Persian Gulf & Middle East Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jeff Head said:

Sorry, delft, when you say that someone "unleashes" something on another, then blame falls to the one unleashing it.

A simple example suffices. If I have a Tiger on a chain and go to a park and "unleash" the tiger and it kills a child...I promise you, I would be arrested and held responsible for that child's death. That was the way I took it.

As to the Taliban not operating outside of Afghanistan, when their various leaders helped Al Queda in the run up to 911, both by harboring them, and what's more materially helping them and coordinating with them, they were acting with the enemy that attacked the United States.

Nice, delft. A classic, ludicrous liberal spin that someh ow the 911 attacks on the US were caused by the US.

No, delft, not even close.

Yes, we in the US helped the Mujahideen fight the Russians and provided them means to do so. That does not equate to a part of that movement attacking the US many years later as being the fault of the US.

Not even a nice try...quite offensive actually.

I pray to God that your own people are never attacked in such a way by these animals, Delft. But I can tell you this...most people in the United States, including myself, would do all we could to come to your assistance if you were...and help you fight back. Not somehow, in a backhanded fashion, blame you for being attacked by them.

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delft said:

The main sponsors are Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both clients of US and US themselves. Assad, whatever his demerits, is not as bad on the human rights side as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt and many other US clients.

The Al Qaeda people were trained by the CIA in terrorism. When and why the fell out I don't know but President Clinton already tried to hit them with cruise missiles. Anyway they were part of the US campaign in Afghanistan and they were mostly Saudi Arabian. You cannot start the history in 2001.

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23 June 2014 Last updated at 01:37 GMT

Israeli air strikes target Syria after Golan death

Israel says it has carried out air strikes on military targets in Syria.

The military said it had attacked nine targets in response to the killing of a 15-year-old boy in a strike in the occupied Golan Heights on the border between the two countries on Sunday.

Two others, including the boy's father, an Israeli defence contractor, were injured when a blast hit their vehicle.

Israel called the boy's death the most substantial incident in the Golan since start of the Syrian conflict in 2011.

It is unclear whether Syrian rebels or government forces were behind the incident.

'Everyone loved him'

Israeli military spokesman, Lt Col Peter Lerner, told the Associated Press news agency the attack from Syria was "clearly intentional" but it was unclear whether the blast in the area of Tel Hazeka near the Quneitra crossing was the result of mortar fire, a roadside bomb or shelling.

He described it as "an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel and a direct continuation to recent attacks that occurred in the area".


The Israeli military said its air strikes targeted Syrian army positions, including a military headquarters, in response and that "direct hits were confirmed".

The teenager, an Arab Israeli, has been named as Mohammed Qaraqara.

"He was an excellent student, everyone loved him," his cousin Salah Qaraqara told Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Our enemies don't differentiate between Jews and non-Jews, adults and children."

The Golan Heights, a rocky plateau in south-western Syria, was seized by Israel from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Middle East War.

The two countries remain technically in a state of war, and UN observers are deployed to monitor a 70km-long (45-mile) demilitarised zone.

Firing linked to the Syrian conflict occasionally reaches the Israeli side of the border fence - some unintentional, some said to be deliberate.

In March, Israel conducted air strikes against several Syrian military targets after a bombing that injured four of its soldiers in the Golan Heights.

Israel had accused the Syrian army of "aiding and abetting" the attack on a patrol near the ceasefire line.

Syria said one of its soldiers was killed in the Israeli military response.

Some of Israeli's recent air strikes are believed to have prevented the transfer of stockpiles of rockets from the Syrian government to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement that supports President Bashar al-Assad.

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It is unclear whether Syrian rebels or government forces were behind the incident.

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22 June 2014 Last updated at 16:44 GMT

US unlocks military aid to Egypt, backing President Sisi


The US has revealed it has released $575m (£338m) in military aid to Egypt that had been frozen since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi last year.

The news came as Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo just two weeks after former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president.

After talks with the new leader, Mr Kerry stressed the importance of upholding the rights of all Egyptians.

Mr Sisi won May elections, vowing to tackle "terrorism" and bring security.

The retired field marshal overthrew Mr Morsi last July amid mass protests against his rule.

