RECOMMENDED DAILY NEWS SERVICEFri August 26, 2011Breaking News
Nine missiles from Gaza explode in Ashkelon, Eshkol District and Shear Hanegev late Thursday • Another Palestinian missile team was hit by Israel ground fire • In a broadcast Thursday night, Qaddafi tells "women and children to purify Tripoli" and Libyans to fight and destroy the rebels • It is not clear when the speech aired by the loyalist Al Orouba station was made or recorded • Senior Libyan rebel leader Jalil welcomed "any negotiation with groups in Qaddafi-held areas to avoid more killing" • Fighting continued Thursday across many parts of Tripoli and other Libyan cities • Fifteen Grad missiles, 10 mortar shells, fired from Gaza Wednesday night explode in Ashkelon, Ofakim, Eshkol district • South Israel is back on missile alert. All public and summer holiday events cancelled at last minute • IDF air strikes overnight targeted Jihad Islami Grad teams and other terorist targets • Israel-Egyptian frontier on peak alert following specific intelligenceof a Jihad Islami Sinai cell preparing a cross-border terrorist attack • US, UK, France drafting Libya resolution for UN Security Council Thursday • They seek approval for continuing NATO operation in Libya and unfreezing $1-1.5 bn of Qaddafi's assets • Qaddafi's forces continue to bombard pockets of central Tripoli, still control Sirte area and southern Libya • Medvedev urges Qaddafi and rebels to hold talks • He said Qaddafi still has some influence and military capabilities despite rebel successes • Ex-IAEA inspector Oli Heinonen warns enough low-grade uranium left at Tajoura research center on Tripoli outskirts for making a dirty bomb – if it falls into the wrong hands • He called on rebels to secure it •
TopicsDEBKAfile Special Report August 24, 2011, 10:17 PM (GMT+02:00)Israel's frontier with Egypt - once a peace border
Israeli units on the Egyptian frontier went on peak alert Wednesday night, Aug. 24, following specific intelligence that Palestinian Jihad Islami was set to launch another cross-border attack from Sinai. Earlier Wednesday, Gen. Benny Gantz, Chief of Staff announced that Israel's Defense Forces were no longer treating the Egyptian frontier as a border of peace because of new threats. The new situation was exemplified by the terrorist attacks Palestinian gunmen launched from Egyptian Sinai on Aug. 8 killing eight Israeli civilians and injuring forty.
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NATO: Qaddafi Will Be Gone by Sept. 1
Says "shock and awe" resources are ready without waiting for US approval.
moreAssad Unmoved by Turkish Diplomacy
As he turns increasingly to war options, Obama tells him to go.
moreRumored military coup in Syria
Generals said to have seized power and retained Assad as front man.
moreTop Stories
- Qaddafi flees Tripoli with family. Guerrilla and/or tribal warfare feared
- Saif al-Islam Qaddafi appears in Tripoli: I was never detained
- Netanyahu accepts ceasefire to placate Egypt
- Tehran pulls the strings of Gaza missile war through proxy Jihad Islami
- US defuses Egyptian-Israeli crisis. End of Sinai demilitarization
- Continuous Palestinian blitz
- Israel tenses for Gaza strike after Palestinian terror attack
- Israel sets up September Commands
HeadlinesQaddafi flees Tripoli with family. Guerrilla and/or tribal warfare feared next
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 23, 2011, 10:04 PM (GMT+02:00)Qaddafi knocked off his pedestal
Muammar Qaddafi, family and elite are reported byDEBKAfile's military sources to have abandoned their Bab al Aziziya fortress early Tuesday, Aug. 23, using Saif al-Islam's surreal appearance before foreign reporters earlier in the day to cover their escape. They are believed to have exited the compound through one of the underground tunnels of the compound's military complex. But regional intelligence experts are frankly baffled by the enigma of the overnight disappearance without a trace of Qaddafi's army divisions.
