A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Taliban suicide bomber has killed a British soldier travelling in a convoy in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The NATO convoy was travelling on the main road on Kabul’s eastern outskirts when the device was detonated also killing three civilians and wounding 12 others.
The soldier, who has not yet been named, was travelling in a fleet of NATO vehicles when his vehicle was deliberately rammed by the bomber driving a car, the Ministry of Defence confirmed. The British mission in Afghanistan has now suffered 28 fatalities this year compared to 42 for the whole of last year and 39 in 2006. The total British death toll now stands at 115. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, claimed responsibility for the blast, and said a man named Aminullah from the eastern Khost province blew himself up. The claim could not be independently verified. The attacks come at a time of an increased insurgent activity throughout the country. The number of insurgent attacks in the first six months of 2008 were over 50 per cent higher compared to the same period last year, according to an Afghan security group that advises foreign aid agencies. (Source: Telegraph-UK)
Gunmen wielding assault rifles ambushed a New York-based aid organization’s vehicle one province south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing a Canadian and along with a British-Canadian colleague and an American-Trinidadian aid worker. The three women worked for the International Rescue Committee and were attacked in Logar province while traveling to Kabul, said Abdullah Khan, the deputy counterterrorism director in Logar. The women’s Afghan driver was also killed. Melissa Winkler, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee, said the group was in the process of alerting family members and would issue a statement soon. Ms. Winkler said the women were a dual American-Trinidadian citizen, a dual British-Canadian citizen and a Canadian citizen. Earlier, an Afghan police official had said the women were American, Canadian and Irish. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)
At least 14 people were killed on the outskirts of the northwest city of Peshawar on Tuesday by a powerful bomb blast that targeted Pakistani air force personnel and badly damaged a key bridge that links the city to Pakistan’s volatile tribal areas. Rehman Malik, an adviser to the Pakistani prime minister, said evidence indicates that a roadside bomb caused the blast. Seven of the dead were air force officers, Malik said. Several other people were wounded. Malik said that no one had asserted responsibility for the bombing but that he suspects it was carried out by Pakistani Taliban forces in direct response to the recent launch of Pakistani army operations in the nearby tribal area of Bajaur. Pakistani officials said more than 150 insurgents were killed in clashes there in the last six days. Fighting erupted there again Wednesday after insurgents allied with the hard-line Islamist Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group overran a government checkpoint near the tribal town of Khar. (Source: Washington Post)
Al Qaeda has exploited recent political turmoil in Pakistan to strengthen its foothold along the country’s border with Afghanistan, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said yesterday in an assessment that also warned of a heightened risk of attack during the upcoming U.S. election season. Despite the loss of key leaders to U.S. strikes, Osama bin Laden continues to enjoy a haven in the border region and has managed to deepen alliances with a wide range of Islamist groups from South Asia to the Middle East, said Ted Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats and an Al Qaeda expert. With the help of such allies, Al Qaeda is seeking to position terrorist operatives in the United States and other Western countries. “We assess that Al Qaeda’s intent to attack the U.S. homeland remains undiminished,” Gistaro said in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Gistaro was the principal author of a “National Intelligence Estimate” report last August that described a resurgent Al Qaeda rebuilding its network inside the autonomous tribal lands in Pakistan’s northwestern frontier. Such estimates represent the consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies. (Source: Washington Post)
A missile strike targeting an alleged militant gathering point killed at least nine people, including foreigners, in northwestern Pakistan, military and intelligence officials said Wednesday. At least four missiles struck a compound in a remote and mountainous area near Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region late Tuesday. The tribal regions are considered havens for al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants, and the U.S. has pushed Pakistan to root out insurgents in those semiautonomous areas bordering Afghanistan.