He has since been pursuing a crackdown on Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which urged a boycott of the 26-28 May elections. Liberal and secular activists also shunned the poll in protest at the curtailing of civil rights.

'Difficult years of transition'

State department officials said the military aid was released to the authorities in Cairo about 10 days ago, after getting a green light from Congress.

The funds - from the annual $1.5bn of chiefly military aid - will mainly be used to pay existing defence contracts.

The US also promised it would provide 10 Apache attack helicopters for use by the army against militants in the Sinai peninsula.

"The Apaches will come and they will come very, very soon," John Kerry said at joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart.

In "candid" talks with President Sisi on a broad range of issues, Mr Kerry "emphasised also our strong support for upholding the universal rights and freedoms of all Egyptians including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association."

He also pledged that Washington would "stand with the Egyptian people in their fight for the future they want."

"For Egypt, this is a moment of high stakes and also a big opportunity," Mr Kerry said, acknowledging that a number of promises by Egyptian leaders "are yet to be fulfilled".

"After three difficult years of transition, the United States remains deeply committed to seeing Egypt succeed," he said.

Mr Kerry arrived in Cairo on an unannounced visit on Sunday, the most senior US official there since the election.

Egypt remains a strategic ally for Washington, and Mr Kerry's visit so soon after Mr Sisi's inauguration shows the US is still keen to engage actively and early on with the new president in the hope it will make a difference, says the BBC's Kim Ghattas, who is travelling with Mr Kerry.

But our correspondent says that the last time Mr Kerry was in Cairo in November his advice was ignored.

Washington fears that the winner-takes-all attitude to politics in the region, from Egypt to Iraq is feeding instability, she adds.

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21 June 2014 Last updated at 10:25 GMT

Court confirms Egypt Muslim Brotherhood death sentences

An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences for 183 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of a 2013 attack on a police station, lawyers say.

A judge had recommended the death penalty for the 683 defendants, in a widely-criticised mass trial in April.

Mohammed Badie, leader of the banned group, was among those whose sentences were upheld. Appeals are now likely.

The military-installed government has sentenced hundreds of its opponents since December.

Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since former President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed by the military in July 2013 following mass protests.

Saturday's verdict was delivered by a court in the town of Minya, south of Cairo.

Four of the defendants were given sentences of 15-25 years in jail and the rest were acquitted.

The defendants were accused of involvement in the murder and attempted murder of policemen in Minya province on 14 August 2013, the day police killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in clashes in Cairo.

The charges ranged from sabotage and terrorising civilians to murder. Of the 683, all but 110 were tried in absentia.

Defence lawyers called the mass trial "farcical" and said many of those accused were not present during the clashes.

Following April's trial, the recommended death sentences were referred to the Grand Mufti - Egypt's top Islamic authority - for review.

The court was to consider his opinion before issuing its final decision.

However correspondents say the case is likely to go to Egypt's appeal courts.

On Thursday, Mr Badie and 13 others were also given recommended death sentences over a separate case involving deadly clashes last year.

Analysis by Bethany Bell, BBC news, Cairo

This is the largest confirmed mass death sentence to be passed in Egypt in recent times. The verdicts and the speed at which the trial was handled have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups.

The judge, Sa'ed Yusef Sabri, has a draconian reputation, and is known as al-Jazzar, the Butcher. The activist and former chairman of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, Hesham Qasim, told the BBC it was time for the authorities to take measures against the judge for these unprecedented sentences.

He said the judge had not observed due process, and that once the verdicts were challenged, all the sentences would be overturned. The death sentences, he said, would have a negative impact on Egypt's image around the world and its economy.

The prominent human rights activist, Aida Seif al-Dawla, said the verdicts were politically motivated. The government, she said, was settling its political scores with the Brotherhood through executions.

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23 June 2014 Last updated at 09:06 GMT

Al-Jazeera trio get seven years jail


Three al-Jazeera journalists accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood have been sentenced to seven years in jail in Egypt.

A court in Cairo convicted Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed of spreading false news and supporting the banned Islamist group. The trio had denied the charges.

Three other foreign journalists tried in absentia received 10-year sentences.

