Israeli-Arab War

[American Patriot]

Israel to hold nationwide missile attack drill


Security forces, rescue services to participate Tuesday in massive drill simulating conventional and unconventional terror attacks across country, in order to implement lessons learned from war in Lebanon. Siren to be sounded in south, center of Israel at 2 p.m. Efrat Weiss

Published:

03.19.07, 00:37 / Israel News

The Home Front Command and all of Israel's rescue services will hold a first-of-its-kind drill Tuesday across the country simulating conventional and unconventional terror attacks and missile strikes in different areas.
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, a siren will be sounded in most areas of the country. The siren will last 90 seconds and will be heard from southern Israel to Hadera. The Home Front Command decided not to sound the siren in the north and in Gaza vicinity communities in order not to cause panic.
The drill is aimed at examining the Home Front's preparedness for different emergency scenarios.
The forces will implement lessons learned from the second Lebanon war . Among the scenarios: A missile hitting a building in Netanya, causing the three-story house to collapse, and a missile landing at the Reading Power Station in Tel Aviv, causing a large number of casualties.

The rescue services will be dispatched to other "missile landing" areas in Petah Tikva and in a Jaffa community center. In Be'er Sheva a drill will be held simulating a "mega-terror attack," simultaneous to a heavy barrage of rockets in southern Israel, causing many injuries.
For further information on the drill, please call the Home Front Command and the Israel Police's joint information center at 1207.

[American Patriot]

War Clouds Gather Over the Golan
Forward ^ | Fri. Mar 09, 2007 | Martin Van Creveld

While the world’s attention is riveted on the conflict in Iraq and a possible American attack on Iran, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad may be quietly preparing for a war against Israel.

From the mid-1950s until the end of the Cold War, what made Syria’s aggression against Israel possible was the fact that Damascus got its military hardware almost for free from the Soviet Union. With the collapse of communism, this arrangement came to an end, leaving late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad with a debt of well over $10 billion. Since he did not have the money to pay, most procurement was brought to a halt.

Equipped only with the weapons they had been provided in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Syrian armed forces were allowed to decay until much of their equipment was fit only for the junkyards. Now, however, the balance seems again to be tilting toward Damascus.

The first step was taken in January 2005. In an apparent effort to reassert Moscow’s power in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin forgave Damascus three quarters of its debt; the rest, it seems, has now been paid by Iran. This agreement enabled the Syrians to start rebuilding their armed forces.

Damascus began by completing the large array of surface-to-surface Scud missiles that, with North Korean help, they had been building throughout the 1990s. As a result, they now have several hundred such missiles. Some are armed with chemical warheads, and some are capable of reaching just about any target inside Israel.

Of late, the Syrians have gone on a real shopping spree. They have bought Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and anti-ship missiles capable of being launched either by sea or by land. The equipment in question is modern and extremely sophisticated. Some of it has yet to even enter service in Russia itself — and much of it is as good as, if not better than, anything found in the West.

Meanwhile, the Syrian High Command has also been studying the lessons of the recent war in Lebanon. From the little that has leaked out, it is possible to put together the following picture: Seen from Damascus, Israel’s strategic deterrent has proved irrelevant, and it can, provided some limits are observed, be safely ignored. During this past summer’s hostilities with Hezbollah, the only part of the Israeli military that performed credibly was the air force.

To be sure, excellent intelligence and superb command and control enabled the air force to knock out every single Hezbollah-owned surface-to-surface missile launcher either before it could come into action or immediately after it had done so. The Israelis, however, had an easy task, since their fighter-bombers were facing practically no opposition; even so, fearing casualties, they hardly dared use their helicopters. Moreover, the air force failed to stop the short-range rockets raining down on northern Israel.

The Israeli air force could wreak much destruction, but it could not force a decision.

At sea and on land, Israel did much worse. Following a successful Hezbollah missile strike that hit, but did not sink, one of Israel’s ships, the navy was forced to stay well away from the Lebanese shore. It blockaded Lebanon’s ports but was unable to do much to influence the battle.

The ground forces, both conscripts and reservists, proved heavy handed, hesitant, slow, ill trained and ill motivated. In part, they were also badly commanded; too many senior officers, instead of leading their men as they used to do, stayed behind their computers well in the rear. Overall there was precious little to show that these were the same forces that as recently as 1982 had taken just one week to reach Beirut.

