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Washington and Tel Aviv vow to take 'tangible action' to prevent Iran from acquiring 'nuclear weapons', an Israeli spokesman says. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said on Friday that the diplomatic efforts to exert pressure on Iran to give up its uranium enrichment have so far been insufficient. "It is clear that additional steps will have to be taken," he continued. "We are on the same page. We both see the threat... And we both understand that tangible action is required to prevent the Iranians from moving forward on a nuclear weapon," said the Israeli spokesman. Regev then...

Thousands of Somalis took to the streets Sunday to protest a US bombing that killed a man said to be Al-Qaeda's chief in the country, and 11 other people, organisers and residents said. The protest took place at Dhusamareb, a trading post of about 100,000 people, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, where Thursday's attack took place. Abdirasak Moalim Ahmed, one of the organisers of the protest, said that in the days since the attack, people had been vomiting. "We believe the Americans used poisonous bombs," he said. The US air strike killed at least 12 people...

THE US military is drawing up plans for a "surgical strike" against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, Western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the guards special operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shia militias and smuggling weapons into the country. Despite a belligerent stance by US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the administration has put plans for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities on the backburner since Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Defence Secretary in 2006, the sources...

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country. Despite a belligerent stance by Vice-President Dick Cheney, the administration has put plans for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on the back burner since Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary in 2006, the sources said....

TOMAHAWK MISSILES fired by a U.S. Navy ship demolished a house in central Somalia on Thursday and killed a vicious militia leader and al-Qaeda operative. It was a victory for the Bush administration's counterterrorism operations in Africa -- and a demonstration of the limits of a strategy based almost entirely on "over the horizon" military strikes. Aden Hashi Ayro, the man who was killed, deserved the label of "evildoer." As chief of the extremist al-Shabab militia, he supervised and probably participated in the murder of foreign aid workers, teachers, an Italian nun and a British journalist while directing al-Shabab's insurgency...

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq, May 2, 2008 – An Air Force Reserve pilot deployed here broke his own world record for hours spent flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone today. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, prepares to don his helmet at Balad Air Base, Iraq, before flying a combat mission May 2, 2008. Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone. Brill is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior...

A Somali Islamist commander thought to be al Qaeda's leader in Mogadishu was killed in an air strike in central Somalia early on Thursday, an Islamist commander and residents said. Residents in the town of Dusamareb said they believed two missiles were fired in what they said was a U.S. air strike. "Infidel planes bombed Dusamareb. Two of our important people, including Aden Hashi Ayro, were killed in the incident," Mukhtar Robow Adumansur, a senior commander for the Islamist movement, told Reuters. The leaders belonged to al Shabaab, the military wing of a sharia courts movement ousted at the end...

WASHINGTON, April 29 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: TO BE LED) President George W. Bush said Tuesday the recent U.S. disclosure of North Korea's alleged transfer of nuclear technology to Syria was intended to sound a tough warning to Iran of its nuclear aspirations. Bush made the remarks at a White House press conference.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said Monday that the alleged Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in September would have produced enough plutonium for one or two bombs within a year of becoming operational. U.S. intelligence and administration officials publicly disclosed last week their assessment that Syria was building a covert nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance. They said it was modeled on the shuttered North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, which produced a small amount of plutonium. The Syrian site, they said, was within weeks or months of being operational. "In the course of a year after they got...

Ten North Koreans were killed in an IAF air strike on a Syria installation September, Bloomberg reported Monday, quoting an NHK report that cited unidentified South Korean intelligence officials. The report quoted a Japanese broadcaster who said that they had been assisting the Syrians in the construction of a nuclear reactor. Several North Korean workers survived the air strike, the report said. Yielding to months of pressure from the US Congress, the Bush administration gave members briefings on Thursday indicating that on September 6, Israel destroyed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help.