The trial has caused an international outcry amid claims it is politicised.

Earlier, the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a direct appeal to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi for the release of Mr Greste, a former BBC correspondent.

The three al-Jazeera journalists have been detained in Egypt for the past six months.

They were among 20 defendants in the trial that comes amid concerns over growing media restrictions in Egypt.

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Ramallah raid on RT’s office: Why the IDF story doesn't add up
Published time: June 22, 2014 21:19
Edited time: June 23, 2014 05:10


After staging a violent raid on RT's office and other media organizations in Ramallah, the Israeli Defense Forces have been asked to provide an explanation. But their vague and inconsistent response has raised more questions than it answers.

In the early hours of Saturday, the IDF raided the Palmedia broadcast service provider's building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, breaking down doors, destroying equipment and confiscating records. The materials and archives of RT's Arabic service were seized.

When asked for an explanation, IDF officials said the raid was not directly targeting RT, but “the lessor of the offices” Palmedia, which “cooperates with Hamas.”

“The aim of the operation conducted in the small hours of Saturday, was a Palestinian company Palmedia. The reason is that it provides services to Al-Aqsa TV, which has propagandist and inflammatory content. That’s why the search was performed there,” an IDF representative told RIA Novosti news agency.

The first inconsistency with the real situation is that Palmedia does not provide any service to Al-Aqsa. In fact, the Palestinian Hamas-linked TV channel employs the services of Transmedia and is based in another building.

“Palmedia is a major provider in the Middle East, with globally famous media such as Al Manar, Al Maydeen, France 24 and, formerly, BBC Arabic utilizing its services,” RT said in a statement addressed to the IDF.

The Israeli army responded with another statement, in which it conceded that IDF troops did enter the Palmedia offices in Ramallah and “confiscated hard drives and other items used to operate Al-Quds television station.”

“The Al-Quds station serves as the mouthpiece of the terror organization and regularly is used to encourage recruitment, terror acts and fundraising for Hamas. These confiscations were done as part of Operation "Brother's Keeper" to rescue three Israeli teenagers that were kidnapped over ten days ago by Hamas,” the IDF said in its response to RT.

Here is the second contradiction, because, despite the claim, Al-Quds’ office was left untouched.

However, when RT asked for an explanation why RT Arabic’s materials and archive were confiscated, the IDF said that the raid targeted Palmedia in general, because it “broadcasts programs affiliated with Hamas that encourage terrorism and suicide attacks.”

“The IDF confiscated all the equipment of the office,” the Israeli army representatives said in response, adding that “after the examination of the discs and the equipment” it will be returned to its “rightful owners” if “there is no terror-related content” found.

But this statement contradicts the fact that property in Al-Quds’ office was not confiscated, according to RT Arabic’s information.

What also remains unclear from the IDF’s statements is who its soldiers were really targeting: Al-Aqsa, Al-Quds or all the media organizations using Palmedia's services.

“RT considers the intrusion into its office in Ramallah unacceptable, coming under false accusations that Palmedia is cooperating with the Hamas political party,” RT said in a statement.

The raid on the RT office as well as other broadcast companies came as Israel is conducting a search operation for Naftali Frankel (16), Gilad Shaer (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19), whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced had been kidnapped by Hamas.

READ MORE: Hamas threatens 3rd Intifada to answer massive Israeli crackdown

According to IDF officials, the military has searched a total of 1,400 sites since last week in hope of finding the teens. Israeli security forces have rounded up 355 Palestinians since the start of the operation, Haaretz wrote on Saturday.

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Israel may have fabricated kidnapping, says Palestinian FM
Abduction possibly a ‘childish Israeli ploy’ to deflect negative attention, or just a criminal act, Riyad al-Maliki claims
BY ELHANAN MILLER June 22, 2014, 3:05 pm 53

Elhanan Miller
Elhanan Miller is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki claimed on Sunday that Israel may have staged the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers 10 days ago to deflect international criticism from it, arguing that the Jewish state had no proof that Hamas was behind the abduction.


“They [the Israelis] have no proof that Hamas is behind this operation, as they have failed to provide any proof indicating this,” Maliki told Saudi daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat from Jedda, where he, with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, was visiting last week.