The military official said at least nine people died. Two intelligence officials said between 22 and 25 people died, including Arabs, Turkmen and Pakistani militants in what they believed was a U.S. missile strike launched from Afghanistan. They said the camp is linked to the militant group of Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose followers are fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. They said it was not clear if the camp leader, an Afghan identified as Commander Zangeer, or senior militants were killed. (Source: AP)
Indian state police shot dead at least 13 people in Kashmir yesterday during Muslim protests over an alleged economic blockade by Hindus as a land dispute began to morph into independence calls. Violence swept the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, too, where two people were killed and several hurt as thousands of Hindus and Muslims clashed with each other and with police. Thirteen protesters killed and at least 200 people were injured, including 85 police, in a dozen separate incidents a day after a Kashmiri separatist leader was killed by police while trying to lead Muslim traders into the part of Kashmir Pakistan controls. Protesters shouted slogans against India’s government as Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, buried senior leader Sheikh Aziz, one of four people killed by police as he led Monday’s march.
(Source: The Star-CAN)
Efforts to revive a landmark peace deal could collapse if renewed fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels spreads in the southern Philippines, the guerrillas warned Tuesday. Skirmishes between Philippine troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front continued in the southern region of Mindanao as government forces drove rebels from Christian villages that the guerrillas seized last week. As many as 160,000 people have fled the fighting. Police say renegades led by rebel commander Ameril Umbra Kato looted and burned down homes, took land by force and killed livestock in at least 15 villages. The rebels have killed three members of a family who were taken hostage Monday. Last month, negotiators for the rebels and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government reached a peace agreement, brokered by Malaysia that would end decades of conflict by establishing an expanded Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines, a mainly Roman Catholic nation. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
Three security officials were killed at a roadside checkpoint in western China’s Xinjiang region Tuesday when at least one assailant jumped off a passing vehicle and stabbed them to death, state media reported. It was the third deadly incident in nine days, coinciding with the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. A fourth security official was wounded in the attack in Yamanya town, according to the New China News Agency. The assailants were still at large. The attack occurred around 9 a.m. as local government officials were checking the names of people passing through a checkpoint about 18 miles from Kashgar, the oasis town where 16 paramilitary border guards were killed in an attack Aug. 4. In a separate incident, assailants detonated explosives and clashed with police in the Xinjiang town of Kucha on Sunday; 10 attackers, one security guard and one bystander died, according to state media reports. The spike in violence has claimed 31 lives in the restive desert region where China meets central Asia. It comes after a separatist group that calls itself the Turkestan Islamic Party released three videos threatening attacks during the Olympic Games, especially targeted at government and police facilities and key Olympic areas. Chinese government officials say they have no evidence the attacks are linked to separatist groups, but they have suggested that the attacks are terrorism. Xinjiang is home to a large population of Uighurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic group that speaks a Turkic language and has long chafed under Chinese authority. The Chinese government responded with overwhelming force after sporadic bombings in the region during the 1990s. The area has been tense but mostly quiet for more than a decade. (Source: Washington Post)
On August 9, 2008, a member of the Islamist website forum Al-Boraq proposed poisoning the water systems of major European cities, explaining that this is just one of many options – some “more powerful and more damaging” – but that the posting was meant to “prompt the mind [to generate] innovative [ideas].” (Source: MEMRI)
Iraq