Making it crystal clear to Iran, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that the United States is preparing for "potential military courses of action" against it if Tehran does not stop aiding insurgents in Iraq and fails to stop building nuclear weapons. Admitting that a third conflict in the region would be "extremely stressing" for America's military, he warned Iran that it was mistake to suggest the United States did not have the resources to strike Iranian military targets. "I have reserve capability, in particularly our Navy and our Air Force, not just there,...

The reasons are twofold. When the Israelis first became concerned about the North Koreans' activities in Syria last summer, the Americans were negotiating a delicate deal to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programme in return for a relaxation of the trade sanctions that have crippled the North Korean economy. Had the Israelis gone public with the intelligence that the North Koreans were actively helping Syria to acquire nuclear technology, it might seriously have undermined Washington's diplomatic efforts. If the Americans want to expose North Korea's links to Damascus, that is their affair. For their part, the Israelis are...

US forces have killed a leading military commander in Al-Qaeda and three of his aides in an air strike in Saladdin district, according to an Iraqi police source on Saturday. The source told KUNA that the US forces targeted the car that the operatives were driving with a missile, and identified the commander as Mohammad Muzahem Al-Harbouni. The operation took place 25 km east of Sammara.

IAF aircraft targeted a Kassam launch cell in the Gaza Strip late Saturday evening, the IDF reported. Palestinian sources reported that two terrorists were killed and three wounded in the attack. The army did not confirm the reported number of casualties. Earlier Saturday, an armed Hamas member was killed in another IAF strike in the Gaza City area, Palestinian security sources said. The Palestinians claimed that the man, 22-year-old Aimed Abu-Amar, was killed by a missile fired from an IAF helicopter. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that he saw Hamas and its leaders as directly responsible for Saturday morning's...

IRAQI forces backed by British troops and artillery seized the main stronghold of the radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern port city of Basra yesterday. The operation, which also involved RAF and American aircraft, forced the cleric’s Mahdi army militants to cede control of a district where they had fought off an Iraqi onslaught last month. A senior Mahdi source in Basra said British soldiers - believed to be SAS troops directing attacks - had accompanied the Iraqis as they moved into the district of Hayaniya. British officials said only that “liaison teams” were advising Iraqi commanders on...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi soldiers took control of the last bastions of the cleric Moktada al-Sadr’s militia in Basra on Saturday, and Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad strongly endorsed the Iraqi government’s monthlong military operation against the fighters. By Saturday evening, Basra was calm, but only after air and artillery strikes by American and British forces cleared the way for Iraqi troops to move into the Hayaniya district and other remaining Mahdi Army militia strongholds and begin house-to house searches, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi troops were meeting with little resistance, said Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry...

Source: U.S. Strike on Iran Nearing April 14, 2008 By: Jim Meyers Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America’s Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table – but likely. “Israel is preparing for heavy casualties,” the source said, suggesting that although Israel will not take part in the strike, it is expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution. “Look at Dick Cheney’s recent trip through the Middle East as preparation for the U.S. attack,” the source said....

An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday. Furthermore, according to a report leaked to the TV channel, Syria has arrested 10 intelligence officials following the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Fighting flared overnight in two key Shiite regions of Iraq, with four people killed early Wednesday in a U.S. airstrike in Basra and five others dying in battles in Baghdad's volatile northeastern region. Also, in Mosul, the U.S. military said Wednesday it killed a senior leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and accidentally shot and killed a bystander during a clash with militants. In the Basra violence, the U.S. military said an unmanned aerial vehicle early Wednesday launched a Hellfire missile at five insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades at Iraqi soldiers. The Predator drone killed four "criminals"...

Qatari newspaper al-Watan reports of Syrian preparations against Israeli strike during coming summer; says Israel looking to May, June as possible window for attack Roee Nahmias Published: 04.14.08, 15:00 / Israel News VIDEO - Is Syria preparing for war? Qatar's al-Watan newspaper reported Monday that political and media sources in Damascus expressed concerns that war may breakout between Israel and Syria before long. Video courtesy of infolive.tv According to the report, the nationwide emergency drill held by Damascus in response to a similar drill held by Israel last week, is one of the preemptive steps taken by Syria, which is...