“In the absence of proof, there are three possible scenarios for the issue: The kidnapping could be a childish game on the part of Israel to draw attention to it, it could be part of a larger game to turn the Israelis from aggressors to victims, or maybe they were really kidnapped,” Maliki said.

Even if the three teenagers were indeed abducted, the foreign minister continued, they could have been victims of “Jewish criminals, Palestinian criminals or Palestinian-Jewish criminals” who carried out the kidnapping “for their own personal goals.” The abduction could have also been carried out by “various Palestinian factions,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on June 15 that Israel had evidence that Hamas was behind the kidnapping, after initially blaming “Palestinian terrorists” for the act. On Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel has “unequivocal proof” of Hamas’s involvement, evidence that Israel had begun sharing with several countries and would soon make public.

Abbas has blasted the kidnapping as both inhumane and destructive to the Palestinian cause, but refrained from flatly accusing Hamas, his partner in a recently formed unity government. “Whoever was behind this kidnapping… they wanted to destroy us,” he said.

Like Abbas, Maliki defended the Palestinian security coordination with Israel, saying it contributed in staving off direct Israeli intervention in Palestinian security affairs.

“Security cooperation continuously persists between Palestinian and Israeli security agencies, regardless of the existence or absence of kidnapped persons,” he said. “From the start, we believed that security cooperation serves the purely Palestinian interest of maintaining security within Palestine.”



Read more: Israel may have fabricated kidnapping, says Palestinian FM | The Times of Israel

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Israel detains 37 more Palestinians in West Bank crackdown

4:28am EDT
By Ali Sawafta
RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) - Israel's army said it detained another 37 Palestinians overnight as it searched for three missing teenagers and extended a crackdown on the Hamas Islamist group it accuses of kidnapping them.
There were no reports of clashes between the soldiers and Palestinians in the raids in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the military says it has detained 361 people since the Israeli students went missing on June 12.
The crisis has stepped up tensions in the West Bank which, along with east Jerusalem and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Palestinians want as part of a future state.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the latest operations took place in Jenin, a militant stronghold, and in the Hebron area, close to where the three disappeared while hitchhiking.
"As part of on-going operations, (Israeli) forces detained 37 suspects and searched 80 locations," the spokeswoman said.
Palestinian officials said Israeli soldiers also entered Bethlehem and Nablus.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the disappearance of the students - Gil-Ad Shaer, U.S.-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19.
Hospital officials in the West Bank said four Palestinians have been killed during clashes with Israeli forces since the search for the teenagers began.
The kidnapping and subsequent arrests have also put pressure on a unity pact between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has urged the Western-backed leader to scrap the agreement.
Abbas has condemned the kidnappings and his security forces have been helping in the search - cooperation that has stirred anger among Palestinians.
But he has also called the Israeli sweeps "collective punishment" and his Palestinian Authority has sought to convene the U.N. Security Council to try to end the incursions.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Palestinians' main ruling body, said in a statement that Israel had "tightened and sometimes closed checkpoints", disrupting travel, and had barred any entry or exit from Hebron in the past 10 days.
Hamas has called for Israel's destruction, although various officials have at times indicated a willingness to negotiate a long-term ceasefire.
The United States and the European Union classify Hamas as a "terrorist" group and shun contact with it, noting its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace agreements.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Heavens)

