Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Syria Tells Troops to Be Ready for Battle
(Full Story)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has placed his military on full alert, citing "regional challenges", and vowed to continue supporting the "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance more than ever".

In a speech to mark the Syrian Army national day, Mr Assad said the volatile situation across the Middle East required "vigilance, preparation and readiness" and ordered all units of the armed forces to be on alert.

The comments were interpreted by Israel as a morale booster to the Syrian armed forces and not a call to battle. Israeli intelligence chiefs have assessed that Syria is not in the mood for an open war and is instead content to resupply Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

	Iranian Cleric Asks Muslims to Send Weapons to Hezbollah
	Blair Says Syria, Iran Risk Confrontation
	Iran and Syria Beat the Drums of War

Thread Thirty-Nine

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Cleric who urged jihad to be freed from prison

Snip: An Islamic cleric who influenced at least one of the 7 July bombers and whose videos may have been seen by several of the terror suspects arrested earlier this month, is to be freed from prison in weeks.

Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal encouraged Muslims to attend training camps so they could wage jihad on the West. He was jailed in February 2003 for nine years, reduced to seven on appeal, after being convicted of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Hundreds of Muslims attended his lectures in mosques across Britain, including Birmingham, London and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire.

Clear-Guidance.com

Snip: The founder of ClearGuidance.com spends much of his time working from home in the $700-a-month downtown Houston apartment he shares with his wife and, occasionally, her three children from a previous marriage. His day job is working as a tech specialist for an e-commerce company. The job requires he stay on-line almost all the time; a laptop is always within reach. When he’s not working, Mr. Jamal spends most of his time watching TV shows with his wife. They have every episode of Seinfeld and Beavis and Butthead on DVD.

But in the on-line world, Mr. Jamal leads a far more grand existence. He goes by the name SasJamal and has founded some of the most controversial Islamic websites in North America.

Murder of Muslim girl by her father shocks Italy

Snip: When the Carabinieri broke into the house in the region of Brescia in northern Italy, they found Hina's bedroom spattered with blood. In the garden, buried under a metre of soil and with her jeans and blouse soaked in blood, was the body of the missing girl. Her throat had been slit.

August 22 - Iran’s Military Exercise and Apocalyptic Plans for Israel and World
Debka

Washington is keeping a sharp weather eye out for Tuesday, August 22, which this year corresponds in the Islamic calendar to the date on which many Sunni Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on his winged horse Buraq to “the farthest mosque”, which is traditionally identified with Jerusalem.

According to the Muslim legend, on that day, a divine white light spread over Jerusalem and the whole world.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that information rated “highly credible” has reached US undercover agencies of a secret report presented to Iran’s supreme ruler Ali Khamenei by Abdollah Shabhazi, one of the heads of the Supreme National Security Council. He claims to expose a mega-terror plot against Jerusalem scheduled for August 22, which aims at killing large numbers of Jews, Arabs and Christians.

...snip...

DEBKAfile adds: The point of this massive display of might is in fact to place Iran’s armed forces on the ready for the contingency of a US-Israeli offensive on August 22 as per Shabhazi’s prediction. The exercise will be moved to Tehran to prepare the capital for a potential assault.

Iran's Ahmadinejad: 'No One Will Stop Us'
NewsMax

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists that nuclear power is Iran's right and "no one will stop us" developing the country.

In an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, he said a United Nations resolution insisting on the suspension of its nuclear activities was U.S.-inspired and would fail.

"They are trying to deny our right to develop nuclear power. But no one can impose anything on the Iranian people. They will not succeed," he said while on a campaign tour of the north of his country.

Iran starts military exercises in readiness for 'mad enemy'
scotsman.com

IRAN yesterday launched a series of large-scale military exercises as a senior commander said the armed forces were prepared for any action by Israel.

Iran has denied Israeli accusations that it is arming and training Hezbollah fighters but has also declared Hezbollah victorious in its battle against the Jewish state.

Ataollah Salehi, commander-in-chief of Iran's army, said: "The enemy has gone mad facing Hezbollah's strength and we should keep ourselves prepared given the history we have from our mad enemy."

unedited transcript of CNNi interview with Laura Mansfield:

Colleen McEdwards:

Well, British authorities said that they foiled a bomb plot, an al Qaeda-linked plan to blow up trans-Atlantic flights, and 23 British Muslim suspects are in custody.

We are joined now by Laura Mansfield. She is a terrorism expert who monitors Islamic message boards on the internet, and has also published a translation of writings of Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. She joins us now to talk more about the global terror threat.