Considering these demonstrated shortcomings on the Israeli side, the outline of a possible Syrian plan of attack is not hard to guess. In contrast to Syria’s launching of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, there will be no large-scale offensive action either in the air — expect, perhaps, by commando forces — or on the ground.

Instead, some incident will be generated and used as an excuse for opening rocket fire on the Golan Heights and the Galilee. Once that happens, Hezbollah will most likely be induced to join in. The United Nations forces in Lebanon will, as usual, prove to be a broken reed.

Should the Israelis respond by sending in their heavy armor, the Syrians will stay on the defensive, relying on their newly acquired anti-tank missiles to break the assault. Should the Israelis send in their air force, the Syrian anti-aircraft missile batteries will be waiting for them.

To deter the Israelis from escalating the struggle and smashing Syria’s infrastructure, as they did in Lebanon, the Syrians will rely on their missiles. The overall goal will be to draw out the conflict and inflict casualties, civilian as well as military, until Jerusalem finally throws in the towel.

To be sure, the Syrian plan is not without risk. One problem facing the Syrians is that the terrain on and east of the Golan Heights, unlike southern Lebanon, provides scope for the kind of armored maneuver warfare that, long ago, used to be Israel’s forte. Damascus, therefore, will have to start by creating a vast array of artificial obstacles capable of trapping the Israeli tanks; indeed, for some time now they have been doing just that.

Second, relying on chemical warheads to balance the Israeli air force’s ability to strike at Syria may be extremely dangerous, given both Jews’ aversion to gas and the widespread belief that Israel possesses nuclear weapons. Such, however, are the hazards of war, and experience suggests that they may be contained. Given Israel’s reluctance to take casualties and its lack of fighting spirit — as demonstrated all too clearly this past summer in Lebanon — overall the emerging Syrian plan is a good one with a reasonable chance of success.

When will the Syrians go to war? Obviously, much will depend on what happens in Iraq and Iran. A short, successful American offensive in Iran may persuade Assad that the Israelis, much of whose hardware is either American or American-derived, cannot be countered, especially in the air. Conversely, an American withdrawal from Iraq, combined with an American-Iranian stalemate in the Persian Gulf, will go a long way toward untying Assad’s hands.

In any case, the Syrian forces will need time to prepare. By a rough guess, absorbing the new weapons may take more than a year, but almost certainly less than the three or four years that some Israeli intelligence sources, seeking to reassure their own people, say are needed.

On the other hand, Damascus surely will not make the mistake of waiting until the Israeli anti-missile weapons, which are now under development, become operational and enter service. Finally, the season must be selected in such a way as to make the weather work against the Israelis as much as possible. Fog, cloud, rain and snow impede air operations and make a ground offensive difficult.

Hence, everything considered, October 2008 does not seem like a bad choice. The fact that the Americans will be busy with their elections, and that time must pass before a new administration finds its feet, could count as a bonus.

What steps can Israel take? In part, it can continue doing what it has been doing for a long time — namely, gather as much intelligence as possible on Syria’s surface-to-surface missiles and preparing to launch a devastating air strike against them if necessary. In addition, ways and means, either technical or tactical, must be found to counter the new Syrian surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles.

In that context, it might be a good idea to have Mossad buy or steal some of those missiles’ warheads. Back in the early 1970s, that is how Israel learned the secrets of the French-made Exocet sea-to-sea missile, which was then in Arab hands. Once the way that the electronics work is understood in detail, countermeasures should not be too difficult to devise.

Above all, Israel must rebuild its ground forces, where the bulk of its conscripts and reservists serve. As has happened in other advanced countries, those forces have had their morale undermined by social developments. This includes an aging population and declining fertility, both of which have made the nation less willing to take casualties. It also includes the spread of feminism, which has given women a considerably greater role in the armed forces and consequently made military service less attractive to men, while at the same time driving home the impression that Israeli troops are nothing but a bunch of sexual predators.

Furthermore, the ground forces have borne the main burden of fighting the Palestinian intifada over the past 20 years. Doing so has weakened their morale almost to the vanishing point; in some cases, crybabies have taken the place of soldiers. One is reminded of the Argentinean troops who, after years of fighting their own civilian population, ran away when confronted by a British force one-third their size in the Falklands in 1982.

Of all the problems afflicting the Israelis, this is the worst. So long as the occupation of the Palestinian territories lasts, it is anybody’s guess whether the men’s former willingness to fight and die can be restored.