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Netanyahu urges U.S. not to work with Iran to stabilize Iraq
Photo
Sun, Jun 22 2014
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the United States should try to weaken both Iran and the Sunni Muslim insurgents driving toward Baghdad, urging the Obama administration not to work with Tehran to help stabilize Iraq.
"What you're seeing in the Middle East today in Iraq and in Syria is the stark hatreds between radical Shi'ites, in this case led by Iran, and radical Sunnis led by al Qaeda and ISIS and others," Netanyahu told the NBC program "Meet the Press," referring to the group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
"Now, both of these camps are enemies of the United States. And when your enemies are fighting each other, don't strengthen either one of them. Weaken both," Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu, known for a strained relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama, has described as a "historic mistake" the interim agreement that the United States and other world powers reached with Iran in November on curbing some aspects of its nuclear program in return for a limited easing of sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Referring to the crisis in Iran's neighbor Iraq, Netanyahu said, "I think by far the worst outcome that could come out of this is that one of these factions, Iran, would come out with nuclear weapons capability. That would be a tragic mistake. ... It would make everything else pale in comparison."
Obama on Thursday said Iran can play a constructive role in Iraq if it follows the U.S. lead in pressing for all sides within Iraq to be respected, adding that the United States had pressed Iran not to encourage steps that would lead to civil war within Iraq.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused the United States on Sunday of trying to retake control of Iraq by exploiting sectarian rivalries. He did not mention the Iranian president's recent suggestion of cooperation with Tehran's old U.S. adversary in defense of their mutual ally in Baghdad. [ID:nL6N0P30FZ]
Netanyahu calls Iran's nuclear program the biggest threat to global security. Iran denies it is seeking the capability to make a nuclear bomb.
The United States said last week it is unclear whether Iran is ready to take the steps necessary to assure the world its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful as a July 20 deadline approaches in the six-party talks. [ID:nL6N0P14EJ]
Netanyahu said that "I hope they don't come up with a bad deal" in the nuclear talks.
"What is, I think, being discussed in the case of Iran by the international community is that you remove most of the sanctions and Iran gets to keep most of the capabilities, most of the stockpiles, most of the ability to manufacture the means to make nuclear weapons," the hawkish Israeli leader said. "... This would change history. It would be a monumental mistake."
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Jim Loney and Eric Walsh)

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Attack from Syria kills Israeli teen on Golan, Israel says
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Sun, Jun 22 2014
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An attack from inside Syria on Sunday killed a 13-year-old Israeli boy on the occupied Golan Heights, the first fatality on Israel's side of the frontier since the Syrian civil war began, relatives and the military said.
Israeli tanks fired at Syrian army positions in response to what an Israeli military spokesman described as an intentional attack. Israel launched more strikes later from the air and land at nine Syrian army positions, including a military headquarters, the army said. It confirmed direct hits on the targets.
The Defense Ministry said the teenager, an Arab citizen of Israel from a village in the Galilee, had accompanied his father, one of the ministry's civilian contractors, to the Golan, and that two other people were wounded in the incident.
Israeli officials initially said the boy, Mohammed Qaraqara, was 15. Relatives said he was 13. "He was an excellent student, everyone loved him," his cousin, Salah Qaraqara, 52, told Reuters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the attackers of indiscriminate killing of Israeli citizens.
"The enemies of the state of Israel use all means, they don't hesitate to attack civilians and kill children ... they do not differentiate between Israel's Jewish and non-Jewish citizens," he said.
A military spokeswoman said an anti-tank missile fired from Syria across the frontier fence on the Golan had struck the water tanker in which Qaraqara had been traveling.
"This is the most substantial event that we have had on the border with Syria since the beginning of the (Syrian civil) war," a military spokesman said.
Shelling from the Syrian civil war has occasionally spilled over onto the Golan, including what Israel has said were deliberate attacks on its troops. Israel captured the western part of the plateau from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognized. While the Syrian army has a presence on the Golan, some areas are controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, including al Qaeda-inspired militants hostile to the Jewish state.
Israel says Hezbollah guerrillas from Lebanon are also operating, on Assad's behalf, on the Golan. Israeli officials have voiced concern that Israel will increasingly become a target during and after the Syrian conflict.
Last March, four Israeli soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing along the Golan frontier. Israel responded to that incident by launching air strikes against Syrian military sites.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Ori Lewis, Editing by Jeffrey Heller, Rosalind Russell and Mohammad Zargham)

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delft said:

@ TerraN_EmpirE
I'm sorry, but the three youths disappeared in an Israeli controlled area ten days ago. Hamas is now being accused but no evidence has been presented. Hamas is necessarily weak on the West Bank because it was prosecuted by Israel as well as the West Bank administration for the last many years. Three Palestinians have been killed and hundreds detained in the mean time. Now there is this action against the Russian news service RT in Ramallah in which hard disks were taken and much damage was done. It just doesn't look like an effort to find these three boys.

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