And I want to start - - welcome Laura - - I want to start by just going over some of the interesting stuff that you have pulled off the internet and you are obviously very busy these days. But there was a very curious reference to this Rakan Bin Willyamz. What's this all about?

Laura:

Well, Rakan Bin Willyamz first made his appearance on the jihadi message boards last November in a post through the Global Islamic Media Front which is one of the mailing lists that Al Qaeda puts out. The general consensus of most analysts was that Rakan Bin Willyamz was a prototype al Qaeda soldier. He was what the next generation of terrorists was supposed to look like.

Now, in going back after the London bombings were thwarted last week, we realized, Jill St. Claire and I noticed that they were using the plural instead of the singular. It wasn't "he", it was "they", and we started looking at more and more of the posts, and it's apparent that this is either referring to either a group, or possibly a cell, or possibly even the operation itself which is kind of a different way of looking at it.

Colleen:

Does anyone agree with you?

Laura:

No one has contacted me to tell me they disagree, so it's hard to say.

Colleen:

This is your own theory

Laura:

This is my theory.

Colleen

So if . . . if this indeed symbolizes a cell, or a group, how serious is this do you think?

Laura:

Well, I think we have to take what the Rakan Bin Willyamz posts say seriously because what it does is that it describes the individuals who will carry out the next terror attacks on America and Europe and they describe him, or the individuals who will be responsible, as being European or American they will have been raised in the US or in Europe. They have gone to their schools. They basically give the appearance of being fully assimilated into the European or American society, which makes them a threat because you cant profile them.

Colleen:

And this is of course what we are talking about when we talk about "homegrown" terrorism.

Laura:

Exactly.

Colleen:

How much more difficult is this type of cell than one that's based in Pakistan or wherever else?

Laura:

Well, the risk . . . the problem with these types of cells is first of all, if they don't appear to be . . . they aren't attracting attention from looking foreign, acting foreign, you know, acting like they don't fit in, if these guys fit in very well into Western society, then they are not going to attract as much attention. They're going to be harder to detect. Also, if they're not traveling back and forth to the Middle East or to Pakistan . . . what gave away this plot to a large degree last week was the money transfers to and from Pakistan, and several of the plotters had allegedly made trips to Pakistan.

Colleen:

What in the postings that you've seen referring to this Rakan Bin Willyamz . . . what's there for you in terms of the attitude issue because a lot of people wonder, you know, how it is that people who grow up in western cultures . . . many of them . . . and you know, as a member of Al Qaeda and actually executing terror plots.

Laura:

What it tells me is that the individuals who are going in this direction are people who are in many cases . . well the theory says in many cases they are supposed to be disaffected, perhaps they are impoverished, perhaps they cant find employment . . . now that doesn't really fit with the profiles they pulled out of the UK. They are middle class. So we are going to have go back and we are going to have to revisit these profiles of what makes a terrorist. Perhaps it's not about not being able to find a job. Perhaps it is something else.

Colleen:

How does Al Qaeda do it? I mean, what's there for a middle class young person in Britain?

Laura:

One of the basic human needs is a need to belong . . . a feeling of being a part of something and Al Qaeda and radical Islam in general reaches out to individuals. They embrace them. They make them feel a part of the community. And that's a basic human need that is universal.

Colleen:

You see that in the web traffic that you read?

Laura:

Yes.

Note: The following post is a quote:
---

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1686721/posts

"Mumbai on high alert as attacks feared on Sunday"
Press Trust of India ^ | August 19, 2006

Posted on 08/19/2006 9:04:23 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A high-alert has been sounded in Mumbai for Sunday following intelligence inputs that subversive elements may strike in the city, police said on Saturday.

The entire police and para-military set-up in Mumbai has been put on guard, particularly since tomorrow happens to be a Sunday and subversive elements could take advantage of the relaxed weekend life of the city to strike, they said.

Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy said that inputs had warned police to be on guard between August 15 to 20. "Tomorrow being the last day of the warning, we are being extra cautious," he said.

Roy said vital installations, prominent places and places of importance are under heavy security since Independence Day, and will continue to remain so at least for a few days ahead.

Informed sources said that intelligence agencies had tipped Mumbai police that some 'leftover' groups of terrorist outfits were still roaming in the country and Mumbai could still be their target for subversive activities.

Security has therefore being tightened at railway stations, bus terminuses, entry points, vital installations, religious places and communally sensitive areas, sources added.