Insurgents, who have increasingly turned to women to stage suicide bombings, on Tuesday used a man dressed as a woman in a failed assassination attempt on a provincial governor. The target, Governor Raad Tamimi of Diyala province, escaped unharmed. But at least one other person was killed and several were wounded when the bomber’s vest exploded near the governor’s convoy. The use of the man in disguise appeared designed to give the attacker easier access to his target. It was the second suicide bomb attack in two days in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala. On Monday, a 15-year-old girl blew herself up, killing one Iraqi police officer. Witnesses said the bomber Tuesday was foiled by Iraqi soldiers stationed along the route. U.S. Army Maj. Margaret Kageleiry said the soldiers shot at the bomber, which caused him to detonate his vest prematurely. Iraqi officials said two civilians died and nine were injured. The U.S. military said one civilian was killed and nine people were wounded. The military warned months back that Al Qaeda in Iraq was finding it harder to recruit men and had turned to women to stage suicide attacks. At least 28 women have carried them out this year, according to U.S. Army figures, compared with seven last year. Also Tuesday, the military announced the death of a U.S. Marine in the western province of Anbar. Attackers shot the Marine to death Sunday. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
United States
The mysterious death of an Ottawa man in a Denver hotel is now the subject of a terrorism investigation. Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, was found dead in a room at the Burnsley Hotel in downtown Denver Monday morning, less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention takes place in the Colorado city. The hotel is about four blocks from the State Capitol building. A coroner’s investigation found indications of cyanide poisoning, Denver police detective John White told the Citizen yesterday. According to media reports from Denver, a large container of a white powdery substance was found in Mr. Dirie’s room on the fourth floor of the Burnsley Hotel. Tests are now being done by the Denver Police Crime Lab to determine what the substance is. The tests could take days. The FBI and other governmental agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force, are assisting in the probe. The FBI has told the Denver Post there was no reason to suspect terrorism at this time. The man did not have a passport, but Denver police identified him as a Canadian from Ottawa. Mr. Dirie is not known to have family in Ottawa and the RCMP could not be reached for comment. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)
General Norton A. Schwartz, who began his tenure as the 19th Air Force chief of staff yesterday, has taken a frank view of the service’s need to address recent failures concerning the security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and acquisitions practices, telling senior leaders in briefings that they need to “stop the slide.” In two PowerPoint documents used in recent briefings, Schwartz emphasized the need for the Air Force to recapture “top-to-bottom excellence in the nuclear mission,” restore “credibility on Capitol Hill one member (and staff) at a time,” and instill “a compliance culture in key disciplines” such as nuclear, aircraft and missile maintenance and acquisition. Drafts of the internal documents were obtained by The Washington Post and were verified by the Air Force yesterday. Schwartz has set his sights on restoring the service’s credibility after a series of security and corruption problems that have marred its reputation in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. (Source: Washington Post)
Colonel Abdul Karim Aziz, a fighter pilot who survived the war between Iraq and Iran during the 1980s, had all but given up hope of flying again when his mother told him in 2005 that it was time to get back in the air. “When the war began, I didn’t think of coming back,” said Aziz, 49, speaking about the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Referring to the American military, he added: “I didn’t like the friendly side.” The U.S. military all but paralyzed the Iraqi air force after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, turning veteran pilots like Aziz into grounded bureaucrats. The little that remained of the country’s once-mighty fleet was obliterated during the early weeks of the Iraq war. And Iraq’s skies became the domain of the U.S. military, controlled from an operations center in Qatar. Now in an about-face, the U.S. Air Force is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get Aziz and others to fly again, train a fresh generation of pilots and build up the Iraqi air force’s fleet and infrastructure from scratch. The Air Force project is part of a broader effort to train and equip specialized units of Iraq’s security forces, which U.S. commanders see as a critical step to set the conditions for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. As violence has decreased in Iraq in recent months, these initiatives have become one of the U.S. military’s top priorities. But they are getting off the ground as Iraqis have stepped up calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and as U.S. lawmakers, who in recent years have allocated billions of dollars to train and equip Iraq’s security forces, are increasingly demanding that Iraqis pick up a greater share of the tab for security. (Source: Washington Post)
