Stability in the Middle East has been seriously undermined by more or less natural processes, by financial shenanigans that have been well publicized since 2008 and by the wanton destruction of Libya and the subversion of Syria. Saudi Arabia, having paid for destruction and subversion, is getting afraid ....Syrian endgame triggers realignments
When senior Pakistani editor Najam Sethi can’t figure out why Saudi Arabia deposited a princely amount of $1.5 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan recently, we are at a dead end. Sethi said in a TV interview, “money is money and if something is taken, something has to be given in return and that is being kept secret. Saudi Arabia had made a request [to Pakistan].”
There have been reports about a Saudi-Pakistani understanding about Syria — Pakistani advisers to train a Syrian rebel army and for supplying weapons for equipping the rebel fighters.
But the advisor to Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in foreign and security policies Sartaj Aziz has flatly denied that. But then, Aziz merely says it is “gifted money.” So, Sethi’s tantalizing question remains: why such a generous gift?
A clue is available with the arrival of the King of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa in Islamabad on Wednesday on a 3-day visit.
This is the first visit by a Bahrain ruler to Pakistan in four decades and it is taking place after the recent visits by the Saudi foreign minister and Crown Prince to Islamabad.
One of the agreements signed during Al-Khalifa’s visit relates to the interior ministries. Nawaz Sharif said he expects Bahraini (read Saudi) investments in “mega projects” in Pakistan.
Slowly, but surely, the picture that is emerging is of Saudi Arabia (and Bahrain) subcontracting to Pakistan certain internal security duties in the Gulf region. Breaking protocol, Al-Khalifa visited the Joint Services Headquarters in Rawalpindi to meet the military leadership’.
With the intra-GCC rifts becoming acute, Saudi deployments in Bahrain to quell the upheaval for democratic reforms are becoming unsustainable, especially with the steadily worsening situation in the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia, which are Shi’ite-dominated.
Besides, the Saudis are bracing for a confrontation with Qatar. The latter, on the other hand, has close ties with Turkey and Iran and, even more shockingly for Riyadh, it has reached out to the Syrian regime for a patch-up. In sum, Saudi Arabia faces isolation and has only the UAE, Bahrain and Jordan as its reliable allies. Iran’s Fars News Agency featured an insightful report on this complex realignment taking place in the Middle Eastern politics.
Quite obviously, the endgame in Syria and the brightening prospects for an Iran nuclear deal have triggered realignments in regional politics. The Syrian regime has all but gained the upper hand on the ground and is fast reaching a position to dictate the national reconciliation, while Iran’s diplomatic options have multiplied.
Against this backdrop, and with Egypt in disarray, Saudi Arabia feels an unprecedented regional isolation. No doubt, it is assiduously courting Pakistan.
But it is unclear whether Pakistan will want to take sides in the intra-GCC rift involving Saudi Arabia and Qatar or in the popular Shi’ite uprising in Bahrain.
From all accounts, a furious debate is going on within the Pakistani establishment. Pakistan always walked a fine line when it concerned ties with Iran, given the Tehran-Delhi equation. Having said that, Pakistan is also badly in need of the “gifted money”. Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduling a visit to Iran.
Posted in Diplomacy, Military, Politics.
Tagged with Arab spring, Bahrain unrest, Iran nuclear issue, Muslim Brotherhood, Syria's conflict.
By M K Bhadrakumar – March 20, 2014
What with Ukraine and Russia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran White House, Pentagon and Foggy Bottom can have little time to think about West Africa or China.Israel steps up talk of threat of force on Iran
By TIA GOLDENBERG
19 hours ago
JERUSALEM (AP) — A rising chorus of Israeli voices is again raising the possibility of carrying out a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in what appears to be an attempt to draw renewed attention to Tehran's atomic program — and Israel's unhappiness with international negotiations with the Iranians.
In recent days, a series of newspaper reports and comments by top defense officials have signaled that the military option remains very much on the table. While Israeli officials say Israel never shelved the possibility of attacking, the heightened rhetoric marks a departure from Israel's subdued approach since six world powers opened negotiations with Iran last November.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been an outspoken critic of the international efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran. He has spent years warning the world against the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran and fears a final deal will leave much of Iran's nuclear capabilities intact.
But since the global powers reached an interim agreement with Iran last November, Netanyahu's warnings about Iran have been largely ignored. A frustrated Israeli leadership now appears to be ratcheting up the pressure on the international community to take a tough position in its negotiations with Iran.
A front-page headline in the daily Haaretz on Thursday proclaimed that Netanyahu has ordered "to prep for strike on Iran in 2014" and has allocated 10 billion shekels (2.87 billion dollars) for the groundwork. Earlier this week, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon hinted that Israel would have to pursue a military strike on its own, with the U.S. having chosen the path of negotiations. And the military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said this week that Iran "is not in an area that is out of the military's range."
An Israeli military strike would be extremely difficult to pull off, both for logistical and political reasons. Any mission would likely require sending Israeli warplanes into hostile airspace, and it remains unclear how much damage Israel could inflict on a program that is scattered and hidden deep underground. In addition, it would likely set off an international uproar, derail the international negotiations and trigger retaliation on Israeli and U.S. targets.
Yoel Gozansky, an Iran expert at the Institute of National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said the comments were meant as a wake-up call to the world.
"It was in a coma. It has awoken suddenly," he said of the military-option talk. "Someone has an agenda to bring up this subject again, which has dropped off the agenda in recent months, especially after the deal with Iran."
Netanyahu has long been at odds with his Western allies over how to dislodge Iran from its nuclear program. He has called the interim agreement a "historic mistake," saying it grants Iran too much relief while getting little in return, and fears a final agreement would leave Iran with the capability to make a bomb.
Israel believes that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies. Israel says a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to the Jewish state, citing Iranian calls for Israel's destruction, its development of long-range missiles and its support for hostile militant groups.
During a swing through Washington early this month, Netanyahu tried to draw attention to the Iranian issue in stops at the White House and in an address to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Israel then engaged in a six-day PR blitz when naval commandos seized a ship in international waters that was carrying dozens of sophisticated rockets Israel said were bound for militants in the Gaza Strip and sent by Iran. The effort was capped by a display of the seized weapons.