THANKS to a Special Freepmailer for pointing to this article:
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http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2006-08-20&hidType=TOP&hidRecord=0000000000000000123374

August 20, 2006
"Huge cache of arms found in Bandarban"
Saturday August 19 2006 08:27:38 AM BDT

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A huge cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition was hauled in from the den of a Myanmar separatist outfit in a deep forest in the hill district late Thursday night.The seizure list prepared by army troops include two (New Nation)

M-16 rifles, six SMGs, three AK-47 rifles, two light machine-guns, one 40MM rocket launcher, five US-made rocket launchers, five shells of rocket launcher, 6,750 bullets of different rifles, 2,000 bullets of heavy machine gun, and 2,000 SMG bullets.

Also netted are 2,000 bullets of M-16 rifle, 11 40mm shells of rocket launcher, eight SMG magazines, seven magazines of M-16 rifle, two drum magazines of LMG, two multi-meters, army vests and various military machinery, official sources said.

They said the operation was launched acting on a tip-off that a gang of National United Front of Arakan (NUFA) gunmen was in a hill-forest hideout in the frontier upazila Alikadam. Six teams of army kept the den of NUFA at Menching Para in Mirinja hill forest encircled since Thursday morning."

Note: Updates appreciated on this incident.

THANKS to Elephant in Texas for pointing to this post/thread.
Note: The following post is a quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1686736/posts

Plane Diverted to Remote Runway at SAIA (San Antonio Int'l Airport)
WOAI-TV4 ^ | 08/19/2006 | Lauren Jenkins

Posted on 08/19/2006 10:12:53 PM PDT by ElephantinTexas

Plane Diverted to Remote Runway at SAIA

LAST UPDATE: 8/19/2006 10:17:26 PM

Posted By: Lauren Jenkins

A Boeing 737 Jet, forced to make an emergency landing at the San Antonio International Airport has been given the all-clear, and removed from the runway.

News 4 WOAI has learned a fight attendant was concerned after a passenger spent an extreme amount of time in the plane's restroom. After the passenger exited the restroom, the fight attendant noticed the ceiling tiles were displaced. The flight attendant notified authorities and the plane was diverted to a far north corner of the airport. Two teams of bomb-sniffing dogs were brought to search the plane. Airport spokesman David Hebert says both K9 units showed interest in the plane. Passengers, and all luggage, aboard the mid-sized Boeing jet, were removed from the plane. All passengers, but for one man, were free to go. Federal authorities held the man they believed tampered with the restroom, back for questioning.

Less than three hours after diverting the plane, and numerous searches, airport officials gave the all clear.

"We can tell you that there was no device found, says Hebert. It doesn't appear to be any danger at this point.?" Although the situation is over, and the plane has been turned back over to Delta, News 4 WOAI has learned the one passenger is still being questioned. Officials have yet to release his name, but do say he is not from San Antonio.

http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=5&id=7689
Updated: August 18th, 2006 11:04 AM EDT
Home > Airline and Airport Security News
"Every Airport Traveller to be Fingerprinted in Europe"
The Scotsman
via NewsEdge

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Biometric testing is set to be introduced at European airports as part of stringent new security measures revealed yesterday in the wake of last week's alleged terror plot.

Passengers would have their fingerprint or iris scanned under the measures proposed by EU interior ministers, which would also use passenger profiling to try to identify potential terrorists.

The move to beef up relaxed security procedures in Europe came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, warned human rights would have to be balanced against the threat from terrorism.

Other measures agreed in the wake of last week's terror threat include a commitment to stamping out radicalism by stricter policing of the internet, replacing extremism with a "European" model of Islam, a 250 million research project into liquid explosives and a meeting of security services across Europe this month."

Thanks to Fair Opinion for the ping to this post/thread.
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Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1686758/posts

DEFENCELESS. Airline Bomb Plot Cops' fury at ban on guns in terror raids
UK Mirror ^ | Aug. 20, 2006 | Justin Penrose

Posted on 08/19/2006 11:37:13 PM PDT by FairOpinion

UNARMED police were sent to search homes in the airline terror plot - despite a cache of weapons being uncovered in one house.

It is thought police chiefs did not want to risk another bungle like the Forest Gate raid or the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

But a senior intelligence source said: "The decision not to go in with armed officers was dicing with death. What would have happened if the came up against an armed suspect?

All 23 arrests in High Wycombe, Walthamstow and Birmingham were carried out by Metropolitan Police's unarmed Territorial Support Group.

(Excerpt) Read more at sundaymirror.co.uk ...

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