Iran scrambling to assemble Russian S-300 air defense systems
LONDON — Industry sources said Iran has acquired both S-300PMU1 and S-300PMU2 systems from Russia via Belarus. The sources said the systems arrived in Iran in the spring of 2008 and were being assembled near strategic facilities. "The systems came in a series of deliveries and assembly is taking place in southwestern Iran," an industry source said. "They are doing everything they can to reach initial operational capability." The Russian systems were said to be capable of both air and missile defense.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Iran scrambling to assemble Russian S-300 air defense systems
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Al Qaida bailing: Out of Iraq, into Africa
Al Qaida bailing: Out of Iraq, into Africa
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
BAGHDAD — The Al Qaida network in Iraq, battered in the U.S.-led coalition offensive, has been sending scores of operatives to Africa.
Iraqi security sources said the Al Qaida network in Iraq has ordered hundreds of foreign operatives to leave the country. The sources said scores of Al Qaida fighters left Iraq for northern and eastern Africa during 2008.
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[On Tuesday, 35 police recruits were killed in a double suicide bombing east of the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba. Security sources said the military base where 200 people had been recruited to the police did not contain security.]
Kamal, director of investigations at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said the exodus was sparked by the U.S.-led surge against Al Qaida in 2007. He said cells of the so-called Al Qaida Organization in Mesopotamia were being dismantled amid the flight of operatives."Our intelligence information indicates the withdrawal of certain groups of Al Qaida from Iraq because of the military strikes," Kamal said in a briefing to the Abu Dhabi-based Gulf News. "I believe this is the beginning of the complete withdrawal of Al Qaida from Iraqi territory."
The security sources said Al Qaida operatives in Iraq were also trying to reach North Africa, particularly Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco. They said Iraqi and U.S. raids of Al Qaida strongholds in Iraq yielded plans to resettle in several countries in Africa.
"Al Qaida has sought to replenish the dismantled cells with volunteers from North Africa," a security source said. "But not enough people have arrived."
Al Qaida operations in Iraq were said to have declined significantly during 2008. The network was said to remain active in such provinces as Diyala and Nineveh while sustaining major damage in Anbar and Baghdad.
Still, officials assess that Al Qaida would maintain an operational presence in Iraq. They said Al Qaida regards the war against the U.S. military in Iraq as a major tool in recruitment and fund-raising. Iraq and the United States plan a major operation in Diyala to capture Al Qaida's leadership.
"This [Al Qaida withdrawal from Iraq] will take years," Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, a former police commander in Basra, said.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Pakistan tribesmen say NATO forces mass on Afghan border
Pakistan tribesmen say NATO forces mass on Afghan border The gathering of foreign troops came as Islamabad was under growing pressure from the United States to curb cross-border attacks by Taliban militants, with the US military chief flying into Pakistan at the weekend for urgent talks. "We have heard there is a build-up of foreign troops," said Malik Mohammad Afzal Khan Darpakhel, a local tribal leader in North Waziristan who is not affiliated with the Taliban. "We want to warn them that three million tribesmen will rise against them if they try to move in," Darpakhel told a news conference held by five elders in Miranshah, the main town in the region. Intelligence sources said some 300 NATO soldiers equipped with tanks, armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry have been moved very close to Lwara Mundi, a border village in North Waziristan. The village is also close to Camp Tillman, a US forward operating base in Afghanistan's Paktika province named after American footballer-turned soldier Pat Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in 2004. "They have not crossed into Pakistan but this is the first time that such a large number of foreign troops have come so close to the border," Darpakhel said. A Pakistani military spokesman denied there was any unusual troop movement on the border. The spokesman said the NATO forces may be gathering for an operation on the Afghan side. "There may be some operational movement of these forces in Afghanistan," the spokesman said. Later US President George W.Bush said at a White House press conference that he was "troubled" by Islamic extremists moving from Pakistan to Afghanistan but said the new Pakistani government understands the danger. He said there was "no question" that extremists are moving across the border. "That's troubling to us. It's troubling to Afghanistan. And it should be troubling to Pakistan," he said. "We share a common enemy." "I certainly hope that the (Pakistani) government understands the dangers of extremists moving in their country. I think they do," Bush said. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said there was no question of troops entering Pakistan. "Our mandate stops at the border," spokesman Captain Mike Finney said. There was some "extra activity" on the border with troops searching for surviving insurgents after Sunday's attack that killed nine US troops, he said. But Pakistani tribal elders vowed to support the army in case of any incursion. "We will protect every inch of our territory and we will support our army in fighting these foreign forces," said Darpakhel. "We urge the tribesmen to clean up their weapons and be ready for jihad if foreign forces enter our area."
by Staff Writers
Miranshah, Pakistan (AFP) July 15, 2008
Pakistani tribal elders Tuesday raised the alarm over a build-up of hundreds of NATO-led troops on the Afghan side of the border, but the military downplayed fears of any intrusion.