Finally, Israel could try to forestall another war by reaching a peace agreement with Syria. As we now know, under Ariel Sharon secret Israeli-Syrian talks went on for two years.

No sooner had last summer’s hostilities in Lebanon ended — a war that was probably launched by Hezbollah without any consultation with Damascus — then leading Syrian personalities started saying they were interested in resuming negotiations and bringing them to a conclusion. But in the fall, Israel went out of its way to reject Syria’s overtures, partly because it wanted Damascus to stop assisting Hezbollah and the Palestinians and partly owing to American pressure.

Now, however, the Americans themselves are about to talk to Damascus, as well as to Tehran. Where the master leads, the follower cannot be far away — or else, Israel had better be prepared to take on the consequences.

Martin van Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the author of the forthcoming “The Changing Face of War: Lessons of Combat, From the Marne to Iraq” (Presidio Press).

[American Patriot]

Israel's Next War--Ominous buildups north and south.
FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | April 17, 2007 | P. David Hornik

Posted on 04/17/2007 6:18:02 AM MDT by SJackson

Ze’ev Schiff—left-of-center, not a hawk, and considered by many to be Israel’s foremost military analyst—cites security sources as saying those Qassams that Islamic Jihad has been raining on Gaza-bordering communities during the “ceasefire” with Hamas are in fact supplied by Hamas.


Hamas, the sources said, while “maintaining a front of abiding by the ceasefire,” is actually “emerging as the lynchpin of Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel.” That is believed to include providing Islamic Jihad with Russian-made 16-kilometer-range Grad rockets, already used last year to target the town of Ashkelon with its strategic facilities.


An analysis last month already warned that Hamas is “improving its rocket capabilities” while “seeking to build anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems that will neutralize Israel’s current ability to easily penetrate Gaza.”


The deteriorating situation in the south led Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Tzvika Fogel, formerly chief of staff for Southern Command, to warn on Israel’s Channel 10 that Israel faces two choices: to “continue its ostrich-like stance” until the Gaza terror forces mount a surprise attack, or to launch a full-scale preemptive attack of its own.

Meanwhile, shifting the lens to the north, last week the head of Israeli Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, reported to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Syria is “purchasing massive amounts of ground-to-ground and anti-tank missiles from Russia”—a country whose name tends to turn up in these contexts—and that, while “there is a low probability that Syria will initiate a war against Israel,” Syria could launch attacks in the Golan Heights even though it could lead to war.

Another report gave an even more ominous picture of an “unprecedented military buildup in Syria,” including the deployment of 300 home-manufactured Scud missiles just north of the Golan Heights, the establishment of new commando units, and a spike in training for urban and guerrilla warfare.

A source in IDF Northern Command said that “Syria saw the difficulty the IDF had during the fighting inside the southern Lebanese villages [last summer] and now . . . wants to draw us—in the event of a war—into battles in built-up areas where they think they will have the upper hand.”

And over in Lebanon itself, the fallout from last summer’s war is just as negative and the prognosis no better. In his same testimony to the Knesset committee last week, Maj.-Gen. Yadlin noted that up to several hundred Al Qaeda members have arrived in Lebanon with the aim of attacking UNIFIL and other Western targets; and that Hezbollah remains entrenched in southern Lebanon and keeps amassing large quantities of arms from Syria and Iran.

Rounding out the circle by returning to the south, Yadlin also said some Al Qaeda operatives have infiltrated Gaza as well, and that Hamas is gaining financial and political strength while its members receive training in Syria and Iran.

Overall, “the MI chief stressed that Iran continues to provide funding and weapons to Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and has close military and intelligence coordination with Syria.” Add Russia to the mix and the picture is complete: a Shiite-Sunni-Russian terror-military axis seeking to surround, pressure, and harass Israel and ultimately eradicate it.

Tragically, this is happening at a time when Israel has a government hobbled by incompetence, unpopularity, scandals, infighting, and delusory dovishness, and that, apart from stepped-up training for some IDF units, is essentially doing nothing about the growing threats. It does not help that Israel’s U.S. ally keeps obsessively choreographing diplomatic dances with the likes of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Saudis, and the Arab League with which Israel dutifully complies—achieving nothing except to further project weakness to Israel’s enemies and lull the parts of the Israeli public that are eager to be lulled.

