Putin ally fears Israel is pushing
U.S. toward Iran war - Russia fears
Israel will push the United States into a
military
conflict with Iran which could retaliate by blocking oil
shipments from the Gulf, a confidant of Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin said. "There is a likelihood of military
escalation of the conflict, towards which Israel is pushing
the Americans," Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Kremlin's
Security Council, told Interfax news agency.
Iran: We'll Bring the War to Israel,
and 'Beyond' - Iran is preparing its
own answers to the string of assassinations of Iranian
scientists, a web site identified with
President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad said Thursday – and those responsible had
better start staying awake nights, a senior Iranian official
was quoted as saying. Naming Israel specifically, the Rajah
News website said that Israel wasn't the only country that
could undertake long-distance proxy wars. “We too can send
our agents to kill people in their sleep,” the site quoted
the unnamed official as saying.
Hamas leader to visit Iran, Qatar in
new trip - An adviser to Hamas' prime
minister says the leader will visit Iran, Qatar and other
Muslim countries at the end of the month. Yusef Rizka said
Thursday the militant group's Ismail Haniyeh will embark on
his second official international trip outside the Gaza
Strip. He returned this week from a
tour of Egypt,
Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia.
'EU report says Israel undermining
two-states' - An internal European
Union
report says that a
range of Israeli actions in Area C of the West Bank
undermines the area's Palestinian population, thereby
contributing to the "closing [of] the window" for reaching a
two-state solution,
according to a
report in the London-based The Independent Thursday.
Israeli Defense Force soldiers enter
the Temple Mount - For the first time
in over 10 years Israeli Defense Force soldiers, in uniform,
entered the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem
and toured the Al Aqsa Mosque, an activity that Israeli
police had not permitted to happen because they said it
would be dangerous if uniformed soldiers were allowed to
enter the compound. The chairman of the Temple Mount
heritage foundation, Yehuda Glick, met with Israeli
officials to work out
the details for this
Temple Mount visit by the Israeli Defense Force soldiers and
he praised the police and the soldiers and he said that he
hopes this is only the beginning of a time when all IDF
soldiers will tour the Temple Mount as a part of their
military duties.
'Hezbollah, Iran providing weaponry to
Assad' - Military Intelligence chief
Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi says "radical axis" becoming more
actively involved in Assad's violent crackdown. Iran and
Hezbollah are actively assisting Syrian President Bashar
Assad and providing him with weaponry as part of an effort
to ensure that he survives in the face of growing resistance
and protests, head of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aviv
Kochavi said on Wednesday.
Turkey halts Iranian arms corridor to
Syria, balks at nuclear Iran - When IDF
Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi accused
Iran and Hizballah Wednesday, Jan. 11of directly helping
Bashar Assad repress the uprising against him with arms,
Turkey had just taken a stand against the Iranian corridor
running weapons to Syria via its territory, debkafile's
military sources report