But beyond placid acknowledgments from world leaders, the ship's seizure did little to change the course of negotiations with Iran.
Netanyahu said the world's indifference to the naval raid was "hypocritical," and he lashed out at Western leaders for condemning Israeli settlement construction while ignoring Iran's transgressions.
Netanyahu's past warnings have been credited with bringing the Iran issue to the fore and galvanizing world powers to take action on the nuclear program. He made headlines in 2012 when he drew a red line on a cartoon bomb during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly.
Yaakov Amidror, who recently stepped down as Netanyahu's national security adviser, said the threat of a military strike is a real possibility.
"We aren't playing a game of neighborhood bully. This is a stated policy of the state of Israel and has been made clear ... to anyone who meets Israel's representatives."
But if Israel is trying to raise the alarm again, the move comes at an inopportune time. The urgency of the Iran issue has taken a backseat to more pressing international crises, namely Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula. With world powers charging forward with negotiations with Iran, threats from Israel are likely to be ignored at best. At worst, they could alienate Israel's closest allies.
Gozansky said the renewed threats were largely empty because if Israel carried out a strike with diplomacy underway, it would be seen as a warmonger out to destabilize the region. But he said the threats could nonetheless serve as leverage on Iran while it conducts talks. Netanyahu has suggested that may be the case.
"The greater the pressure on Iran," he said in his speech to AIPAC, "the more credible the threat of force on Iran, the smaller the chance that force will ever have to be used."
kill one another takes his place.1 The Long War Journal: Al Nusrah Front official confirms senior al Qaeda leader has been killed
Written by Thomas Joscelyn on March 22, 2014 12:10 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
Available online at:
A senior al Qaeda leader known as Sanafi al Nasr was killed in the Latakia province of Syria on March 21.
Nasr's death was first reported by jihadists on social media and was quickly confirmed by Dr. Sami al Uraydi, a sharia official for the Al Nusrah Front, on his Twitter feed. Al Uraydi asked that Allah accept Nasr in his "caravan" of martyrs.
The Long War Journal first reported on March 6 that Nasr, who is well-known in the online jihadist world, was actually the head of al Qaeda's "Victory Committee." The little-known committee is tasked with strategic planning and policy-making for the terrorist organization.
Nasr, whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh, was a key ally of the Al Nusrah Front and relocated to Syria from Afghanistan or Pakistan in recent months.
In addition to al Uraydi, other well-connected jihadists have also reported that Nasr was killed. Sheikh Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a popular Saudi cleric who has 292,000 followers on his Twitter feed, honored Nasr's "martyrdom" in a series of tweets. Muhaysini and others have retweeted a hashtag that is being used to commemorate Nasr.
Muhaysini and Nasr, who was prolific commentator online, frequently endorsed each other on Twitter.
At odds with ISIS
As first noticed by BBC Monitoring, Nasr reported on his Twitter feed in February that al Qaeda had dispatched a number of veterans to Syria to join the Al Nusrah Front. Two others, Nasr said, were tasked with joining Ahrar al Sham, a powerful extremist organization in Syria that holds key leadership positions within the Islamic Front, which is a coalition of several rebel groups.
Some of the seasoned al Qaeda operatives Nasr referenced (but did not explicitly name) in his tweets took part in the failed effort to reconcile the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which has been disowned by al Qaeda's general command. Other groups, including Ahrar al Sham, are at odds with ISIS as well.
Muhaysini himself relocated to Syria in late 2013 and proposed a reconciliation initiative, which was accepted by Al Nusrah, Ahrar al Sham, and other groups before being rejected by ISIS.
Nasr was an increasingly vocal critic of ISIS. In the wake of Nasr's death, some jihadists have circulated his writings online. In one essay in particular, Nasr references the teachings of an al Qaeda ideologue known as Abu Musab al Suri. From the point of view of Nasr and other al Qaeda thinkers, ISIS is repeating the mistakes made by jihadists of the past and is alienating the Syrian population. Al Suri warned against such practices.
Nasr's "hearts and minds" approach was openly derided by ISIS followers on Twitter. But the Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham are attempting to implement the guidelines set forth by al Suri, who argued that jihadists should seek to build a popular base of support.
Abu Musab al Suri may or may not still be imprisoned by Bashar al Assad's regime. There are conflicting reports regarding his status, but much of his written work was compiled a decade or more ago and is still regularly cited.
Abu Khalid al Suri, who was killed in a suicide bombing on Feb. 23, was Abu Musab al Suri's longtime companion. Abu Khalid was one of the two senior al Qaeda leaders within Ahrar al Sham referenced in Nasr's tweets. He advocated the same populist approach as Abu Musab al Suri.
Abu Khalid al Suri served as Ayman al Zawahiri's main representative in Syria and attempted to reconcile ISIS with other jihadist groups, but eventually gave up. Abu Khalid became one of ISIS' fiercest critics inside Syria before his death, presumably caused by an ISIS suicide bomber.
After Abu Khalid al Suri was killed, Nasr honored him on his Twitter feed, changing the small inset picture at the top of his site to a picture of Abu Khalid. Nasr blamed ISIS for Abu Khalid's death and called for vengeance.
An al Qaeda family
Nasr came from a family of al Qaeda members and was a third cousin of Osama bin Laden, according to US intelligence officials.
Most of Nasr's six brothers are known to have joined al Qaeda. Two of Nasr's brothers were once held at Guantanamo. Leaked files prepared by Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) include intelligence reports indicating that the brothers were trained by al Qaeda's operational commanders to execute an attack against US forces at the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia. They were captured in late 2001 before they could go through with the plot, but al Qaeda attempted a similar attack in 2002.
One of Nasr's brothers was killed fighting in Chechnya prior to the 9/11 attacks. His "martyrdom" inspired other members of the family to wage jihad, according to the JTF-GTMO files.
And now Sanafi al Nasr has been killed in Syria.
And Putin does the Russian Hat dance as the Chechens bleed themselves in Syria, and not in the Caucasus.1 The Long War Journal: Chechen commander for Al Nusrah Front reported killed in fighting against Syrian forces
Written by Bill Roggio on March 22, 2014 12:02 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
Available online at:
A Chechen leader of a unit that joined the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's branch in Syria, has been killed during recent fighting against the Syrian military, according to reports.
