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Israel planned 1991 strike on NKorea-Syria ship: report Wed Jan 9, 2:47 AM ET Israeli agents prepared to strike a ship suspected of smuggling missiles from North Korea to Syria in 1991 but cancelled it at the 11th hour under US pressure, a Japanese newspaper reported Wednesday. Undercover agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency secretly attached a guidance system for an airstrike on a cargo vessel believed to be carrying 23 short-range Scud missiles to Syria, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The Yomiuri, reporting from Jerusalem, said it spoke to one of the agents involved in the operation, whose name was...

Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The name Scud has been widely used to refer to these missiles and the wide variety of modern variants.

The Syrian army has a Scud missile base near Damascus, according to recent satellite photos. The photos also suggest that Hezbollah activists are being trained in the Scuds' use at the base. Reports that Syria may have given Hezbollah Scuds ratcheted up tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus about six months ago, according to foreign media. The photos show five 11-meter-long missiles (the length of both the Scud B and the Scud C ) at the Adra base. Three are on trucks in a parking lot. Two others are in a training area where 20 to 25 people can be made...

In April, Israeli intelligence reported Syria had armed Hezbollah, inside Lebanon, with Scud missiles capable of reaching any Israeli city. On the cusp of June, the entire world knew of the disastrous Mavi Marmara flotilla incident that read like a Turkish-sponsored provocation of violence. Now, just this past week, a series of events have tensions running high again, with militants in Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula launching rockets into Israel and, most notably, Lebanese soldiers ambushing Israeli Defense Forces over an innocuous tree-trimming episode (see the link below). As Israel’s summer of strife continues, observers throughout the world can’t help...

Pakistan's arms supply relationship with North Korea dates back to 1971 when the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then foreign minister under the late General Yahya Khan, visited Pyongyang and sought North Korean arms supplies to strengthen the Pakistani armed forces in the face of a looming war with India. Pakistan then did not have diplomatic relations with North Korea. The visit led to the signing of an agreement on September 18, 1971, 10 weeks before the outbreak of the war with India, for the supply of North Korea-made conventional weapons to Pakistan. Under another agreement signed the same day, the...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

Mideast: Israeli officials charge Syria with transferring ballistic missiles to the control of Iran's puppet militia, Hezbollah. It seems that another attempt to woo and appease a hostile power is not working. Last November we commented on reports in the Arab media in the Persian Gulf that Syria, apparently at the request of Iran, had turned about 300 long-range ballistic missiles over to Hezbollah control in Syrian territory. Hezbollah personnel were being trained to operate the Scuds. On Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres confirmed these reports, publicly charging Syrian President Bashar Assad's government with transferring Scud missiles to the control...

"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day. The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired what were believed to be four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles...

The four trucks moved under the cover of darkness, each hauling the block-like shape of a mobile Scud missile-launcher into the western deserts of Iraq, from where they could target Israel. As the Herald drove from Baghdad to Amman on Friday night, the convoy of Saddam Hussein's most feared missiles loomed out of the night as another piece of his defence plan being set up in the face of an imminent United States attack. At the end of the 1991 Gulf War international forces set about destroying all of the Iraqi President's long-range Scud missiles, but he is thought to...

After North Korea's July 5 missile tests, Japan, for the first time since 1945, is asking America to beef up its military presence in Japan. Why? Because Japan's hedging and tardiness in relation to missile defense has left its cities more vulnerable than they need be. That risks encouraging Pyongyang in its dangerous nuclear and missile brinkmanship. Senior U.S. and Japanese officials met in Washington on Aug. 7-8. The Japanese apparently asked the United States to send to Japan an additional U.S. warship equipped with the sophisticated Aegis radar system and the interceptor missile SM-3 (Standard Missile 3). This is...

Excerpt - TEL AVIV, June 2 - Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, Israeli military officials revealed Thursday. These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the Israelis said, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles, and two Scud D's, the Israelis say they believe, with a range of about...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting. The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery...

NEW YORK - A number of Scuds that could be within striking distance of Israel are still believed to be in western Iraq, Time magazine says in an exclusive report today. "Washington has pointed to the capture of two airfields in western Iraq as a blow to Saddam's ability to menace Israel with Scud missiles, as he did in the 1991 war," the magazine writes. "But the U.S. has what it considers credible intelligence that some Scuds have eluded detection in western Iraq, within striking distance of Israel." A senior U.S. intelligence official told Time: "We are not out of...

The ongoing search by U.S. and allied forces for Saddam Hussein's remaining arsenal of Scud missiles is not limited to western Iraq, a hotbed of missile firings during the 1991 Gulf War, according to a senior U.S. Central Command official. No Scud firings have been reported in this conflict, but the United States and its allies remain vigilant.In 1991, Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles against Israel from its western desert -- launches that bedeviled U.S. commanders because a large amount of air and special operations assets had to be diverted to hunt them, in part to assure Israel the United...

AUSTRALIAN SAS soldiers could hunt down leaders of the Iraqi regime spotted in their operational areas, the Australian commander for the Iraq war has revealed. Brigadier Maurie McNarn, who is in charge of the nation's forces in the Middle East, said the primary focus of the special forces remained seeking out Iraqi missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the western region of the country. But they were also on the lookout for any regime leaders, he said. That could include Saddam Hussein, his sons and generals or officials of the ruling Baath Party. "If they come into their area...

AMP DOHA, Kuwait, March 22 — Iraqi forces have been repositioning their surface-to-surface missiles and are expected to try further missile attacks against advancing American troops, senior American officials said today. The officials also disclosed that the missiles fired at Kuwait over the past few days have not been random shots but have been targeted, based on Iraqi intelligence about where American units were positioned.Allied warplanes are now involved in an intensive effort to strike the Iraqis' mobile missile launchers before they fire again. United States military officials say they bombed several Iraqi missile launchers last night. But the...

West seeks to verify murder of waverer By David Wastell, Julian Coman Washington March 3 2003 Western intelligence agencies are investigating claims that Saddam Hussein ordered the murder of a senior Iraqi missile engineer to prevent him from passing vital information to United Nations weapons inspectors. General Muhammad Sa'id al-Darraj, in charge of Iraq's mobile Scud missiles until three months ago, died 24 hours after talks with President Saddam's officials, according to Arab newspaper reports. The officials wanted to discuss how the general would conceal his knowledge if he were called for interview by the UN. The London-based Al-Zaman newspaper...

North Korea: old foe, new issue Administration says release not a retreat from hard-line policy 12/12/2002 By G. ROBERT HILLMAN and RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - The high-seas seizure and quick release of a shipload of Scud missiles bound from North Korea to Yemen demonstrate the difficulty President Bush faces in enforcing his hard line against one part of what he calls the "axis of evil." "Every administration starts out being hostile and, sooner or later, finds out that doesn't work," said Leon Sigal, an Asia scholar who has written extensively on the prospects of...

The United States has agreed to release a North Korean ship that carried Scud-type missiles destined to Yemen, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. Yemen had protested the high-seas seizure by Spanish and U.S. forces and demanded the release of the cargo, which it said was intended for the country’s military. EARLIER ON WEDNESDAY, Jim Miklaszweski reported U.S. military officials were frustrated at Yemen, which is ostensibly an ally in the U.S. war on terrorism. They said Yemen had previously denied ownership of the cargo, but now that the government has claimed the arsenal, the United States has no...