Analysis: Iran changes prelude to attack
Analysis: Iran changes prelude to attack The appointments, made at a ceremony over the weekend and reported by Iran's Press TV, are "the continuation of a major reshuffling of the (corps) in recent months to make it more mobile and decentralized as a force to conduct irregular military activities against an invading enemy," analyst Rasool Nafisi told UPI. Press TV said the appointments were made in a decree by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. The corps' ground forces and volunteer militia got new commanders, as did its base in Tehran, from which Nafisi said it would suppress any unrest in the capital. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Jafar Assadi, a longtime corps commander and veteran of the 1988 war with Iraq, was put in charge of its ground forces, while Hojjatoleslam Hossein Taeb was tapped to head the corps' Baseej militia of civilian volunteers. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hejazi was appointed commander of the corps' Tharallah military base in Tehran. Press TV said the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces and other high-ranking commanders attended the ceremony held for the inauguration of the new commanders. Nafisi said Taeb was a cleric, considered ideologically very close to the supreme leader. "Like (Khamenei), he has made a special study of ¿¿ counter-sedition," said Nafisi, adding it was referred to as "knowing the enemies of the revolution." "That is not a very common thing." According to Nafisi, an Iranian-American who teaches at Washington's Strayer University and follows the corps closely, Taeb previously had been the deputy commander of the Baseej force, a militia of between 12 million and 15 million spare-time civilian volunteers he said was organized to "spy on their workmates and neighbors, take part in demonstrations of support for (the regime) and ¿¿ suppress (opposition) demonstrations." "They do whatever the regime requires of them," he said. The Baseej force is one of the five elements that make up the corps -- the others being ground, air and naval forces, and the notorious al-Quds brigade, which recently was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. The Quds brigade, Nafisi said, is "an independent force (in the corps) in charge of international activities ... spreading the Islamic revolution." He said the force recently had become "very powerful, almost like a second-tier foreign policy organization" behind the nation's Foreign Ministry. Nafisi said a few months ago the training for the Baseej militia had been expanded to include heavier weapons. "They are preparing to use them as a resistance force in case of invasion by the United States or Israel," he said. By contrast, Assadi, who now heads the corps' ground forces, is a veteran of the group's military operations, who led the paramilitary force that defeated the incursion by the Iraqi-backed People's Mujahedin Organization after the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Assadi, who has a degree in military strategy from an Iranian government institution, is an ethnic Lor from Iran's Fars province who started his career in the corps as a volunteer, said Nafisi. Hejazi, who in his new job would be responsible for suppressing any unrest in the capital, "is one of the most powerful (corps) commanders" who previously headed its ideological bureau, said Nafisi. "His new appointment as the commander of the Tharallah base ¿¿ means more power for him, and less worry for the leadership."
by Shaun Waterman
Washington (UPI) Jul 15, 2008
Iran has named three new leaders to its Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to local news reports, a move said by analysts to be the latest in a series of changes to prepare the force to resist a possible attack by the United States.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
U.S. nuke spotters sent to China before games
Secret team acts on attack fears
Bill Gertz (Contact)
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Bush administration has dispatched a secret team of nuclear specialists to China in response to Chinese concerns that terrorists may attempt to set off a radiological bomb during the Beijing Summer Olympics, The Washington Times has learned.
The Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) was sent on Chinese intelligence indicating that any attack likely would involve a radiological device - a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material to enhance its effect - said Bush administration officials familiar with the security efforts.
The NEST deployment was disclosed as China announced this week that it is conducting a citywide drill in Beijing to test responses for a radiological bomb attack. It could not be learned whether the NEST unit will participate in the drill.
The deployment to China is unusual. NEST units usually deploy to areas in the United States and use highly classified equipment and techniques.
The team is part of the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration and was ordered to Beijing as part of U.S.-China security cooperation, the Bush administration officials said.
Asked about the dispatch of the nuclear detection team, an Energy Department spokesman declined to comment, noting that NEST deployments are not announced.
Other officials familiar with the NEST said the team is made up of nuclear weapons scientists and technicians, many from Energy Department nuclear laboratories, who will provide specialized technical expertise in Beijing before the Aug. 8-24 games.
Team members will be outfitted with special nuclear detection gear and will operate in secret, the officials said.
A fact sheet from the Energy Department states that the NEST deals "with the technical aspects of nuclear or radiological terrorism."
The groups conduct search operations. If radiation is detected, they will perform an identification of nuclear materials, diagnostics and assessments of nuclear devices and bomb dismantling.
"Response teams vary in size from a five-person technical advisory team to a tailored deployment of dozens searchers and scientists who can locate and then conduct or support technical operations on a suspected nuclear device," the fact sheet states.