The military commander, who is known as Muhammad al Shishani (the Chechen) or Muhammad al Khurasani, was killed while fighting in the town of Lermon on March 19, Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate reported.
Muhammad was killed during a joint assault with the Army of Emigrants and Supporters against Syrian forces in Lermon. The three groups attacked a Syrian military "complex of concrete, high-rises on the outskirts" of the town and eventually "stormed" the buildings. The two Chechen-led groups then linked up other forces from the Al Nusrah Front to continue operations.
At the time of his death, Muhammad led a faction from the Jaish al Muhajireen wal Ansar (Army of Emigrants and Supporters, or Muhajireen Army) that had joined the Al Nusrah Front last year after Omar al Shishani joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS).
Muhammad had taken command of the Muhajireen Army faction following the death of the group's previous emir, Saifullah al Shishani, in battle with Syrian forces in Aleppo in early February. In a statement released after his death, Saifullah was praised as a "heroic knight" by the emir of the Al Nusrah Front, Muhammad al Julani. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front praises Chechen commander killed in Aleppo.]
More than 400 fighters are said to have been under Muhammed's command at the time of his death. He led Chechens and other fighters from the Russian Caucasus, as well as Syrians and other foreign fighters.
Muhammad was seen in a video that was published by Usudu Sham, a propaganda arm of the Muhajireen Army, on Feb. 25. In that video, one of the fighters seated next to Muhammad urged fighters in both Europe and Chechnya to join the jihad in Syria.
"To those in Europe and Chechnya I want to say, let's rise up and unite and fight the infidels in this blessed land," the masked fighter said, according to a translation provided by EA Worldview.
Chechens and others from the Russian Caucasus and even from the Ukraine hold prominent positions in jihadist units fighting in Syria. In addition to Muhammad and Omar al Shishani, who commands fighters in the ISIS, a Chechen known as Salahuddin al Shishani serves as the emir of the Muhajireen Army. His deputy is Abdul Karim Krymsky, a Crimean Tatar from the Ukraine. Hundreds of fighters from the Caucasus and Russia are known to fight in the ranks of the jihadist groups in Syria that are commanded by Chechen leaders.
they come from all over.1 The Long War Journal: Al Qaeda official in Syria was extremist preacher in Australia
Written by Thomas Joscelyn on March 21, 2014 10:07 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
Available online at:
An extremist preacher known for his fiery sermons in Australia, where he implored listeners to join the jihad in Syria, is now a leader in the Al Nusrah Front. The cleric, known as Abu Sulayman al Muhajir (or Abu Sulayman "the emigrant"), was introduced by the Al Nusrah Front as one of the group's top sharia officials in a video released on March 17.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch inside Syria, released the video as part of its propaganda campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which was disowned by al Qaeda's senior leadership earlier this year.
Abu Sulayman says in the video that he was tasked with trying to resolve the conflict between Al Nusrah and ISIS. Al Qaeda's senior leadership dispatched a number of highly respected jihadist ideologues to Syria to resolve the dispute last year. And Abu Sulayman's video confirms that he was among them.
Other known al Qaeda operatives who were involved in the failed reconciliation effort include Abu Khalid al Suri (al Qaeda's chief representative in Syria, who was killed in a suicide bombing on Feb. 23), Sanafi al Nasr (who heads al Qaeda's "Victory Committee," which is in charge of the group's strategic planning and policy), and Abu Firas al Suri (an al Qaeda veteran who once served as Osama bin Laden's "envoy" to Pakistani jihadist groups). It appears that a popular Saudi cleric named Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini was among these al Qaeda representatives sent to Syria as well.
Abu Sulayman says in the video that he decided to speak out only after an ISIS official known as Abu Muhammad al Adnani released a blistering critique of Abu Abdallah al Shami, an Al Nusrah Front official. This echoes the testimony of Abu Firas al Suri, who made the same claim in a video released by the Al Nusrah Front the following day, on March 18.
Criticizes ISIS
Abu Sulayman's testimony focuses on key aspects of the infighting.
First, and foremost, he rebuts the claim made by ISIS supporters that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi did not swear a formal bayat (oath of loyalty) to Ayman al Zawahiri. ISIS advances this claim in order to avoid the obvious implication that al Baghdadi is in the wrong for failing to follow orders. And Al Nusrah argues the opposite, that al Baghdadi is insubordinate because he has failed to abide by his pledge of bayat to Zawahiri.
Abu Sulayman says that ISIS "accepted" him as a mediator in conflict with Al Nusrah. But some within ISIS began to claim that al Baghdadi's oath was not a "full" bayat and instead a bayat for "love and support" only. Abu Sulayman says that he does not know what sort of bayat ISIS "was speaking about."
So, he brought the matter up with al Baghdadi.
"I seek refuge in Allah, I have a true binding bayat to Sheikh Ayman, to hear and obey, in hardship and in ease!" al Baghdadi responded, according to Abu Sulayman's testimony.
This, according to the Abu Sulayman, "affirmed to us what we already know, that [al Baghdadi] is a soldier in the command of al Qaeda and that he listens and obeys like the other [leaders] of other regions."
Al Baghdadi's willingness, at first, to abide by Ayman al Zawahiri's orders shows that he was an al Qaeda soldier, Abu Sulayman says. The cleric recounts an episode from his "first mediation" attempt, when al Baghdadi allegedly said: "If Sheikh Ayman commanded me to assign the issue of Sham [the Levant] to someone else I would do so."
ISIS even rejected the proposal that a common sharia court resolve the group's issues with Al Nusrah, Abu Sulayman claims, because ISIS said it was "waiting for the response of Sheikh Ayman."
Abu Sulayman's claims ring true, at least in part. After the dispute between Al Nusrah and ISIS became public in early April 2013, Ayman al Zawahiri sent a letter to both parties demanding that they account for their actions. Both sides complied, as can be seen in a subsequent letter from Zawahiri dated May 23, 2013, which was leaked to Al Jazeera.
In his letter, Zawahiri references the fact that he received reports from both al Baghdadi and Abu Muhammad al Julani, Al Nusrah Front's emir. Zawahiri then says that he consulted with al Qaeda's Shura council to determine his ruling. This shows, at a minimum, that ISIS' leaders were willing to submit to Zawahiri's arbitration process, which would be unusual if al Baghdadi and ISIS were not nominally under Zawahiri's command.
