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State Department approves new tank ammo sale to Iraq
Oct. 21, 2014 - 01:31PM |

By Joe Gould
Staff writer
FILED UNDER
News
World News
WASHINGTON — The US State Department has cleared the sale of M1A1 Abrams tank ammunition to Iraq, according to an announcement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

If approved by Congress, the deal will be worth $600 million and includes US government and contractor technical and logistics support. DSCA said in the notice, posted Monday, it would inform Congress of the deal that day.

The prime contractor will be General Dynamics-Ordnance Tactical Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of 10,000 M831 120mm high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) munitions, 10,000 M865 120mm kinetic energy warheads, 10,000 M865 120mm KEW-A1, and 16,000 M830 120mm HEAT-MP-T tank ammunition.

“The proposed sale of the ammunition and support will advance Iraq’s efforts to develop an integrated ground defense capability to support a strong national defense,” the DSCA notice states. “This will enable the Iraqi Government to sustain its efforts to establish and maintain stability.

On July 29, DSCA announced a deal for contractor logistics support for Bell 407, OH-58 and Huey II aircraft in support of the Iraq Aviation Command. Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth, Texas, was the contractor in the deal, potentially worth $500 million.

Iraq also made a $700 million deal with the US for 5,000 AGM-114K/N/R Hellfire missiles and related equipment, which augments its existing arsenal of Hellfires. Lockheed Martin was the contractor

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Syrian helicopter bombs displaced persons camp, many dead: residents
3:10pm EDT
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian army helicopter dropped two barrel bombs on a displaced persons camp in the northern province of Idlib, camp residents said on Wednesday, and video footage appeared to show charred and dismembered bodies.
Footage posted on YouTube showed corpses of women, children and burning tents while people scrambled to save the wounded. "It’s a massacre of refugees," a voice off camera said.
"Let the whole world see this, they are displaced people. Look at them, they are civilians, displaced civilians. They fled the bombardment," the man's voice said.
A man in another video of the Abedin camp, which houses people who had escaped fighting in neighboring Hama province, said as many as 75 people had died.
Syrian state media did not mention the bombing. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the civil war, said 10 civilians died.
Reuters could not independently confirm the attack. Barrel bombs are crudely-made containers filled with nails, metal shrapnel and explosive that are dropped from helicopters.
Rights groups say they have been dropped by the army on densely populated neighborhoods in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the indiscriminate explosives.
One video shows a man arriving at the scene on a motorbike. He runs into the camp and screams at others to pick up the bodies, trying to convince them that the people on the ground with limbs missing might still survive if taken to hospital.
"This one's good! This one's good!" he shouts, telling two men to carry a limp body with one leg hanging from strips of flesh to a nearby pick up truck. "Pick him up from the stomach not the leg," he screams.
Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by Syria's civil war, which started with pro-democracy protests but grew into an armed revolt when security forces cracked down on the demonstrations. More than 3 million refugees have fled the country and the conflict has killed close to 200,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Both the Syrian government and insurgent groups are accused by rights groups of killing civilians and destroying homes.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes and Reuters TV; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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Israel's settlement plans cast doubt on peace commitment: U.N.
Photo
6:27pm EDT
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel's decision to accelerate planning for some 1,000 new settler homes in East Jerusalem raises serious doubts about the Israeli commitment to peace with the Palestinians, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.
An Israeli government official said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will expedite preparations for new settler homes in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli plans, along with Palestinian concerns about Jerusalem's holy sites, prompted the Palestinians to ask Jordan to request an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting in the hope that its 15 members would condemn recent Israeli actions. Diplomats said the council was unlikely to take any action.
"If pursued, these plans would once again raise grave doubts about Israel's commitment to achieving durable peace with the Palestinians as the new settlements threaten the very viability of the future State of Palestine," U.N. Under Secretary-General for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the meeting.
Palestinian observer Riyad Mansour said Israeli settlements were eroding the future Palestinian state, of which East Jerusalem is to be the capital.
"Every day the territorial contiguity and integrity of our state is being fragmented and undermined by such illegal actions, seriously diminishing the viability of the two-state solution," he said.
He also complained about Israel's approach to Jerusalem, including holy sites like the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa mosque.
"Jerusalem is under siege," Mansour said, adding that Israeli provocations at al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques were "threatening to incite yet another cycle of violence."
Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor dismissed Mansour's criticisms, telling council members that the Palestinians were propagating "half truths, myths and outright lies about Israel."
"I'm here to convey one simple truth: The people of Israel are not occupiers and we're not settlers," he said. "Israel is our home and Jerusalem is the eternal capital of our sovereign state."
He held up a Bible, which he said detailed 4,000 years of Jewish history in Israel.
Prosor also rejected criticism of Israeli settlements.
"It says a great deal that the international community is outraged when Jews build homes in Jerusalem but doesn't say a word when Jews are murdered for living in Jerusalem," he said. "The hypocrisy is appalling."
Israel's principal ally and protector on the Security Council, the United States, has criticized the settlements as provocative and illegitimate.
Since the end of the Gaza war in August, tension has risen steadily in the eastern, Arab side of Jerusalem, with almost nightly clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters throwing rocks and petrol bombs.
A major focus of anger is the increasing number of visits by Orthodox Jews, including some politicians, to the raised marble-and-stone compound that houses the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
Netanyahu has promised repeatedly that the "status quo" governing Jerusalem's holiest site is not about to change, though his reassurances have not quelled Palestinian fears.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Syrian helicopter bombs displaced persons camp, many dead: residents
3:10pm EDT
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian army helicopter dropped two barrel bombs on a displaced persons camp in the northern province of Idlib, camp residents said on Wednesday, and video footage appeared to show charred and dismembered bodies.
Footage posted on YouTube showed corpses of women, children and burning tents while people scrambled to save the wounded. "It’s a massacre of refugees," a voice off camera said.
"Let the whole world see this, they are displaced people. Look at them, they are civilians, displaced civilians. They fled the bombardment," the man's voice said.
A man in another video of the Abedin camp, which houses people who had escaped fighting in neighboring Hama province, said as many as 75 people had died.
Syrian state media did not mention the bombing. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the civil war, said 10 civilians died.
Reuters could not independently confirm the attack. Barrel bombs are crudely-made containers filled with nails, metal shrapnel and explosive that are dropped from helicopters.
Rights groups say they have been dropped by the army on densely populated neighborhoods in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the indiscriminate explosives.
One video shows a man arriving at the scene on a motorbike. He runs into the camp and screams at others to pick up the bodies, trying to convince them that the people on the ground with limbs missing might still survive if taken to hospital.
"This one's good! This one's good!" he shouts, telling two men to carry a limp body with one leg hanging from strips of flesh to a nearby pick up truck. "Pick him up from the stomach not the leg," he screams.
Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by Syria's civil war, which started with pro-democracy protests but grew into an armed revolt when security forces cracked down on the demonstrations. More than 3 million refugees have fled the country and the conflict has killed close to 200,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Both the Syrian government and insurgent groups are accused by rights groups of killing civilians and destroying homes.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes and Reuters TV; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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