Other than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, few foreign policy initiatives have gotten more diplomatic attention from the Bush administration recently than thawing its increasingly chilly relationship with Russia. Twice over the last 10 months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have been sent on joint missions to convince the Kremlin that it should cooperate on a variety of fronts, including missile defense and nuclear proliferation. But the conflict in Georgia this week has left efforts to engage Russia in disarray, and there are increasing signs that administration hard-liners are using the crisis to reassert their view that Moscow should be isolated. Vice President Dick Cheney’s declaration Saturday that “Russian aggression must not go unanswered” was seen by some experts as the first salvo of what could be a new battle over administration policy. Some conservatives believe the administration has not been tough enough with Russia. Frederick W. Kagan, a neoconservative scholar who has advised the Bush administration, praised Cheney’s comment and faulted President Bush for failing to outline to the Russians the consequences of pressing their assault. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
A US Coast Guard cutter will depart for the Arctic this week as part of a race against Russia to claim the vast spoils of oil and natural gas below the sea floor that both nations are scrambling to exploit. The cutter Healy will leave Barrow, Alaska, tomorrow on a three-week journey to map the Arctic Ocean floor in a relatively unexplored area at the northern edge of the Beaufort Sea, in an attempt to bolster US claims to the area by proving that it is part of its extended outer continental shelf. The rush to stake out territory across the Arctic has intensified since last August, when a Russian submarine planted the nation’s flag on the sea floor beneath the North Pole, which was viewed as a provocative land grab. That triggered an immediate response from the Canadian Government, which within a week announced that it was going to build two new military bases in the Arctic wilderness, a warning shot in the new Cold War over the far North’s energy resources. The Healy will be joined by a Canadian icebreaker on September 6.
(Source: The Times-UK)
Africa
Robert Mugabe last night appeared to have ensured his political survival by splitting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. A senior member of Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party said that the 84-year-old dictator had agreed to set up a coalition government with Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a breakaway faction of the MDC with ten seats in Parliament. The terms of the deal were not clear, but it appeared to exclude Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the mainstream MDC who was denied victory in Zimbabwe’s recent presidential elections by vote-rigging, violence and intimidation. Mr Tsvangirai left the Rainbow Towers hotel in Harare last night grim-faced and silent after three days of talks between himself, Mr Mugabe and Mr Mutambara, on ways to end Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis. The talks were mediated by Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s President. The pact would restore the control of parliament that Zanu (PF) lost to the MDC in the March election. Together they would have 109 seats to Mr Tsvangirai’s 100. However, it do little to help a country saddled with the world’s highest inflation rate and lowest life expectancy after years of grotesque misrule. (Source: The Times-UK)
Americas
Today’s court appearance by Omar Khadr will mark the 10th time the Toronto-born prisoner will have been taken by armed convoy from his cell to a makeshift courthouse.
But this time, the political and legal backdrop for his pre-trial hearing has changed dramatically. Khadr’s legal team has spent the last few months waging a high-profile media campaign it hoped would elicit sympathy for the 21-year-old and force the Canadian government to intervene. His lawyers say they see their job as twofold: fighting the legality of the military court through dozens of motions and constitutional challenges, and trying to generate public and political outcry about Khadr’s trial. Khadr’s lawyers will argue today that the charges should be dismissed because the trial has been tainted by political influence, an allegation the prosecution denies. They will also request that an independent medical expert be granted access to Khadr to assess his mental state. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002 following a firefight with U.S. forces, in which Sergeant Christopher Speer was fatally wounded. (Source: The Star-CAN)
Two members of the Canadian military have been charged with sabotage after an alleged incident involving a secure government computer system at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa last year. The highly unusual charges were laid yesterday by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service in relation to what Defence Department officials are calling an “alleged corruption of a database.” Petty Officer Second Class Sylvia Reid, now based in Victoria, B.C., and Petty Officer Second Class Janet Sinclair, a member of the Maritime Forces Pacific headquarters in Victoria, were each charged with one count of sabotage, one count of conspiracy, one count of mischief in relation to data and one count of willful property damage. The charges came after a year-long investigation by the NIS and military police, a probe that also involved gathering evidence through computer forensic analysis. The two women allegedly corrupted a classified government database at headquarters in July 2007, according to the military.