The March 17 Al Nusrah Front video even concludes with audio from Zawahiri reading from the parts of his May 2013 letter that deal with the written reports that were sent to him, thereby underscoring the fact that ISIS submitted itself to al Qaeda's bureaucratic process.
Zawahiri ruled that Al Nusrah and ISIS should remain separate entities (ISIS had tried to subsume control of Al Nusrah) and ISIS should decamp for Iraq. Al Baghdadi was not about to abide by this decision, however. After Zawahiri's ruling became public in June 2013, al Baghdadi openly defied Zawahiri's orders in an audio message released online.
Beyond the claims regarding ISIS' one-time loyalty to al Qaeda, Abu Sulayman also criticizes ISIS' "extremism," saying that ISIS had threatened to kill one of Al Nusrah's top officials without offering any sound Islamic justifications.
In sum, Abu Sulayman seeks to undermine ISIS' religious credentials, mocking the fact that some within ISIS "deprecate" Zawahiri's "judgment" when they themselves are supposedly bereft of sound reasoning.
Abu Sulayman concludes his testimony by endorsing Shaykh Abu Abdullah al Shami, the Al Nusrah Front ideologue who has been openly engaged in a war of words with ISIS.
Known for his extremism in Australia
While the Al Nusrah Front video is propaganda, it offers outsiders an additional window into how al Qaeda's international network operates. The aforementioned senior al Qaeda ideologues and operatives identified above were not known to play such a prominent role in Syria until the infighting between the Al Nusrah Front and ISIS exposed them.
As a result of ISIS' effective online attacks, Al Nusrah has been forced to expose the identities of some of its most seasoned personnel, some of whom were dispatched to Syria by al Qaeda's senior leadership. While previous reports identified Abu Sulayman as an Al Nusrah Front official in Raqqah province who was expelled by ISIS, little was known about his role in al Qaeda's mediation efforts.
Abu Sulayman does not hide his allegiance to al Qaeda. On his own Twitter feed, which currently has nearly 7,000 followers, Abu Sulayman decribes himself as a member of "Al Qaeda in the Levant."
Prior to migrating to Syria, Abu Sulayman was well-known for his jihadist recruiting efforts in Australia.
Along with other radical clerics, Abu Sulayman preached at the Al Risalah bookstore and community center in Sydney. The bookstore was closed by authorities there late last year.
"We're calling day and night for us to support them with our wealth and with our blood and with whatever we possess," Abu Sulayman said during a lecture in 2012, which was shown on television by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in December 2013. Abu Sulayman's lecture was devoted to supporting the jihad in Syria.
Abu Sulayman told those in his audience that they are obligated to join the jihad in Syria if they can, and they should give "generous donations" to the "mujahideen" in Syria.
Another account by ABC identified one of Abu Sulayman's colleagues at Al Risalah as a jailed preacher named Bilal Khazal. ABC reported that Khazal was a one-time "a confidant of Osama bin Laden" and said he had "trained at a military camp in Afghanistan."
According to Australian press accounts, a significant number of Al Risalah's recruits are suspected of traveling to Syria to fight for the Al Nusrah Front.
Abu Sulayman has joined them.
*Note: The Al Nusrah Front released Abu Sulayman's video in Arabic, as well as a transcript of the video in English.
British jihadist in Syria encourages others to join war in recruitment video
By Josie Ensor1:15PM GMT 21 Mar 2014
A British man fighting with an extemist group in Syria has released a call to arms to "brothers and sisters" back home to join the country's civil war.
Speaking with a London accent, the man, a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), says the "doors of jihad are still open", encouraging people to fight in the "holy war".
Dressed in camouflage and wearing a balaclava, he addresses his British "brothers" telling them to join the growing ranks of foreign mujahideen.
He claims to have already managed to help others make the journey to Syria. Most travel to the porous border with Turkey where they go through with relatively few checks from authorities.
"By the grace of god, we have managed to bring in three or four beloved brothers of Islam. You can see for yourself," he says in the video titled "UK brothers in Syria".
Related Articles
Syria: 'British fighter' killed in suicide attack 07 Feb 2014
British jihadist warns life is hard in Syria and hundreds return to UK 17 Feb 2014
Sitting on top of an anti-aircraft gun, the masked man speaking from Hama, in the west of Syria, tells the camera: "Put your trust in him [Allah] and he will guide you to these lands."
An image posted on their twitter feed: ''The UK brothers with two ansar. One is only 16 and already a mujahid''
Another man speaking in English with a British accent then seemed to respond to police warnings that travel to Syria could result in jail terms, saying: “Greetings from the blessed lands of Sham [Syria]; the lands that the kuffar [unbelievers] back home tell you that if you try to reach here there will be consequence for you."
Another British fighter with ISIS - dubbed too extreme even for Al-Qaeda after they publicly distanced themselves from the group - tweeted a picture of a poster reading “Keep Calm, Support ISIS”, parodying the Second World War motivational slogan.
Many of the foreign fighters are active on social media, with some even holding live webchats with people looking to make the journey.
One British 19-year-old using the nom-de-guerre Abu Dujana encourages children as young as 16 to "join the holy war" on his Ask.fm profile.
"Put your faith in Allah. It doesn't matter if you are weak and scrawny, although it helps if you are good at jogging," he tells one.
Asked by another if he is worried about having his citizenship revoked, he writes: "Saving lives is better than a red passport" he writes. "I only miss my family, nothing else. Ok I miss coco pops, i admit that..."
He said he had flown to Turkey several months ago and crossed the border before joining his group. He said if you get caught tell authorities you are a journalist.
ISIS wants to see Syria become an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law, which is at odds with the aims of the broadly secular, moderate opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad. The group has become involved in protracted internecine battles with other rebel groups, fighting for control over land.
Western governments and intelligence agencies have expressed their concerns that the steady stream of young Muslims leaving their countries to fight in Syria are both fueling the conflict there and pose a potential security threat should they return home some day.
Up to 400 Britons are thought to currently be fighting in the country and at least eight are known to have died.