An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday.

An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday

BAGHDAD — Three U.S. airstrikes targeted mortar launching sites in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 12 suspected gunmen, the military said. The deadly strike occurred shortly before 2 p.m. when an unmanned drone spotted a large group of militants with weapons and mortar tubes, according to an e-mailed statement. The drone fired a Hellfire missile, killing some 10 militants who were heavily armed, it said. Iraqi police said 15 people, including women and children, also were wounded in the strike. But military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said all three strikes were precise and video footage showed no children or...

Video of John Bolton on Fox News

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Gunmen on Sunday kidnapped 42 university students near Iraq's northern city of Mosul, while a US air strike in eastern Baghdad killed nine people, officials said. Iraq's political leaders, meanwhile, urged that militias throughout the country be disbanded in a move seen as pressuring radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to rein in his fighters ahead of provincial elections in October. Local army commander Brigadier General Khalid Abdul Sattar said the gunmen ambushed two buses which were ferrying students to Mosul from their homes in Shurkat, 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Iraq's main northern city. "Unidentified gunmen...

In northern Iraq, Sunni Arab terrorists have changed their tactics recently, moving about in the open much more frequently. This has made them vulnerable to attack by helicopter gunships. As a result, in the last two weeks of March, U.S. AH-64 helicopter gunships made 25 attacks on these armed groups, killing at least 25 and wounding many more. When attacked, the terrorists will scatter, aborting any operations they were in the midst of. The enemy had earlier learned that, to move around, they had to do so without carrying weapons and in small groups. But this made carrying out attacks...

British fear US commander is beating the drum for Iran strikes By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:53am BST 05/04/2008 British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government. A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia...

BAGHDAD — In Baghdad's Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City, U.S. airstrikes aimed at militants plague the population. After a week of violence between the U.S.-backed Iraqi Security Forces and the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr , the American military is targeting mortar teams and rockets that have bombarded the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters. Inside the Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City on Tuesday, Haider Jassim , 4, pointed to his belly and told his mother "oowa." An American child would say "boo-boo." His abdomen was wrapped in bandages after...

U.S. ready to strike Iran in early April - intelligence source -1 18:02 | 30/ 03/ 2007 MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April, a security official said. The source said the U.S. had already compiled a list of possible targets on Iranian territory and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf. "Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed...

BAGHDAD (AFP) — At least 461 people were killed in week-long clashes between Shiite militants and security forces in Iraq, according to an AFP tally based on reports by security officials. Fighting erupted on Tuesday when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered security forces to crack down on strongholds of Shiite militiamen, mostly those loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in the southern port city of Basra.

SYRIAN Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said overnight Damascus is prepared for all scenarios in its worsening relationship with Washington, including the use of US military force. "A prudent person must make all his calculations, especially when we have to deal with an administration which knows how to strike but does not know how to withdraw," Mr Muallem said at the end of an Arab summit in Damascus. He was referring to Iraq where almost 160,000 American troops are stationed five years after invading the country to overthrow president Saddam Hussein. More than 4000 US soldiers have died since.

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers killed 12 criminals after a small arms and rocket-propelled grenade attack in northern Baghdad March 30. At approximately 1 a.m., a 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division patrol was attacked, and Soldiers pursued the criminals as they fled. An air weapons team arrived on scene to provide support. After positively identifying the attackers, the air weapons team engaged and killed the 12 individuals. “We are exercising great effort to protect the people of Baghdad,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, MND-B spokesman. “We are only targeting criminals and those acting outside the rule...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2008 – U.S. aircraft killed 14 terrorists during two anti-insurgent operations conducted in Baghdad today, and coalition forces killed or captured dozens of additional terrorists during other operations throughout Iraq over the past two days, military officials reported. An American aircrew killed 12 insurgents today after they attacked a U.S. infantry patrol in northern Baghdad. Soldiers assigned to the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team pursued the insurgents after they had broken off their attack. U.S. military aircraft arrived to provide air-to-ground support. After positively identifying the attackers, the air weapons team engaged and killed the...