As Schiff points out in another analysis, it was the reluctance to enter a two-front war that led Israel to allow Hezbollah’s major military buildup in southern Lebanon in the first place. After Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000 against the advice of most of the IDF top brass, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon found themselves facing a Palestinian terror onslaught mounted from the West Bank and Gaza and did not want to further complicate matters by doing something about Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So Israel, Schiff notes, “never once struck at the convoys transferring the missiles to Lebanon, and never struck even one Hezbollah missile warehouse, or even the short-range rockets near the border.” The end result was that Israel found itself at war on two fronts anyway—when Hamas attacked from Gaza and kidnapped a soldier last June, and Hezbollah followed suit the next month with an attack and kidnapping from Lebanon; and now faces the prospect of a further two-front war against enemies with enhanced capabilities.

Hope resides mainly in the interim report later this month of the Winograd Committee, set up to investigate the failures in last summer’s war and also expected to address the whole period of 2000-2006. Sufficiently harsh conclusions against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could lead him to resign or cause other political ferment leading to new elections. As time goes on and Israel, aside from antiterror policing work in the West Bank, remains almost entirely passive against the growing threats, it does not appear that Olmert’s government has the will or ability to do anything about them, and its continued tenure appears to spell disaster.

If there is a chance—apart from a strike on Iran that would alter the region’s strategic balance—for Israel to avoid another two-front entanglement, it lies mainly in regaining its deterrence by making an effective move in Gaza. A hard-enough blow to Hamas and its friends there could make Hezbollah and Syria think twice about starting more trouble in the north. But there may be little time left, and such an outcome requires a functioning government in Jerusalem. It also calls for a Washington able to look past short-term diplomatic concerns and give Israel the backing it needs.

[Sean Osborne]

When the next round breaks out Israel will find itself in a three-front war not unlike its war of independence in 1948, and more severe than the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The 6-Day War of 1967 was fought as all wars need to be fought - there was total military victory which eventually was not seized upon to force peace upon the belligerents. That led to the '73 war and near disaster.

Israel has come full circle and now finds itself in a difficult strategic/tactical position.

This coming spring or summer...

[Aplomb]

It may now be here. The truce is off.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/...l_palestinians

Israel rules out major Gaza offensive



By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer 58 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday authorized the army to carry out limited operations against militants in the

News | News Photos | Images | Web

Gaza Strip, but ruled out a large-scale ground offensive in response to a new round of Hamas rocket attacks, Israeli officials said.




The decision was made at an emergency meeting that Olmert held with senior security officials following the fresh rocket fire. The violence has threatened to unravel a five-month cease-fire.

Two meeting participants said Olmert agreed to allow the army to carry out "pinpoint" operations to halt the rocket fire, but decided against a widespread offensive, essentially continuing current Israeli policy in Gaza. There have been growing calls in military circles for tougher action in Gaza.

The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

On Tuesday, the Islamic militant group said its members fired 41 rockets and 54 mortar shells in response to Israeli raids.

The Israeli military said it could confirm the launching of only six rockets and eight shells. Just two rockets reached

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Israel, causing no casualties or injuries, the army said.

The head of an Egyptian security delegation in Gaza, Maj. Gen. Burhan Hamad, called a meeting of all Palestinian factions Wednesday morning, urging them to maintain the calm "to avert any possible Israeli invasion of Gaza."

He condemned the rocket barrages, as well as the Israeli raids earlier in the week that killed nine Palestinians, most of them militants. Egypt frequently acts as a mediator between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Hamas is a partner in the Palestinian coalition government, whose platform calls for a long-term truce with Israel.

Israeli media, citing military officials, said the rocket bombardment apparently had been intended to create a diversion in order to capture an Israeli soldier near the Gaza border. The military refused to comment on the reports.

Hamas-linked militants have been holding a 20-year-old Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, captive since capturing him in a cross-border raid last June.

Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the Gaza truce in late November, declaring an end to Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli attacks, including airstrikes at Gaza militants and invasions of towns in northern Gaza.

Israel has stopped most of military activity but kept Gaza in a stranglehold by frequently closing its vital border crossings, citing security threats. While Hamas rocket squads stayed on the sidelines, other groups, like Islamic Jihad, have kept up fire of homemade rockets almost daily at Israeli towns and villages just outside Gaza.