Charles Farr, the Home Office’s terror chief, warned recently that Britons travelling to Syria represented the “the biggest challenge” to the security services since the 2001 Twin Tower attacks.
In Turkey, Twitter Roars After Effort to Block It
By SEBNEM ARSU and DAN BILEFSKYMARCH 21, 2014
ISTANBUL — It is a sign of the difficulty of banning Twitter in the age of Twitter that within hours of the Turkish government’s attempt to block the social media site, President Abdullah Gul was one of thousands of Turks who protested the ban — using Twitter.
“Shutting down social media platforms cannot be approved,” Mr. Gul posted on Twitter on Friday, adding that “it is not technically possible to fully block access to globally active platforms like Twitter, anyway.”
While Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country of 79 million people, has long sought to portray itself as a model of democracy in a restive region, critics both inside and outside the country denounced the government’s ban as a “digital coup” more befitting China or North Korea. They, too, of course, did so over Twitter.
Room for Debate: Turkey and TwitterMARCH 21, 2014
Echoing outrage from across the world, Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, wrote on Twitter that “The Twitter ban in #Turkey is groundless, pointless, cowardly. Turkish people and intl community will see this as censorship. It is.”
At the very least, it seemed a clear attempt to shoot the digital messenger, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan grows increasingly frustrated with how social media networks have been used to fan a scandal that now presents perhaps the biggest challenge to his authority since he came to power 11 years ago.
Since December, when a corruption investigation ensnared government officials and businessmen, including his son, critics of the prime minister who are often anonymous have used social media to leak a barrage of phone calls and documents.
Some of the leaks were connected to efforts by Mr. Erdogan to control the media in Turkey, where, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 40 journalists were in jail in 2013. The prime minister was accused of making personal calls to media executives and seeking to have vocal critics fired. The government called most of the recordings fakes, although independent analysts said they were authentic.
One recording was said to be of the prime minister telling his son to get rid of large sums of cash on Dec. 17, when the homes of three former ministers’ sons were raided. Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly — and angrily — insisted that the recording was fake.
The Lede: Turks Evade Twitter Ban to Mock Twitter Ban, on TwitterMARCH 21, 2014
Turkish Officials Block Twitter in Leak InquiryMARCH 20, 2014
In the aftermath of a stream of leaks, Mr. Erdogan threatened to ban YouTube and Facebook, saying they were being used by supporters of a pro-Islamic rival group led by Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric, to unfairly smear him.
Finally fed up, Mr. Erdogan tried to shut Twitter down on Thursday — 10 days before important local elections — after lashing out at the social network at a rally in the western town of Bursa, saying that he did not care about international reaction if national security was at stake.
“Twitter, mwitter!” (the rough equivalent of “Twitter, schmitter!”) Mr. Erdogan said. “We will root out all. They say, ‘Sir, the international community can say this, can say that.’ I don’t care at all. Everyone will see how powerful the state of the Republic of Turkey is.”
Nonetheless, the ban appeared to backfire, fomenting a loud and raucous backlash on Twitter, with the hashtags #TwitterisblockedinTurkey, #occupytwitter, #turkeyblockedtwitter, and #dictatorerdogan quickly becoming popular trending topics globally.
According to Twitturk, which records the statistics of Turkey’s roughly 12 million Twitter users, more than half a million tweets were posted in just 10 hours, despite the ban. Statista, a New York statistics portal, lists Turkey as the fourth-largest Twitter community in the world after the United States, Britain and Japan.
One posting circulated featuring a flock of Twitter’s blue birds pounding Mr. Erdogan’s head with bird excrement. Another superimposed the prime minister’s face on a campaign poster of President Obama, with the slogan, “Yes we ban.”
Mr. Erdogan’s suspicion of the social media became acute last summer when tens of thousands of Turks used the networks to organize street protests of plans to raze Gezi Park in Istanbul. The protests became a powerful symbol of the conflict between what many Turks view as Mr. Erdogan’s creeping authoritarianism and a young urban middle class seeking greater social freedoms.
The social media networks have only grown more popular since then as the government tried to silence traditional media outlets critical of Mr. Erdogan. New Internet restrictions, adopted by the government in February, allowed for the swift closing of websites or removal of content by court order.
The Twitter ban was the latest step, though hundreds of thousands of Turks had been able to circumvent the ban by using text messaging service. Messages posted on Friday rejoiced in creative means of sharing information offline about how Turks can alter Domain Name System settings on their devices to allow them to circumvent the ban. Others had disguised the location of their computers by using programs that redirect traffic to servers outside of Turkey.
“It seems that there is some pivotal information that the government does not wish to spread over the Internet,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. “It’s actually highly irrational when you consider it is impossible to stop social media networks. My son breached the ban in 15 seconds.”
Government officials have also sought to justify the attempted blocking by saying that Twitter had been used to invade privacy. The Turkish telecommunications authority said on Friday that the site had been blocked after citizens complained that their privacy had been breached. After Twitter refused to remove some content, the authority said, “there was no other choice.”
Mr. Gul, despite being an erstwhile close ally of Mr. Erdogan, has in recent months taken a more moderate stance when it comes to personal freedoms, even as he has approved some of the prime minister’s moves to restrict Internet access in the name of assuring privacy.
Opposition groups threatened legal challenges. The Turkish Bar Association took the matter to court on Friday, saying the blocking was unconstitutional and was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“We stand with our users in Turkey who rely on Twitter as a vital communications platform,” the company said in a Twitter message on Friday. “We hope to have full access return soon.”
CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY
52
COMMENTS
In earlier messages, Twitter urged people to use mobile connections to get access.
In a statement on Friday, the United States State Department said “today’s shutdown of Twitter is contrary to Turkey’s own expressed desire to uphold the highest standards of democracy,” and urged the government to ensure that citizens had free access to all social media platforms.
At the Buster Internet cafe in Istanbul, a student, Engin Alturk, said the prohibition had only encouraged people to post more messages. “We lived without YouTube for a year; we know all the tricks to get around this,” he added. “Erdogan must think us stupid.”
Correction: March 21, 2014
An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect attribution for the comment, “We stand with our users in Turkey who rely on Twitter as a vital communications platform.” The statement was made by Twitter, not by its spokesman.