(Source: Canada.com)
Europe
Polish and U.S. negotiators begin further talks Wednesday on a proposed U.S. missile defense system, a meeting where the fighting between Russia and Georgia was certain to loom large. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that the attacks in Georgia justified Poland’s demand for additional security guarantees if it accepts a U.S. installation. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, replacing Poland’s previous chief negotiator, is to hold two days of talks with U.S. negotiator John Rood. (Source: AP)
Attacks by Russian hackers against Georgian websites, including one hosted in the United States, continued Tuesday even as Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to hostilities against Georgia. Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Atlanta-based Web-hosting firm Tulip Systems Inc., said the website of the president of Georgia was the target of a flood of traffic from Russia aiming to overwhelm the site. Burling said bogus traffic outnumbered legitimate traffic 5000 to 1 at president.gov.ge. Tulip’s firewall was blocking most of the malicious traffic. The site has been periodically inaccessible, though it was working midday Tuesday. Burling said the attacks have been reported to the FBI. Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Atlanta-based Web-hosting firm Tulip Systems Inc., said the website of the president of Georgia was the target of a flood of traffic from Russia. The site was transferred from servers in Georgia, the small nation south of Russia, on Saturday. Georgian-born Nino Doijashvili, Tulip’s chief executive and founder, happened to be in the country on vacation when fighting broke out Thursday. Doijashvili offered help to the government when it became apparent that Russian hackers were getting the upper hand, shutting down several government and news sites. The U.S.-based Shadowserver Foundation, which tracks Internet attacks, said they had noticed commands to attack Georgian sites being issued over the weekend to “botnets,” or networks of computers that have been surreptitiously subverted by hackers. The computers are used to send bogus traffic to targeted sites, slowing them or in some cases bringing them down. The same botnets are also targeting Russian news sites and the website of Gary Kasparov, the Russian chess player and political activist, according to Steven Adair at Shadowserver. On Monday, hackers took over the website of Georgia’s parliament and replaced it with an image that drew parallels between Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili and Adolf Hitler. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)
The presidents of Georgia and Russia agreed early today on a framework that could end the war that flared up here five days ago, after Russia reasserted its traditional dominance of the region. Russian air strikes continued during the day yesterday, however, and hatred simmered on both sides. Declaring that “the aggressor has been punished,” President Dmitry Medvedev announced early yesterday that Russia would stop its campaign. By 2 a.m. today, he and his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had agreed to a plan that would withdraw troops to the positions they had occupied before the fighting broke out. Whether the agreement holds or not, Russia has achieved its goals, effectively creating a new reality on the ground, humiliating the Georgian military and increasing the pressure on a long-time antagonist, Saakashvili. Russian authorities make no secret of their desire to see Saakashvili tried for war crimes in The Hague, and could well try other measures to undermine him. Medvedev also authorized Russian soldiers to fire on “hotbeds of resistance and other aggressive actions.” As the conflict cools and hardens, the two separatist regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, could wind up permanently annexed by Russia. The Bush administration cancelled a scheduled naval exercise with Russia and is expected to press NATO to ban a Russian warship from joining a separate alliance exercise. Cancellation would be the first concrete reprisal against Russia for its actions in Georgia. (Source: The Star-CAN)
Russian troops and paramilitaries thrust deep into Georgia on Wednesday, rolling into the strategic city of Gori and violating the truce designed to end the six-day war that has uprooted 100,000 people and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians, who denied the claim. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring southeast. Troops waved at journalists and one soldier shouted to a photographer: “Come with us, beauty, we’re going to Tbilisi!” But the convoy turned north, left the highway about a hour’s drive from the Georgian capital and started setting up camp. To the west, Abkahzian separatist forces backed by Russian military might pushed out Georgian troops and even moved into Georgian territory, defiantly planting a flag. The developments came less than 12 hours after Georgia’s president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France that called for both sides to retreat to their original positions. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack last Thursday on South Ossetia. Saakashvili gambled on a surprise attack late Thursday to regain control over South Ossetia. Instead, Georgia, a former Soviet state and current U.S. ally that wants to join NATO, suffered a punishing beating from Russian tanks and aircraft that has left the country with even less control over territory than before. About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori on Wednesday morning. The city of 50,000 sits on Georgia’s only significant east-west road about 15 miles south of South Ossetia, a separatist province where much of the fighting has taken place. In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia which they had controlled, a development that leaves the entire area in the hands of the Russian-backed separatists. Georgia insisted its troops were driven out by Russian forces.