Tuesday's rocket barrage, coinciding with Israeli Independence Day, was the first sign Hamas was backing away from the truce.
"The cease-fire has been over for a long time, and Israel is responsible for that," Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida, told the Voice of Palestine radio station.

On a visit to Rome, Abbas called on Israel to "exercise the necessary self-control" and said the "truce violation is an exceptional act which will not last."

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas appeared to defend the attack.

"We made great efforts at keeping the truce and there was a positive Palestinian position, but unfortunately this position was met by expanding (Israeli) aggression and escalating it against the Palestinian people," he said.

Haniyeh's spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, also blamed Israel, but said the Palestinian government "affirms the importance of maintaining the truce and protecting it."

Peretz told Israel Radio late Tuesday that the Hamas claim of responsibility for the rockets attack was "a very serious matter, and we will have to deal with it."

Also Wednesday, the army ended a general closure of the

News | News Photos | Images | Web

West Bank and Gaza Strip. The closure, put in place on Sunday for Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day, had barred virtually all Palestinians from entering Israel. Thousands of Palestinians enter Israel each day for work, medical care and family visits.

[American Patriot]

IDF prepares for Syrian attack on Golan
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull ^

The IDF on Thursday held intensive training maneuvers in preparation for a feared Syrian attack on the Golan Heights.

Hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers, backed by helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, massed in the Judean Desert to drill simulations of war. The training exercise focused on Brigade 401 and its utilization of Israel's most advanced tank - the Merkava Mark 4 - against the Syrian advanced Russian-made T-72.

Since the Second Lebanon War, Military Intelligence has claimed that war with Syria is now closer than ever, and the IDF is on heightened alert in the North in preparation for the possibility of a surprise attack.

(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...

[Sean Osborne]

Key Judgements taken from "How Israel Bungled the Second Lebanon War" by Efraim Inbar, Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2007.

• Israel's leadership was ill-prepared for the summer 2006 war against Hezbollah. Israeli politicians and planners displayed strategic blindness. While denying the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) victory, they squandered an opportunity to destroy the bulk of Hezbollah's military presence in southern Lebanon, settle regional scores, enhance Israel's deterrence, and strengthen Jerusalem's alliance with Washington.
• The Failure of Deterrence
  For more than six years, between Israel's May 2000 unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon and the outbreak of war in July 2006, Israeli officials sought to contain the Hezbollah threat. Preoccupied with a renewed Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza and a protracted terrorist campaign, Israel policymakers hoped restraint would suffice.
• Failure to PrepareAs soon as the guns fell silent, Israeli officials began to take stock of their new situation. There was unease. Declarations of victory rang hollow. While politicians and military officials squabbled over responsibility, the government appointed an inquiry committee headed by judge Eliyahu Winograd to sort the situation out. Still, the fact that there were serious strategic errors was clear.
• Unrealistic Goals
  Unrealistic goals compounded poor preparation. Israeli political and military leaders erred in their belief that Israeli pressure on Hezbollah and the weak Lebanese government could generate a political process in which the Lebanese army could achieve a monopoly over the use of force in Lebanon.

• Bungling the Aftermath

How Israel ended the war augmented its failure. UNSCR 1701 marked the first time in Israeli history that Jerusalem had sought a U.N. resolution to end a war.



Conclusions

• When war erupted in summer 2006, Israel enjoyed overwhelming military superiority and favorable political conditions. However, its strategic follies and operational deficiencies resulted in a faltering, indecisive war. The Israeli military could have administered a serious blow to Hezbollah from the air during the first few days of the war or, alternatively, destroyed most of Hezbollah's military presence in southern Lebanon with a large land invasion. Unfortunately, Israel's political and military leadership had no clear concept of what victory over Hezbollah entailed.
• Israel squandered an important opportunity to settle regional scores. It left unchecked Iran's apparent efforts to expand Shi'i influence in Lebanon and left untouched Syria's potential for mischief in Lebanon. Hezbollah's resilience against the Israeli bombardment emboldened it to withstand future Israeli assaults, and Israel's failure to succeed emboldened regional radicals.
• The war demonstrated that Israel is a strong state. It has the spirit to fight. Its soldiers won each encounter with Hezbollah. The Israeli home front displayed great resilience, and Israel's economy continued to bloom. With adequate preparation, Jerusalem might attain a clear victory in the next round, which, however unfortunate, the outcome of the 2006 war makes inevitable.

http://www.meforum.org/article/1686


My comments:

All of the above realities were blatantly evident in the final days of the war. They were also predictable given the palpable liberal softness of the Ehud Olmert/Tzipi Livni government, which is now under extreme pressure to resign prior to the coming Phase II - made inevitable due to the wholesale failures Olmert and underlings to "Git'R'Done" last summer.