Sebnem Arsu reported from Istanbul, and Dan Bilefsky from Paris. Robert Mackey contributed reporting from New York, and Ceylan Yeginsu from Istanbul.
Fears as Islamist fighters flock to Lebanon
March 22, 2014 12:18 AM
By Misbah al-Ali
The Daily Star
Red Crescent personnel carry an injured Syrian man on a stretcher in Wadi Khaled, Thursday, March 20, 2014. (The Daily Star/Stringer)
Red Crescent personnel carry an injured Syrian man on a stretcher in Wadi Khaled, Thursday, March 20, 2014. (The Daily Star/Stringer)
A+ A-
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Fears are mounting in northern Lebanon over an influx of highly trained Islamist fighters following the Syrian government’s seizure of a Crusader castle from rebels.
Meanwhile details continue to emerge about the Lebanese emir of a hard-line Islamist group that was killed in the fighting.The fall of the fortress, known as Crac des Chevaliers, which overlooks the Homs village of Al-Hosn, has proven a huge defeat for the Islamist group Jund al-Sham, forcing approximately 300 fighters who were holed up in the castle to retreat to Lebanon.
According to information from Salafist activist sources in north Lebanon, a large number of Lebanese fighters from Jund al-Sham and their families – believed to number around 1,000 – survived a secondary Syrian army ambush near the border area of Bqaiaa.
Locals fear that the presence of Syrian fighters along with defeated Lebanese militants could stoke sectarian tensions at a time when the country’s northern capital, Tripoli, is already the stage for heavy clashes between supporters and opponents of Syria’s President Bashar Assad.
When contacted by The Daily Star, several residents said that they were very afraid of the possible consequences but were too scared to elaborate further.
North Lebanon residents fear that fighters returning from Syria will have been imbued with radical, fundamentalist beliefs, gained extensive fighting experience in the field and will possess a readiness to both kill and die for their cause. Jund al-Sham is close to the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and the Nusra Front and looks down upon sheikhs who call for moderation.
Many believe that the returning fighters and those who rally around them pose a threat to Tripoli’s security, and worry that their presence may lead to something similar to the 2007 Nahr al-Bared clashes, in which the Army battled militants from the extremist group Fatah al-Islam in the northern refugee camp. Four hundred people were killed in the fighting, including 160 military personnel.
The most notable death in the fierce fighting for Qalaat al-Hosn was Lebanese national and Jund al-Sham emir Khaled Mahmoud al-Dandashi – more widely known by his nom du guerre, Abu Suleiman.
Dandashi has played a crucial role in the formation of the Syrian branch of Jund al-Sham, which has long existed in Lebanon, and the Islamic Emirate in Qalaat al-Hosn, largely following in the footsteps of Lebanese Salafist Walid Boustani.
Both Dandashi and Boustani were among some of the members of Fatah al-Islam who survived the 2007 Nahr al-Bared fighting. Both were arrested and imprisoned in Lebanon’s notorious Roumieh Prison before escaping at separate points to join Islamist forces fighting in the Syrian uprising.
Boustani hails from Bab al-Tabbaneh, and fought alongside Abu al-Arabi, a military leader in the neighborhood who became a full-fledged warlord during the 1975-90 Civil War. After the war ended, Boustani left Lebanon and went to Denmark before returning again in 2006 and establishing a Fatah al-Islam cell in the Syrian Qalamoun region as part of the group’s mission to declare Tripoli an Islamic emirate.
The Lebanese security forces arrested him and sent him to Roumieh, but he fled in 2010 under mysterious circumstances. He popped up again in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalakh around two years ago, but was executed by the Free Syrian Army in early 2012, with his death captured on a video posted on YouTube.
Dandashi followed in Boustani’s footsteps. He joined the battlefield at a young age, and already belonged to Fatah al-Islam and the Islamist Al-Hijra w al-Takfir group by 2000. He was sent to prison three times, most recently in February 2008 after the Nahr al-Bared clashes, until he finally escaped sometime in early 2012 and traveled to Qalaat al-Hosn, where Boustani was.
Taking advantage of the chaos in Syria and the rebel Free Syrian Army’s lack of control, Dandashi launched the Syrian branch of Jund al-Sham and declared himself the group’s emir. He fought alongside the Nusra Front and recruited young Lebanese men whenever he could.
Both of his brothers were killed in mysterious circumstances. Bilal, known as Abu Jandal, was assassinated around the same time that Fatah al-Islam was formed in 2007, and his other brother Mohammad, known as Abu Thabet, was murdered in south Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in 2002.
In the video Dandashi released announcing the creation of Jund al-Sham in Syria and declaring himself emir of the group, he added the word “muhajir,” or emigrant, to his nom du guerre and said his primary mission was “jihad to enable God’s rule on earth.” Before dying, he reportedly sent messages to Salafists in Tripoli asking them for their prayers for his entry into paradise.
Others who died in the fighting were identified as: Khaled Nazem al-Dandashi aka Abdel-Rahman from the Akkar town of Mashta Hassan; Hamza al-Zoghbi aka Abu Jaafar; Abdallah al-Hajj aka Abu Shaaib from Akkar; Mohammad Othman Bitar aka Abu Othman; Bahaa Mahmoud aka Abu Dardaa; Amer Hlawaik aka Abu Ashraf; Khaled Asaad Jomaa; Omar Khaled Haidar aka Abu Mohammad; Abu Abdallah from the Syrian governorate of Qunaitra, who resides in Lebanon; Abu Mosaab; and Salem Rustom.
All these deaths have contributed to a growing feeling of anger among some in northern Lebanon who see the fall of Yabroud and Qalaat al-Hosn in a sectarian light.
“This is a victory for Hezbollah and the Assad regime and a big defeat for the Sunni sect, which the entire world has abandoned while the Islamist fighters in Syria are facing death bravely,” said one Salafist sheikh in Tripoli.
“Congratulations to Abu Suleiman [Dandashi] for his martyrdom. He went to Qalaat al-Hosn weighing approximately 100 kilograms and lost half of that before becoming a martyr, whereas Sunni sheikhs in Lebanon are gaining weight.”