BAGHDAD - A U.S. warplane strafed snipers in the southern city of Basra, killing at least 16 suspected militants after Iraqi troops came under heavy fire, the American military said Iraqi police earlier claimed eight civilians, including two women and a child, had been killed in a predawn airstrike in the Hananiyah neighborhood, a known Shiite militia stronghold. But Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, said U.S. and Iraqi special operations forces had identified snipers on several roofs before the strike was ordered. An AC-130 gunship then opened fire on enemy positions on three roofs. "Initial reports indicate 16...

BAGHDAD - U.S. jets widened the bombing of Basra on Saturday, dropping two precision-guided bombs on a suspected militia stronghold north of the city, British officials said. Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, said U.S. jets dropped the two bombs on a militia position in Qarmat Ali shortly before 12:30 p.m. Basra is Iraq's commercial and oil hub, and militant followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been battling Iraqi and coalition forces in the southern city since Tuesday. "My understanding was that this was a building that had people who were shooting back at Iraqi ground forces,"...

US forces stepped deeper into the Iraqi government's fight to cripple Shiite militias. It has launched air strikes in the southern city of Basra and firing a Hellfire missile in the main Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. . The American support occurred Friday as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas - including more salvos of rockets or mortars into the US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. It was the first time American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed...

Hilla, Mar 26, (VOI)- More than 60 gunmen were killed on Wednesday evening as U.S. choppers fired rockets against buildings used by gunmen in central Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, Iraqi security source said. "U.S. copters bombed sites used by gunmen in Hilla's neighborhoods of al-Askari, Ahmed Nader and Muhaizem, killing more than 60 militants and destroying some houses," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI). From his part, Abdellatif Rayan, an MNF-Iraq media adviser told VOI that the operation was carried out as Iraqi forces requested an air support while clashing with gunmen...

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2008 – A coalition air strike today targeted an al Qaeda in Iraq operative linked to local car bombings, U.S. military officials said. When coalition forces arrived at the target location, they were attacked by enemy small-arms fire. Coalition forces returned fire and called in fixed-wing aircraft to provide air-to-ground support. After the air strike, coalition forces continued to receive heavy fire, as armed terrorists ran from the target area and attempted to hide in nearby homes, using occupants as shields. Several civilians were injured or killed during the gun battle. The wounded were treated on site...

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan — Missiles destroyed the house of a suspected militant leader Sunday in a Pakistani tribal area near the Afghan border, killing about 20 people, witnesses and state-run media reported. The Pakistani military said five or six explosions were heard near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, but it could not confirm the cause. There were casualties, but it was unclear how many, said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, an army spokesman. State-run Pakistan Television said seven missiles were involved in Sunday's strike in a tribal area of South Waziristan. The report did not indicate where the missiles...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the office of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza before dawn on Sunday, pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. A 21-month-old girl was among the dead in new violence. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's office was empty at the time of Sunday's airstrike, but the raid was seen as a tough message to the Hamas leadership, which Israel holds responsible for repeated rocket barrages launched from Gaza. A total of 54 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, were killed...

LONDON (AFP) - A military strike against Iran would be unlikely to succeed and would only inflame tensions in the Middle East, an influential group of British MPs warned on Sunday. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee also recommended that British ministers urge their American counterparts to begin direct negotiations with Iran and consider offering it a security guarantee if it provides "credible and verifiable" assurances it will not manufacture nuclear weapons. "A military strike would be unlikely to succeed and could provoke an extremely violent backlash across the region," the committee said in its "Global Security: Iran"...