The exact size of the NEST being sent to Beijing could not be learned, but the officials said it will include about 10 people.
The teams use compact nuclear detection gear hidden in briefcases, knapsacks or portable coolers. They travel in vans searching for radiation sources, often at night to avoid public scrutiny.
Under the Atomic Energy Act, the State Department is the lead federal agency for deploying the team, which will work with FBI agents in Beijing.
Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said the danger of nuclear terrorism is growing and the NEST teams are limited in dealing with the threat.
"We are entering a brave new world where nuclear energy for peaceful purposes literally is providing the fuel for terror," Mr. Sokolski said. "Against this new security sore, NEST teams should be seen as a Band-Aid."
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated in a staff report May 23 that the agency and China are working behind the scenes to "bolster the country's security and minimize threats."
"We have been working with the Chinese authorities over the last 18 months to add a radiological dimension to their existing security plans so that security for the Olympics is as comprehensive as possible," Anita Nilsson, director of the IAEA's Office of Nuclear Security, was quoted as saying in the report.
The IAEA is working to integrate planning for a radiological attack into existing security efforts for police, intelligence agencies and bomb squads. The IAEA is working with Chinese authorities on radiation detection, physical protection and emergency response.
"To guard and look after the Games and its visitors - as the Chinese are doing - is a responsible way of acting," Ms. Nilsson said.
The agency said no specific radiological terrorist-threat information was issued.
The Beijing city government announced Tuesday that it will conduct its first exercise to test responses to a nuclear attack in preparation for the Olympics.
The drill will involve several Chinese agencies including police, fire and environmental responders, Chinese government official Shan Qingsheng told the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The drill will simulate the effects of a radiological bomb set off inside the Olympic stadium.
The dispatch of the nuclear team to China has raised concerns among some counterintelligence officials because of the past compromise of nuclear weapons secrets to China.
The CIA determined that China obtained through espionage details of every deployed nuclear warhead in the U.S. arsenal, and the FBI has failed to identify the source despite investigating for more than a decade.
Computer hard drives from a NEST laptop computer that contained nuclear weapons secrets used to disarm weapons disappeared from a Los Alamos National Laboratory vault in May 2000.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, countering nuclear terrorism was made a high priority for U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, based on intelligence reports that al Qaeda planned to assemble and use a radiological bomb in an attack in the United States.
In 2002, the FBI and NEST conducted joint monitoring of Muslim sites in Washington and five other cities looking for signs of a nuclear material, according to U.S. News & World Report.
A side note: There is actually no such thing as a "NEST Team" - Nuke
Hamas seen using new Russian weapons to break Israelis' will following invasion
Hamas seen using new Russian weapons to break Israelis' will following invasion
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Hamas seen using new Russian weapons to break Israelis' will following invasion
TEL AVIV — Hamas has been training on a range of new Russian-origin weapons meant to incur heavy civilian casualties in any war with Israel.
A leading Israeli analyst said Hamas has been preparing its forces for an expected Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Jonathan Spyer, a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, said Hamas was adopting Hizbullah's strategy of asymmetrical warfare meant to significantly improve its combat abilities.
"Hamas believes Israel's will can be broken through attrition and a steady toll of unexpectedly high numbers of both military and civilian casualties," Spyer said.
Spyer said Hamas would deploy anti-tank missiles and improvised explosive devices in a bid to maintain an Israeli casualty rate of up to 10 soldiers and civilians a day in any military invasion of the Gaza Strip. He said such a casualty rate could force Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
As a result, Hamas has procured and trained on a range of missiles. Spyer cited the Russian-origin AT-3 Sagger, AT-4 Spigot, AT-5 Spandrel and AT-14 Spriggan.
Hamas was also said to have smuggled a large number of advanced RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade systems. The RPG-29 Vampir, with a range of 500 meters, could penetrate reactive armor on Israel's Merkava Mk-4 main battle tank. The Vampir is regarded as far superior to the legacy RPG-7.
[Officials said a Hamas training camp was rocked by an explosion in the central Gaza Strip. They said at least two people were killed and two others were injured in the bombing on Tuesday.
"They were conducting a holy mission," a Hamas statement said.
The official said the blast was the result of the accidental detonation of explosives in the camp near Khan Yunis. Hamas units have been trained in the assembly and operation of bombs and mines.
The camp was established in the former Israeli settlement bloc of Gush Katif. In 2005, Israel expelled the 8,000 Jews as part of the nation's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.]
In June, Hamas accelerated training and expanded a Hizbullah-type irregular force. Syper said "extensive recruitment has been taking place in the past month," with cadets absorbed into Hamas's military wing, Izzedin Kassam as well as the Executive Force. He said about 1,000 Hamas fighters have been trained in Iran and Syria in the spring of 2008.