The war last summer did not escalate as seemed almost a certainty at the time. When crunch-time came Olmert's feebleness and lack of strategic leadership precipitated the Israeli failure to achieve unconditional victory. That failure was a guarantee of a more massive war which is now looming to be the regional, potentially WMD-laced war that so paralyzed Olmert with fear last summer.

See ya'll in the "MIddle East War: 2007" thread.

[Jag]

'Doctors Without Borders' Gave Terrorist Entry Pass to Israel


by Ezra HaLevi


(IsraelNN.com) An Arab man from Gaza was given a VIP pass by Doctors Without Borders, which he used to plan assassinations of Prime Minister Olmert, Minister Lieberman and David Be’eri.

The 25-year-old PA Arab from Dir El Balah in Gaza, Masab Bashir, was charged in a Jerusalem Court Thursday. He has been employed by Docters Without Borders for at least five years and received a pass to travel freely to the Jerusalem region in his capacity as a doctor for the organization.

Doctors Without Borders are recognized by the UN as a humanitarian group and are granted free passage by the Israeli government through checkpoints and closed military areas. They feature large decals on their vehicles with a picture of a crossed out assault rifle – to indicate they are non-combatants.
Another man, an Israeli Arab, was also arrested for assisting Bashir. A third man's identity has not been released by the Shabak (General Security Service).

Bashir was arrested three weeks ago and confessed to collecting intelligence information for the PFLP terror group with the goal of killing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman and David Be’eri. Be'eri heads the Elad organization which develops Ir David, the Jewish archaeological gardens in the Silwan region below Jerusalem’s Old City.

The terrorist met with PFLP handlers in September 2006, after which he received combat and arms training. He said he eventually concluded that security was too tight around the government officials and in December, 2006 decided to instead murder David Be’eri, a target because of his development of Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. In January 2007, with a pass from Doctors Without Borders, Bashir targeted Be’eri and began gathering intelligence information on his daily routine. He returned in February and March – and was arrested on his latest trip, on April 19.

On the web site of Doctors Without Borders, the organization’s stated goals in the PA-assigned areas are to: “…provide psychological and medical care and social assistance to families affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Last year, it condemned the decision of several governments to cut funding to the Hamas-led PA and channel it to humanitarian organizations instead.
Doctors Without Borders says it had no idea that Bashir was engaging in such activities.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122487

Jag

[Jag]

06/15/07, 11:52 AM
Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel


by Hana Levi Julian


(IsraelNN.com) A Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported Friday that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel, saying that the Syrian government has removed the Government and State Archives from the Damascus area. According to the paper, this move indicates preparations for war.

Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash confirmed on Al-Jazeera Arabic world news satellite TV last week that Syria is indeed engaged in active preparations for a war with Israel. The conflict, said the Syrian MP, is expected to break out during the summer months.

Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reported Sunday that their efforts to begin negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have gone unanswered. They also said that Mr. Assad’s failure to reply signaled that his claims of wanting peace were not honest and were meant to improve his own status in the international community.

Last week, the head of Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, warned that Syrian President Assad was putting up a smoke screen by claiming he wants to open peace talks with the Jewish State.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi has also raised the issue numerous times. “The IDF is preparing for an escalation on both the Palestinian and the northern fronts,” he said bluntly during a speech to the IDF Officers Training School earlier in the year.

The IDF held a large-scale exercise ten days ago simulating a Syrian invasion to Israel’s north. Infantry units, tank divisions and the Air Force took part in the exercise, which took place at the Shizafon IDF installation, in the southern Negev.

Asked about the exercise by Army Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the IDF was indeed preparing for the possibility of war with Syria, but said this does not mean that Israel would initiate such a war. "Our preparedness is not an indication of any decision by either us or Syria to go to war - these are purely defensive measures," he said.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122765

Jag

[American Patriot]

Advanced Russian Air Defense Missile Cannot Protect Syrian And Iranian Skies
DebkaFile ^ | September 7, 2007

DEBKAfile's military experts conclude from the way Damascus described the episode Wednesday, Sept. 6, that the Pantsyr-S1E missiles, purchased from Russia to repel air assailants, failed to down the Israeli jets accused of penetrating northern Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean the night before.