At first, Russia said that separatists had done the job, not Russian forces. Nogovitsyn said Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori the same peacekeepers that Georgia wants withdrawn. The effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in. One of two separatists areas trying to leave Georgia for Russia, Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. It’s Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot for the Soviet elite, and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics. Lomaia said Russian troops also still held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region’s main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi’s outskirts on Wednesday. Russia accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn’t be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Georgia said Wednesday that 175 Georgians had died in five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins, including some killed Tuesday in a Russian bombing raid of Gori just hours before Medvedev declared fighting halted.
(Source: AP)
Middle East
Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli peace proposal, Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas’ spokesman, said on Tuesday. Under the proposal, Israel would give the Palestinians 92.7 percent of the West Bank, plus all of Gaza, according to Western and Palestinian officials briefed on the negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s proposal does not offer a solution to competing claims to Jerusalem, and would only be implemented once Abbas reined in militants and re-established control of Gaza, which Hamas seized a year ago. Olmert’s proposal first emerged several months ago and was published in greater detail on Tuesday, prompting Abu Rdainah’s response. “The Israeli proposal is not acceptable,” he said. “The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements, and on the June 4, 1967 boundaries.” He called the Israeli proposal a “waste of time.” Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said, “We are committed to continuing the effort to try to reach a joint Israeli-Palestinian document.” (Source: Reuters)
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians were unaware of the existence of such a proposal. “At no time were the Palestinians presented with a detailed set of proposals by Ehud Olmert or any Israeli official,” he said. “All the details mentioned in this report are either completely untrue or are not linked to reality.” Erekat said the Palestinians would not accept any solution that excludes the issues of Jerusalem and the “right of return” for Palestinians. (Source: Jerusalem Post)
The U.S. has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel’s ability to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Americans viewed the request, which was rejected at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. When President Bush visited Jerusalem in May, he held a private meeting on the Iranian threat with Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak. The Israelis presented requests for specific items of military equipment, along with diplomatic and security backing. Two weeks ago, Barak visited Washington and warned that Iran was liable to advance its nuclear program under cover of the endless deliberations about sanctions. In an attempt to compensate Israel for having rejected all its proposals, Washington then offered to bolster Israel’s defenses against ballistic missiles. However, it would not agree to supply Israel with any offensive systems. (Source: Ha’aretz)
A bomb ripped through a bus carrying civilians and members of the military during Wednesday morning rush hour in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing 18 people and wounding 46. The officials said the dead included 10 off-duty soldiers. The bomb was planted on the side of a main street and went off as the bus passed by. The streets were filled with people heading to work, which contributed to the many casualties. The military had no immediate comment. The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The blast raised suspicions that al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic militants may have sought revenge on the military for its assault last year on the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared, a one-time bastion of the Fatah Islam group. The months-long battle killed hundreds and eventually drove out Fatah Islam. (Source: AP)
The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions against five more Iranian firms that had provided support or materials to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The move bans Americans from doing business with them and freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction. “These five nuclear and missile entities have been used by Iran to hide its illicit conduct and further its dangerous nuclear ambitions,” said Stuart Levey, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Responsible financial institutions and businesses worldwide are taking steps to avoid doing business with Iranian nuclear and missile entities, as well as with the front companies and cut-outs the Iranian regime uses to disguise its activities,” Levey said. (Source: Reuters)
Joe Varner is Assistant Professor and Program Manager for Homeland Security at American Military University.
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