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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...

I'm trying to clean up all the news tapes I've put up, so I've made a new Gulf War 1991 Playlist. This is the first of over 20 hours of tape we recently found and encoded from those early days, added to the ones already up. The tapes were unorganized and unlabeled, so they aren't in a good order, but I'm adding info to the titles and, when they're all up, I'll number the tapes to make it easier. In the meantime, I'm putting up a quick and dirty webpage to help you make your way through the tapes. The...

Report based on images from Israeli satellite seem to reveal Scud missile factory identical to one seen in Iran An Israeli television report said on Tuesday that Iran is building a facility in northwest Syria to manufacture long-range rockets, and showed satellite images it said were of the site under construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week that Iran was strengthening its foothold in its ally Syria as Islamic State fighters were being displaced, and said Israel was watching developments and would act against any threat. "Our policy is clear: We vehemently oppose the military buildup by Iran and...

Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper “Di Telegraaf,” that he knows the three sites where Iraq’s WMD are kept. The storage places are: 1. Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels. 2. The village of...

SEOUL, April 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has recently moved two additional missile launchers believed to be for Scud missiles to its east coast, a military source familiar with the matter said Sunday, in yet another sign of preparations for a missile launch at a volatile time on the Korean Peninsula. According to intelligence authorities, the North in early April moved two mid-range Musudan missiles to Wonsan, and placed seven mobile missile transporter-erector-launchers (TEL) in Wonsan and South Hamgyeong Province at its eastern coast. Coupled with warning diplomats in Pyongyang to leave in case of war, the missiles fueled speculation...

Amid unconfirmed allegations of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is demanding a plan to secure chemical weapon sites in the country - even if it means sending in U.S. troops, according to Foreign Policy Graham expressed grave concerns about the prospect of "chemical weapons in Syria falling in the hands of extremists," and said in an interview with Foreign Policy today "Americans need to lead on this issue." "We need to come up with a plan to secure these weapons sites, either in conjunction with our partners [or] if nothing else by ourselves," Graham said....

Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria. The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system. According to Mashregh, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard media outlet, Russia had warned Turkey not to escalate the situation, but with Turkey's request for Patriot missiles, it delivered its first shipment of...

By the blacklisting Tuesday, the Jabhat al-Nusra group fighting in Syrian rebel ranks as “a foreign terrorist organization” and affiliate of al Qaeda in Iraq, Washington faces four quandaries: 1. The 10,000 fighters of this al Qaeda affiliate are the best-trained and most professional component of the Syrian rebel front;. 2. Jabhat al-Nusra fields 3,000 fighters out of the mostly Free Syrian Army’s 14,000 rebels fighting in and around Aleppo. They also constitute the assault force’s spearhead. 3. The Islamists are at the sharp front edge of the rebel force battling for control of the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons...

A Russian official has said for the first time that the Syrian government may be defeated by opposition forces. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are "losing more and more control and territory", deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said. He said Russia, one of Syria's staunchest allies, was making plans for a possible evacuation of thousands of its citizens. Separately, Syria denied reports it had fired Scud missiles at rebels. Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen earlier said the organisation had detected the launch of such short-range missiles, saying it showed an "utter disregard" for the lives of the Syrian people. 'Unacceptable...

BRUSSELS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Several Scud missiles fired at rebels by Syria have landed "fairly close" to the Turkish border, NATO's top military commander said on Friday in a blog explaining why Patriot anti-missile batteries are being deployed to Turkey. The comments by U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, were the first to confirm that Scuds have come down near the border of Turkey, a NATO member state. Stavridis also described the situation in Syria as "chaotic and dangerous".

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fired Scud missiles at rebel fighters in recent days, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday. The move represents a significant escalation in the fighting, which has already killed more than 40,000 civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict that has threatened to destabilize the Middle East. One American official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing classified information, said that missiles had been fired from the Damascus area at targets in northern Syria. “The total is number is probably north of six now,” said another American official, and that the...

Jordanian news site says western spy satellites show hundreds of Scud launchers moving south and north.Jordanian news site Ahbar Baladna reports that western spy satellites have recently spotted movements of Syrian heavy missile launchers northward and southward, toward Syria's borders with Turkey and Israel.

"We can confirm reports concerning the firing of three surface-to-surface Scud missiles from the vicinity of Sirte," chief NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said of ongoing resistance despite rebels entering Tripoli on Sunday."They landed in the coastal area of Misrata, most likely in the sea or on the shore," she said, adding "we are not aware of damage or casualties."

Ex-French defense chief says, despite close defense ties, Israel refused requests to back up claims that Hezbollah stored Scuds in Syria. Despite close defense ties, the defense establishment refused numerous requests from France for evidence to back up Israeli claims that Syria last year transferred long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon, visiting former French defense minister Hervé Morin told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Last April, Israeli defense officials said that Syria had transferred long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. A month later, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, that Hezbollah was storing the...

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...

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...

BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah on Friday slammed "interference" in Lebanese affairs by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and warned that its arsenal was off-limits after the diplomat accused militias of creating tension in Lebanon. "Hezbollah condemns this attempt to create dissent and sedition among the Lebanese under the guise of advice and guidance," the Shiite militant party said in a statement. "Roed-Larsen's continuous attempts to interfere in Lebanese affairs and incite the Lebanese to fight one another are unacceptable for an international official working for peace in the region," it said. On Thursday the UN envoy had warned of the need...

The Kuwaiti anti-Syrian daily Al-Siyassa reports on a full general alert in the Syrian military across the country, and also among Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon, Beq'a, and Dahiya. The alert is due to fear of attack by Israel, against the backdrop of claims that Syria has transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah. Source: Al-Siyassa, Kuwait, April 22, 2010

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem says the resistance movement is ready for a possible act of aggression by Israeli forces. The Hezbollah official made the remark in an interview with an Arab newspaper on Saturday.

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...