The new Pantsyr missiles therefore leave Syrian and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion...

[American Patriot]

Syria threatens Israel over sortie (hints at imminent action)
JTA ^ | 09/08/2007

Syria hinted at imminent retaliation for an alleged Israeli violation of its airspace.


Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara said in an interview published over the weekend that his country was weighing a response to what it described as an incursion by Israeli warplanes Thursday.


"I can't reveal details of the measures. That's a question of national security," Shara told Italy's La Repubblica daily.


"I can tell you that at this time, in Damascus, political and military chiefs are studying a series of responses. The results will not be long in coming."


Syria's official state newspaper Tishrin accused the Bush administration of complicity in the flyover.


Israel and the United States have not commented on the incident.

---

---

One of the fuel tanks witnesses reported seeing fall from an IAF jet near the Turkish border with Syria on Thursday. (Channel 2)Turkey's top-selling Hurriyet newspaper carried photographs on Saturday of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-15s sent to gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border.

[American Patriot]

I am not exactly sure how to take this... but I received a message about the Temple Mount..... I followed some links and wound up here:

http://universaltorah.com/programmin...mple-mount.htm

I don't know what this means, nor do I know who sent me the message to check there. All I can say is it is vague, and nothing is in the news today about something happening.

What I CAN say is this, IF the Temple Mount is "under attack" is certainly will mean war in the middle east, and especially in Israel.

So... well, you guys look for more information, I can't tell you anything more than I have here.

Here's the text:

The Return of Israel - Part 8 - Joseph Pt. D
Urgent Message: The Temple Mount

September 5, 2007 - 22 Elul, 5767
Light to the Nations – with Rabbi Chaim Richman
Weekly series with new shows available every Thursday.
The Holy Temple - the heart and soul of the world - is under attack! Radical Islam is waging war against the G-d of Israel.

Urgent Message: The Temple Mount [24:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download






Entry Filed under: Temple Institute Shows, Specials, Light to the Nations

[samizdat]

It's slightly more swalloable than yasser arafat trampling upon the Church of the Nativity.

I watched the whole film. What the guy is gettin at (methinks) is that not one stone will be left upon another- before the 2nd coming of Christ- and in Jewish belief- the 1st coming. They are razing the old temple mount foundations. Presumadly- re author- this is a direct attack on God- so people should demonstrate 60's fashion ifo of mosques. I don't see any greater good- but he thinks it would bring attention to the passivity- or obsequiousness of world opinion concerning islam (subjugation). He has a point- really- what if Israel or Ireland decided to beat up Mecca, just to rewire a synagogue or catholic Church?

Someday it won't matter. Jerusalem will suffer a horrendous earthquake.

He also has a point about Bush's advocation of a 2-state- non Biblical solution. Actually, the US has no jurisdiction in Israel, no? Perhaps that's just an admin opinion, but really- 2 warring states in the same city??

USSR fueled the arab-israel conflict. Why not? They'd like to kill 2 gods in 1 war.

[Brian Baldwin]

It's a cry for help for what the individual rightly sees as a defilement of an archaeological holy site. Everyone so wants to believe (politicos), that Islam can be reasoned with. This gentleman is correctly pointing out that they are trying to erase their and therefore our own history. The problem here is our people and their own are helping Islam do so. What he wants is as samizdat says, a public outcry. Unfortunately it is a dream that will never be realised for the man in the video. We live in very self destructive times and eventually it will come to a boil and the lid is going to pop off the kettle.

There doesn't seem to be any apocolyptic meaning in his words but rather a disgust with the current political situation of America and Israel and their blind eye on Islam.

At least that is my take on it.

[American Patriot]

Israeli troops on high alert along Syrian border
Associated Press ^ | September 11, 2007

JERUSALEM: Israel is keeping troops along the Syrian border on high alert amid allegations by Syria that Israeli aircraft entered Syrian airspace last week, military officials said Tuesday.

The officials said there have been no signs that Syria is preparing for war after the alleged incident. Nonetheless, the army will remain on high alert over throughout upcoming Rosh Hashana holiday, which begins Wednesday.