TEL AVIV, Israel - Amer Qurmot never saw it coming: In a split second, an Israeli missile killed the 44-year-old Palestinian rocket mastermind as he walked along a road in the northern Gaza Strip. With that Feb. 4 assassination, Qurmot became the latest in a long line of Gaza militant leaders to be struck down by Israeli aircraft. In the face of Israeli threats to go after militant leaders in response to rocket fire on Israeli towns near Gaza, the likelihood of additional airstrikes is high. Israel's policy of "targeted killings" has reshaped the battlefield in Gaza's crowded urban landscape...

LONDON (Reuters) - Gulf states believe Israel will destroy Iran's nuclear programme rather than allow it to acquire an atomic bomb, an adviser to the Kuwaiti government and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said on Tuesday. If Iran did build the bomb, said adviser Sami Alfaraj, then the Jewish state might be one of the countries -- along with the United States and Pakistan -- Gulf Arab nations would ask to provide a "nuclear umbrella" to guarantee their security. Alfaraj, president of the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies, said Israel might bomb Iranian nuclear facilities in the same way it destroyed...

One day after a Pakistani newspaper reported al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn may have been killed in the same airstrike that killed al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi, the rumor remains unconfirmed. Speculation over Gadahn's presence at the al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan began on Jan. 29, the day of the airstrike. An unnamed US official denied Gadahn was killed in the strike. But on Feb. 7, The News reported, based on statements from Western sources, that Gadahn was killed in the airstrike. Gadahn was believed to be en route to the village of Khushali Tari Khel...

Before leaving the Middle East, Bush is reported to have promised Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would join Israel in a nuclear strike on Iran. In Israel, there is talk of a "...a rain of missiles" for which Israelis must prepare now. Speaking on radio as part of a military propaganda offensive, retired general Udi Shani said: "The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory." Shani was tasked recently with drawing up a report on the way the military authorities operated during Israel's summer war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. During that...

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. success in killing a top al Qaeda operative this week showed that cooperation with Pakistan can be fruitful but security analysts said there were limits to what the present strategy can achieve. Analysts said the unmanned Predator air strike that apparently killed Abu Laith al-Libi in a remote area of Pakistan demonstrated that the United States has the military reach and intelligence sources to carry out a precision attack on a specific target with Pakistani consent. But U.S. participation in a ground offensive against al Qaeda strongholds along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is unlikely....

Which target got a million-dollar missile in the rear yesterday? ABC News reports that Pakistani officials believe they killed someone high up the al-Qaeda food chain with a missile strike yesterday, but they're not saying who it might be. Hopes have been raised in the past, but usually have wound up either killing lower-level figures or, as George Bush famously noted, a camel and a ten-dollar tent: Pakistani intelligence sources say they believe a "high-value" al Qaeda target was killed in a missile strike yesterday in the country's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. U.S. officials said there was no indication that...

You Tube video interview on Israeli TV with the President expressing the use of the military option against Iran.

HERZLIYA, Israel (AFP) - Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said on Monday that Israel may have to take military action to prevent its archfoe Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb. Bolton also said that further UN sanctions against the Islamic republic will be ineffective in stopping Iran's controversial nuclear programme which Israel and the US believe is aimed at developing a bomb -- a claim denied by Tehran. "One can say with some assurance that in the next year the use of force by the United States is highly unlikely," Bolton told AFP on the sidelines...

US and Iraqi ground forces edged cautiously towards an Al-Qaeda stronghold just south of Baghdad on Monday after the area was heavily bombed overnight, an AFP photographer said. Troops of the US 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment were using Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to inch forward and clearing roadside bombs with remote-controlled robots, said the photographer, who was moving with the unit.MRAPs are armoured fighting vehicles designed to survive roadside bomb attacks and ambushes.Apache helicopter gunships were hovering over the area where the bombs had destroyed buildings and caused craters in the roads.The US military said American warplanes...