Read more:
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: )
IDF kills wanted Hamas man, two others, in Jenin raid
Hamza Abu al-Hija was plotting ‘major operation’ against Israel; Islamic Jihad vows ‘blood for blood’ retaliation
BY ILAN BEN ZION March 22, 2014, 7:56 am 21
Share
Illustrative photo of Israeli security forces engaging with Palestinian protesters (unseen) near Ramallah on March 21, 2014. (photo credit: Issam Rimawi/FLASH90)Illustrative photo of Israeli security forces engaging with Palestinian protesters (unseen) near Ramallah on March 21, 2014. (photo credit: Issam Rimawi/FLASH90)WRITERSIlan Ben Zion
Ilan Ben Zion
Ilan Ben Zion is a news editor at The Times of Israel. He holds a Masters degree in Diplomacy from … [More]
Follow or contact:TwitterRSSNEWSROOM
Email the NewsroomFacebookTwitter
RELATED TOPICS
JENINIDF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCESHAMAS
A joint IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police raid early Saturday killed a wanted Hamas operative in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank who was reportedly plotting a major terrorist attack. At least two other Palestinians were killed and seven others were wounded in subsequent clashes with Israeli forces.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email
and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP!
Hamas member Hamza Abu al-Hija, 22, Islamic Jihad operative Mahmud Abu Zeina, 25, and Yazen Jabarin, 22, a member of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades, were killed in the shootout with Israeli forces. Palestinian media only identified three people killed in the shootout, but the IDF reported that a fourth Palestinian was slain. Two members of the police’s elite counterterrorism unit sustained light injuries and received treatment on site.
The Israeli troops surrounded the house in which Abu al-Hija barricaded himself and when he attempted to escape, he was shot dead. According to IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, Abu al-Hija opened fire on the troops before he was killed. The IDF said that Abu al-Hija was “wanted for numerous shooting and bombing attacks as well as planning future acts of terrorism.” Lerner called him a “ticking time bomb” planning to kill Israelis.
A Palestinian security official who spoke to AP said that hundreds of angry residents and gunmen then attacked the soldiers, and the other two Palestinian men died in the subsequent clashes. The IDF reported that the mob threw stones, Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives at the troops, who returned with live fire.
A Gaza-based media outlet associated with Hamas tweeted shortly after Abu al-Hija’s death that sources said the dead man had been “preparing a major operation” against Israel.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency said an IDF bulldozer demolished part of the house in which Abu al-Hija barricaded himself.
According to Reuters, Hamas supporters carried the bodies of the three Palestinians through the streets of Jenin and shouted slogans against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon praised the raid on the Jenin refugee camp in a statement, saying it was “an important thwarting which prevented a planned terrorist attack that was meant to be carried out against Israeli targets, and thus saved lives.”
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned what he called Israel’s escalation of violence and called on the American government to act immediately “before everything collapses.”
Hamas responded to the death of al-Hija on Saturday by accusing the Palestinian Authority of collaborating with Israel in the operation. According to Ynet, the Islamist faction ruling the Gaza Strip charged that PA security forces had detained al-Hija at least 20 times before the IDF attempted to arrest him on Saturday night.
Shortly after Al-Hija’s death, Hamas released a poster honoring him as a martyr.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Hader Adnan vowed that his organization would retaliate against Israel “blood for blood” for those killed in Jenin. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri called on the Palestinian Authority to terminate the American-mediated negotiations with Israel.
Al-Hija’s father, Jamal Abu al-Hija, is a convicted Hamas leader who is currently incarcerated in Israeli prison. He was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to nine life sentences for involvement in at least six bombings, including the Meron Junction attack that killed nine Israelis in 2002 and the Jerusalem Sbarro pizzeria bombing that killed 15 in 2001.
Avi Issacharoff and AP contributed to this report.
Read more: IDF kills wanted Hamas man, two others, in Jenin raid | The Times of Israel
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook
Egypt mass trial of Islamists opens, adjourns
1,200 Morsi supporters accused of assault, damaging property after last year’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood protests
BY AFP March 22, 2014, 1:55 pm 0
A court in Egypt adjourned the mass trial of more than 1,200 supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi after a brief hearing on Saturday, state media reported.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email
and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP!
The country’s biggest trial since the army removed Morsi last July after a turbulent single year in office was adjourned until Monday.
About 500 defendants faced charges at a court in Minya, south of Cairo, with the trial of the remainder due to begin on Tuesday, state news agency MENA reported.
The legal proceedings are part of a crackdown by the military-installed authorities on Morsi’s Islamist supporters who remain steadfast in demanding his reinstatement.
Egypt’s first elected and civilian president was ousted by the army on July 3 in a move that triggered widespread unrest across a deeply polarised nation.
The defendants are accused of attacking both people and public property in southern Egypt in August, after security forces broke up two Cairo protest camps set up by Morsi supporters.
They are also charged with committing acts of violence that led to the deaths of two policemen in Minya, judicial sources said.
Monday’s session is set to further examine charges against those defendants who attended Saturday’s hearing.
The court session was closed to the media, so it was unclear how many of the accused appeared in person.
Earlier, the judicial sources said around 200 of the defendants are in detention, while others are either out on bail or on the run.
Among the defendants are the supreme guide of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, and several other leaders of the movement, MENA reported.
Hundreds of people died in the August 14 assault on the two Cairo protest camps and in subsequent clashes that day.
Amnesty International says at least 1,400 people have been killed in violence across Egypt since then, while thousands more have been arrested.
Morsi is himself currently on trial in three different cases, including one for inciting the killing of protesters outside a presidential palace during his presidency.
Morsi was removed after just 12 months as president following mass street protests against his rule amid allegations of power grabbing and worsening an already weak economy.
Read more: Egypt mass trial of Islamists opens, adjourns | The Times of Israel
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook
Well Timeowner, Whatever they do with it first there are still questions as to what they do with it after.23 March 2014 Last updated at 12:17 ET
Turkey downs Syria military jet 'in airspace violation'
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says its armed forces have shot down a Syrian military jet which had violated its airspace.
He warned such action by Syria merited a "heavy response".
But Syria accused Turkey of "blatant aggression", saying the plane had been over Syrian territory at the time.
The incident reportedly occurred in an area where Syrian rebels and government forces have been fighting for control of a border crossing.
