claimed that if Mr. Assad does
not order retaliation, "the very fact of publication will push him further into
a corner and intensify the tension."
According
to foreign press reports, it was believed that Israel attacked a nuclear reactor in its
construction stage that was being built with help from North
Korea. Almost half a day passed until the first
report came out, according to which Syria had driven off an Israeli
fighter jet.
Israeli
officials did not comment on the Syrian claims, and the Israeli censor demanded
that the Israeli media submit to it all reports about the matter. U.S.
officials also refused to comment on the attack. Only two days later, the
Turkish media reported about the detachable fuel tanks from an Israeli aircraft
that were found on that country's soil and that apparently served the fighter
jets that entered its territory on the way to attack the target in the Dir-Azur
region. More details, LINK HERE.
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Status
on Congressional Hearings
on
Israel's Syrian Strike Still
Unclear
Not
Sure if Hearings Will Be Public Or Not
The
Jerusalem Post reports that it remains unclear as
to whether or not the US
Congressional hearings on Israel's attack upon a Syrian nuclear
facility will be open to the public or kept confidential. Read more details,
from the Jerusalem Post, LINK HERE.
Meanwhile,
Israel's other major
newspaper, Ha'aretz claims the US Senate hearings on April 22, will
be closed to the public. More details LINK
HERE.
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