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Saif al-Islam Qaddafi appears in Tripoli: I was never detained. We are winning
DEBKAfile Special ReportAugust 22, 2011, 10:44 PM (GMT+02:00)Saif al-Islam Qaddafi is back
In an extraordinary turnabout in the Tripoli standoff between West-backed Libyan rebels and Muammar Qaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam turned up with cheering crowds at the Rixos hotel early Tuesday, Aug. 23, and told foreign reporters he was never captured as widely reported. "We are winning,"he said.
His detention was not only reported by the rebels but "confirmed" embarrassingly by the International Criminal Court's prosecutors. "The rebels fell into a trap," said Saif.Read more
Netanyahu accepts ceasefire to placate Egypt, leaves Jihad Islami for later
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 22, 2011, 1:11 AM (GMT+02:00)Gen. Meir Eshel obtains Gaza ceasefire in Cairo
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ruled Sunday, Aug. 21, that his first priority is to grant Egypt's military rulers the kudos for brokering a ceasefire in the Gaza missile war – and deal later with the Palestinian Jihad Islami which fired most of the 100 missiles exploding in Israel from Gaza in the last four days. DEBKAfile: He was wrong: Cairo will come back for more concessions under Muslim Brotherhood pressure; Jihad Islami and its masters, Tehran and Hizballah, remain free to restart missile fire any time.
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on your Android device!Tehran pulls strings of Gaza missile war through proxy Jihad Islami
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 21, 2011, 11:02 AM (GMT+02:00)Iran's trap for Israel on Eilat Highway
The role of Iran and Hizballah in manipulating the ongoing Palestinian war on Israel from Gaza is now manifest,DEBKAfile's military sources report. They planned, orchestrated and funded the coordinated attacks on the Eilat Highway Thursday, Aug. 18 and its sequel: volleys of 90 missiles launched day and night from Gaza against a million Israeli civilians. The Netanyahu government hesitates to send the IDF to stop the missiles flying from Gaza lest the same aggressors open another front leading to a regional war.
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US defuses Egyptian-Israeli crisis: Egypt may post troops in E. Sinai
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 21, 2011, 12:53 AM (GMT+02:00)Field Marshall Muhammad Tantawi sought revision of Camp David accords
Intense diplomatic efforts by Washington Saturday, Aug. 20, have produced a compromise for resolving the Egyptian-Israeli crisis - moments before their 1979 peace accord was overturned. Cairo agreed not to recall the Egyptian ambassador from Israel, whereas the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak apologized publicly for the deaths of three Egyptian policemen. DEBKAfile discloses: Israeli also agreed to renegotiate the treaty's Sinai demilitarization clause banning an Egyptian troop presence.
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DEBKAfile in FacebookDEBKAfile on TwitterContinuous Palestinian blitz after Israel bombs 12 terrorist targets in Gaza
DEBKAfile Special ReportAugust 19, 2011, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)Terrorists attack southern Israel
After the Israeli Air Force struck 12 Hamas and other terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday, Aug. 18, a hail of Palestinian missiles Friday hit the towns of Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon and the smaller Sdot Negev, Shar Hanegev and Eshkol villages in a continuous blitz. Ten worshippers were injured - two seriously - when one of the six Grads aimed at Ashdod hit a synagogue. Police detonated a second in a controlled explosion. Eight Israelis were killed, 33 injured in a Palestinian multiple terror attack near Eilat Thursday.
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Israel tenses for Gaza strike after deadly Palestinian terror attack
DEBKAfile Special ReportAugust 18, 2011, 7:03 PM (GMT+02:00)Israel bus shot up on main highway to Eilat
Thursday, August 18, Israel had its first taste of a sophisticated al Qaeda-style coordinated terrorist attack modeled on the atrocities common in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel's intelligence services, army (IDF) and police were taken by surprise by the scale and slick organization of the multiple assaults staged near Eilat on the highway running south parallel to the Egyptian border by gunmen of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees and Palestinian organizations linked to al Qaeda. Defense Minister Barak: "Gaza is the source of the terror."