Turkey and Syria - once allies - have more than 500 miles (800km) of common border.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Istanbul says Turkey and Syria have been on opposing sides in Syria's war since October 2011 and the two sides have been involved in occasional skirmishes and confrontations
However neither side is interested in a direct, sustained, open war or conflict between the two countries, our correspondent says.
'Caught fire and crashed'
Speaking at a rally of supporters, Mr Erdogan congratulated his air force on its actions on Sunday.
"A Syrian plane violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard," he said.
A Syrian military source, quoted by state television, said Turkish air defences had shot down a Syrian jet as it attacked rebels on Syrian territory - an act of "blatant aggression".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a UK-based activist group - said initial reports from the area suggested the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border.
"Turkish air defences targeted a Syrian fighter bomber as it struck areas of the northern province of Latakia. The plane caught fire and crashed in Syrian territory," the Observatory said.
According to one report, the plane's pilot was able to eject.
Rules of engagement changed
In September last year, Turkey said it had shot down a Syrian helicopter close to its border. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the aircraft was engaged by fighter jets after violating Turkish air space.
A Turkish fighter jet was shot down by Syria over the Mediterranean in June 2012, after Syrian forces said it had entered the country's airspace.
After this incident, the Turkish government announced that it had revised its military rules of engagement towards Syria and would consider every military element approaching its border from Syria as a threat.
Hundreds of thousands have fled Syria for Turkey to escape the three-year uprising against President Assad.
More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began.
According to UN figures, 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced by the civil war, and 2.5 million are registered as refugees. Lebanon has taken the highest number of refugees, followed by Jordan and Turkey.
IsrealIranians up to 'no good' with U.S. aircraft carrier mock-up
Mar. 23, 2014 - 03:03PM |
By Brian Tumulty
USA Today
WASHINGTON — The senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says Iran’s construction of a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier demonstrates Iran’s continued lack of good faith.
“We don’t really know what it means, but I for sure don’t trust the Iranians,” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said Saturday. “It’s some kind of a ruse and whatever they are up to, it’s no good.”
An Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute said the mock-up vessel could signal plans for “a new level of effort and sophistication” in Iran’s naval training for the use of “unconventional doctrine and capabilities to confront superior U.S. naval power.”
“Their military has been investing heavily in traditional capabilities to deter the U.S. Navy from conducting major operations near their borders,” AEI resident fellow J. Matthew McInnis said. “The desire to create more realistic training scenarios makes sense. Propaganda is certainly one of the motivations for Iran’s military exercises, so I would not be surprised if they destroyed the mock-up during one.”
A Defense Department spokesman says U.S. officials are not sure what tactical value Iran hopes to gain by building a mock-up of a U.S. aircraft carrier.
“We are aware that Iran has constructed a floating barge that resembles a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier near Bandar Abbas,” spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Crosson said Saturday. “Commercially available imagery shows its construction.” Bandar Abbas is a port city on the Strait of Hormuz.
The construction of the partially wooden Iranian replica first was disclosed Thursday by the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which operates in Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
Two Nimitz-class carriers — the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Harry S. Truman — are currently operating in the Middle East.
The Navy has 10 operational Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, including the USS Nimitz, which was the first of the super-carriers commissioned in 1975. All 10 of the 1,092-feet-long nuclear-powered ships were built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. in Newport News, Va.
Since the disclosure Thursday, there has been widespread speculation that the Iranians could be planning to destroy it, for propaganda value, as part of naval training exercise.
The British Daily Mail has described the barge as a “crude model.”
CNN said one U.S. official described it as is more akin to a Hollywood set than an actual warship.
The New York Times was told by Navy officials that Iran has used barges in the past as targets for missiles during training exercises.
The Iranian Navy has had a few minor brushes with the U.S. Navy in the past in the busy international waters of the Strait of Hormuz, but the relationship has been, for the most part, professional.
“Our interaction with the regular Iranian Navy and Air Force continue to be within the standards of maritime practice, well known, routine and professional,” the Pentagon spokesman said. “We regularly interact with Iranian flagged merchant vessels and exchanges have always been professional and courteous. They are aware of our presence in the region and we are aware of theirs. There has been no disruption to our operations.”
Lebanon22 March 2014 Last updated at 03:23 ET
Three Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on Jenin
Israeli security forces have shot dead at least three Palestinians during a raid to arrest a Hamas member in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
The Israeli military said it wanted to arrest a man accused of plotting attacks on Israelis.
It said he barricaded himself in his home and opened fire, injuring two soldiers, and was then shot dead.
A further two Palestinians were killed as rioters attacked the security forces, Palestinian sources say.
The Israeli army reported in a tweet killing four "terrorists" in the clashes while, according to AFP news agency, 14 Palestinians were also wounded, two of them critically.
US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have made little progress since they resumed last July, with the aim of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
23 March 2014 Last updated at 05:24 ET
Lebanon clashes: Violence in Beirut among Syria rivals
Fresh clashes have erupted in Lebanon's capital Beirut among supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Lebanese troops were deployed after a number of casualties were reported in a predominantly Sunni Muslim area.
The clashes come after more than a week of factional violence in the northern city of Tripoli that has left 25 dead.
The fighting there is between supporters of Syria's rebels and those backing Mr Assad's Alawite sect.
Mr Assad has been fighting a three-year uprising against his rule. More than 100,000 have been killed since the conflict began.
Sunday's fighting broke out before dawn.
The state-run National News Agency quoted Shaker Birjawi, head of the pro-Assad Arab Movement Party, as saying four of his followers were wounded.
The army deployed troops to the area and the clashes appear to have decreased.
They follow more than a week of violence in Tripoli.
Battles there have raged between members of the predominantly Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Muhsin, which is populated mainly by Alawites, the heterodox sect of President Assad,
The war in Syria has exacerbated tensions between the two districts in the northern port city.
Very well done by the TuAF unlike the Syrians this kills was a air to air kill which is the way professionals do the job
F16 scrambled and shoot down the Syrian jet
A spokesman for Syria's military confirmed the incident, denouncing it as a "blatant aggression." The unnamed spokesman quoted on Syrian state TV said the plane was hit while pursuing gunmen near the border, and that the pilot safely ejected from the aircraft.
Syria's official SANA news agency quoted the pilot as saying that he was shot down while 7 kilometers (5 miles) inside Syrian airspace.