There were no immediate details on the high state of alert. But officials said the army carried out a previously scheduled military exercise in the disputed Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, on Monday.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Syria has alleged that Israeli aircraft entered its airspace and dropped munitions last Thursday. "It was an intentional, hostile attack," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Monday during a visit to Turkey.

Turkey has said it found fuel tanks allegedly dropped by the Israeli aircraft near its border with Syria. At a news conference Monday with al-Moallem in Ankara, Turkey's foreign minister called the development "unacceptable."

"All countries in the region must show respect to all countries' sovereignty and carefully avoid acts that lead to tensions," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said . "Otherwise, tensions would be fueled and peace and stability in the region might be harmed."

Israeli officials have remained silent about the alleged incident with archenemy Syria.

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...

[Brian Baldwin]

Wow. Where was Turkey's Peaceful Righteousness when terrorists launched missles over and over into Israel? I sure wish America would just ship a butt load of high tech weaponry to Israel then remove their leash.

[catfish]

From the beginnning it was claimed Israeli Spec Ops took part in the Syrian op. It made sense to me that Israel wanted intel to prove the Syrians were working with Iran and NK. Now its being reported more and more and I expect some sort of evidence to come out eventually. In fact some already has with Bibi flappin his gums.

[American Patriot]

It's a good thing to have guys on the ground to VERIFY things, and in this case, I think one of the reasons Israel is so quiet is they were "SOOOOOO RIGHT" -- which means, guess what? We've got the intelligence too, so does England, France and a few other countries. NATO is now full appraised of the situation as well.

Things aren't good for Iran, Syria and North Korea from our point of view.

[American Patriot]

'IAF strike ruined chances for peace'
Jerusalem Post ^ | 9/24/7 | JPost.com staff

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull
Images at that link

The alleged September 6 air strike on a Syrian facility has destroyed any chances for peace between Syria and Israel, senior Syrian officials said Monday.

The officials in question told Reuters that Damascus had been cautious about responding to the alleged IAF attack because of Israel's military superiority and the fact that other Arab nations "did not support Syria."

Furthermore, they said, while Syria's troops were "on alert," Syria would not initiate an attack.

Earlier Monday, Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal denied a report in Britain's Sunday Times that IDF special forces had collected material from a suspected Syrian nuclear site shortly before the strike.

"These are sick delusions, intended to raise the morale of the IDF, which was defeated in Lebanon last year. They're intended only to cause fear among the Arabs," Bilal told Asharq alawsat.

According to the Times, the alleged IAF attack was sanctioned by the US after the Americans were given proof that the material was indeed nuclear-related.

The sources confirmed that the materials were tested after they were taken from Syria and were found to be of North Korean origin, which raised concerns that Syria may have been trying to come into the possession of nuclear arms.

The commandos, who, according to the report, belonged to the legendary General Staff's Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), may have been disguised in Syrian army uniforms. It was also stated that Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who used to head the unit, personally oversaw the operation.

Israeli sources admitted that special forces had been accruing intelligence in Syria for several months, the report said, adding that evidence of North Korean activity at the installation was presented to President George Bush during the summer.

(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...

[American Patriot]

N. Korea slams US over 'Syria strike'
AP via JPost ^ | 9/24/7

North Korea accused the US of defending Israel's recent alleged air strike against Syria, calling the strike a grave crime that undermines regional peace and stability, a South Korean news report said Monday.

North Korea's criticism came after this month's reported IAF raid on unknown Syrian targets, over suspicions that North Korea might be providing nuclear assistance to Syria. (Why are they so vocal?)

"Israeli warplanes' intrusion into the territorial airspace of Syria and bomb-dropping are an outright violation of Syria's sovereignty and a grave crime that destroys regional peace and security," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying.

The North also claimed that the US had defended Israel's "brazen behavior" in allegedly launching the air strike, Yonhap said.

North Korea's comments came days after it held high-level talks with Syria. The two countries, which deny the allegation of a secret nuclear connection, did not provide details of Pyongyang talks.

Andrew Semmel, acting US deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, said earlier this month that North Koreans were in Syria, and that Syria might have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.

Semmel did not identify the suppliers. However, he said he could not exclude the possibility that a nuclear black-market network, run by the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, could have been involved.

Semmel's comments raised speculation that the alleged September 6 Israeli incursion into Syrian airspace had targeted a nuclear installation. US officials have said IAF warplanes struck a target.

One US military officer said the strike was aimed at weapons being shipped to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...