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Israel sets up "September Commands" though no intel on Palestinian disorders
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 12, 2011, 12:56 PM (GMT+02:00)Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz
Israel's military, police and Shin Bet security service are drilling extreme scenarios of possible Palestinian disturbances, mass rallies or even terrorist attacks in September – although there is no specific intelligence of a security threat in the offing. The authorities have also set up "September Command Centers" so as not to be caught off guard. The intelligence updates fed them on Palestinian activities contain no signs so far of organized Palestinian preparations for disorders beyond some talk at local Fatah cell level.
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Readers' Choice
Saudis Eye E. Syria for New Sunni State
DEBKA-Net-Weekly #503August 5, 2011Bashar Assad
While his bloody crackdown on Hama grabs headlines, and Bashar Assad's fights for his life against his people, Saudi Arabia eyes the eastern Euphrates Valley and its towns of Deir el-Zour and Abu Kamal for severance from Syria to link up with the Iraqi Anbar province and form a new Sunni Muslim republic under their protection.
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Pakistan Takes Saudi Dollars, Flirts with Iran
DEBKA-Net-Weekly #502July 28, 2011Prince Bandar bin Sultan
Saudi imperial polices have been gravely set back by Pakistan's vacillations and flirtation with Tehran after shelling out two billion petrodollars in aid to buy Pakistan's partnership in Riyadh's plan for an international Sunni legion to withstand Shiite Iran. This did not stop President Asif Ali Zardari visiting Tehran and pledging expanded trade ties with the Islamic Republic.
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15,000 US Troops to Stay in Iraq
DEBKA-Net-Weekly #500July 15, 2011
New US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki quietly agree to at least 15,000 US troops remaining in Iraq after 2011in the guise of diplomats and other civilian personnel with America keeping control of four big air bases – two of them facing Iran. The Iraqi prime minister is dragging his feet before making this understanding public.
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AnalysisRussia: NATO close to military steps in Syria for beachhead to attack Iran
DEBKAfile Special ReportAugust 5, 2011, 12:39 PM (GMT+02:00)Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin
Twelve hours after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Assad he faced a "sad fate" if he failed to introduce reforms, Moscow's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin accused the Western alliance of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime "with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran."
In an Izvestia interview Friday, Aug. 5, Rogozin added: "This statement means that the planning [of the military campaign] is well underway."Read more
Moscow defends Assad, seeks nuclear deal with Iran by freezing sanctions
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportAugust 2, 2011, 7:36 AM (GMT+02:00)Nikolay Patrushev to visit Tehran Aug. 15
As Moscow prepares to block strong UN Security Council condemnation of Syrian violence against protest, Russian diplomats Monday, Aug. 1, launched a quiet effort to start freezing sanctions imposed on Iran over its military nuclear program in return for Tehran satisfactorily answering the International nuclear watchdog's "questions and concerns," DEBKAfile's Moscow and Washington sources report.
Iranian Foreign Minister Saeed Jalili visits Moscow Aug. 17. Washington is standing by for results.Read more
Iran new Hamas commando brigade in Gaza
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportJuly 31, 2011, 9:04 AM (GMT+02:00)Hamas' first commando unit set up by Iran
A team of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers has just finished setting up Hamas' first commando unit especially trained to combat any Israel military force entering the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile's military sources report. The new "Al Qods Brigades" unit of 400 men is to be the first of three. The urban guerrilla tactics imparted to Hamas drew heavily on the experience Al Qods is gaining in Syria, where its experts help President Bashar Assad crack down on protest.
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Stuxnet returns to bedevil Iran's nuclear systems
DEBKAfile Exclusive ReportJuly 20, 2011, 4:35 PM (GMT+02:00)The Stuxnet malworm - at it again
DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report that the Stuxnet malworm which played havoc with Iran's nuclear program for eleven months was not purged after all. Tehran never did overcome the disruptions caused by Stuxnet or restore its centrifuges to smooth and normal operation as was claimed. Indeed, Iran finally resorted to the only sure-fire cure, scrapping all the tainted machines and replacing them with new ones – as was indicated Tuesday by an announcement in Tehran.
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