"Hamas is seeking to create a solid shield around its Gaza fiefdom that can be turned into a weapon of attack at a time and situation of its choosing," Spyer said.
Spyer said Hamas was also producing Iranian-designed explosively-formed penetrators. He cited the Shawaz EFP, designed to penetrate 20 centimeters of steel.
Hamas has also sought to accumulate an arsenal of surface-to-air missiles. The Israeli military has assessed that Hamas has at least 60 SA-7 missiles.
"Imports from Iran and Syria and local production are all playing a role in the movement's development of its arsenal," Spyer said. [On Tuesday, Israel announced the arrest of a Hamas cell from the West Bank that was planning to launch an attack with chemical weapons. Officials said the four-member cell produced a bomb discovered in Tel Aviv in September 2007 and meant for a suicide attack.]
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
US withdraws nuclear bombs from Britain: report
US withdraws nuclear bombs from Britain: report
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Washington (AFP) June 27, 2008
The United States has removed its nuclear arsenal in Britain, ending its half-century deployment there and reducing its European nuclear deployment to six locations in five countries, a report said.
The withdrawal follows the removal of nuclear weapons from the Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2005 and Greece in 2001, according to the The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Strategic Security Blog, citing unidentified sources.
The United States now has an estimated 150 to 240 B61 nuclear bombs scattered in Europe -- at the US Air Force bases at Aviano AB in Italy and Incirlik in Turkey, and at four European bases, in Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy, the blog said.
In November 2000, then president Bill Clinton authorized the Pentagon to deploy 110 nuclear bombs at the Royal Air Force Lakenheath air base, 113 miles (70 miles) northeast of London, the report said.
There were 480 atomic bombs in Europe at the time, it said.
President George W. Bush updated the authorization in May 2004 with an apparent order to remove the nuclear weapons from Ramstein, the blog said. The directive might have also authorized the pullout from Lakenheath, it said.
Asked by reporters Thursday if the reported withdrawal was true, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said: "I haven't gotten that question since I've been secretary of defense, but I think I'm not supposed to talk about that.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Former U.S. officer training Hamas military
Former U.S. officer training Hamas military
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
GAZA CITY — U.S. volunteers with military backgrounds have been recruited to help train the new Hamas army in the Gaza Strip.
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"This information is important for the youth," Al Ashi said during a briefing to visiting journalists in Gaza City.
The sources said Al Ashi, a specialist in explosives and weapons, had been trained in South Carolina during his years with the U.S. military.
Al Ashi and the other Americans were said to have been identified as Muslims who joined the U.S. military in the 1990s. The sources said the Americans relayed U.S. military methods and training to Hamas for its war against Israel.
The Hamas army has been equipped and trained by Iran. But Palestinian sources said some Muslims in the United States have provided funding and expertise to the new Hamas regime and military.
In May 2008, Hamas police launched a police training program assisted by the U.S. trainers. The four-month training course has been directed by Maj. Khalil Hejo and seven other officers.
"In the past, a brigadier general used to run this administration in addition to 250 officer trainers, but now, seven trainers and I oversee the whole program," Hejo said.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report
Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report But the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is considering withdrawing his support for the Iranian programme, added the German newsweekly in its next edition out Monday, quoting German secret service reports. According to those intelligence reports, it said, a joint plan by Syria, North Korea and Iran for a nuclear reactor for military use was to have been developed at the Al-Kibar site in the east of Syria. The site -- to be inspected next week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- was destroyed by Israeli warplanes with Washington's support. Syria denied it has military purposes. The reports cited by Der Speigel claimed that North Korea was to help Iranian scientists to advance their nuclear programme, and that Al-Kibar was to have been used as a temporary site for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb until it was able to do so on its own territory. The plan was discussed during a visit by Iranian President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad to Syria in 2006, according to the magazine. The three countries also cooperated in the production of chemical weapons, said Der Speigel, quoting the same source. At the time of an explosion at a chemical site in July 2007, 15 Syrian soldiers, 12 Iranian engineers and three North Koreans were among the victims. Ten months after the destruction of the Al-Kibar site, on the basis of allegations that a nuclear reactor was being built there with the aid of North Korea, the IAEA said it was sending experts to Syria to investigate. Documents and detailed photographs supplied in April by Washington to the IAEA backed up the suspicions, but Syria rejected the allegations describing them as "ridiculous." Iran and Syria, both parties to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, signed a memorandum of cooperation at the end of May on the two countries' "independence and territorial integrity." The alliance between the two neighbours, which goes back to the 1979 Iranian revolution, was strengthened in 2006 with the signing of an agreement on military cooperation.
by Staff Writers
Berlin (AFP) June 21, 2008
Damascus and Pyongyang helped Iran to develop its nuclear programme through the construction of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel destroyed last September, Der Spiegel reported.
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