Sudan has asked African Union peacekeeping forces that have been monitoring a shaky truce in its violent Darfur region to leave the country when their mandate ends on September 30, according to a government spokesman. Jamal Ibrahim, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Sunday: "This is a final decision. We are asking them to leave since they indicated that they will not be able to continue their mission."
An AU spokesman said it had not been informed officially of any such decision and declined to comment.
Khartoum rejected a UN Security Council resolution that was passed on Thursday to deploy more than 20,000 UN troops and police to its remote west, after AU troops were not able to stem violence in the region. Ibrahim said Sudan resented AU declarations that it supported a UN transition. "We feel that they have no right to transfer their assignment to another party - we are the ones who decide whether we continue with the AU or not."
"It's our country and we'll decide who can kill whom, so buzz off!"
He said the government would implement its plan for Darfur, submitted to the Security Council, which includes sending 10,500 government troops to the region.
Who will kill the remaining inhabitants and thus solve the problem.
Rebels who did not sign the deal say those troops have already deployed and have begun attacking civilians and their positions in North Darfur. The AU has confirmed that an offensive began last week ahead of the resolution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I suggest we send George Clooney, Jimma Khautur, and their battling battalions of liberal do-gooders to Darfur, and let them solve the crisis.
Do not under any circumstances expend the lives of America's finest, i.e., the military, for this useless, liberal feel-good operation.
The only time liberals commit our armed forces overseas is for operations that have zero bearing on our national security and well-being. This is one such case weel worth avoiding.
HELICOPTER gunships thudded over the dusty streets of El Fasher in North Darfur this weekend as the Sudanese government stepped up its latest offensive in defiance of a United Nations resolution.
John Prendergast, of the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organisation that reports on conflicts, described seeing burnt-out villages and speaking to refugees who had been attacked by roving bands of heavily armed men in pick-up trucks.
Humanitarian access has shrunk dramatically in the last two months, violence has increased and on top of that already gloomy picture we have a fresh offensive, he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and 2m displaced since African rebels took up arms in 2003 to protest against perceived bias from a government dominated by Arabic-speakers. Sudanese government forces armed and organised Arabic-speaking tribes into the Janjaweed militias, which raped, tortured and murdered countless civilians.
A series of peace deals has failed to hold. Minni Minnawi, one of the rebel leaders, signed the latest one in May under intense pressure from American officials, but leaders of two other factions refused.
In an echo of the divide-and-rule tactics that claimed 2m lives during Sudans bloody civil war in the south, Minnawis soldiers have since been persuaded to join forces with the government and are now fighting their former allies. Last Friday their new uniforms filled the streets of El Fasher and foreigners were warned to stay indoors.
Minnawi, a slightly built former teacher, has taken up a government post. Prendergast believes his troops are targeting civilians because of their suspected support for rebels who did not sign the agreement.
General Collins Ihekire, the Nigerian head of the African Unions (AU) 7,000-strong peacekeeping force, believes the perception that it is implementing an unfair peace agreement is hampering its efforts even more than a lack of resources.
They (the rebels) are not seeing us as partners in the peace process but as legitimate targets, he said by telephone from Darfur. Two AU soldiers were killed last month in an ambush, and more attacks were expected, he added. Most of the peacekeepers had not been paid since May.
The Sudanese government has resisted United Nations calls for it to accept 21,000 UN peacekeepers and police, arguing that the current African Union force should be strengthened instead. Its mandate officially expires on September 30.
US units are on high alert; Israeli holidaymakers are advised to leave at once.
The smaller group of three Palestinian suicide killers penetrated the Egyptian territory from Gaza on the last day of August heading for a large-scale murder-cum-kidnap operation against Israelis.
The second is the largest al Qaeda terrorist team ever tasked in this part of the world for a string of major attacks on American and Egyptian military targets, tourist resorts and Israeli civilians. DEBKAfiles counter-terror sources estimate the group as 70-strong with 5 commanders. Most unusually, all its members are Egyptians hailing from the port town of Alexandria.
This tip-off reached the United States and Israel from Egyptian security authorities which claimed to have captured and interrogated one of the five commanders. However, after long experience of information emanating from Egyptian sources, American and Israeli security tend to take this information with a large pinch of salt. They have reason to believe that rather than an al Qaeda commander, Egyptian searchers may have laid hands on an al Qaeda laptop computer with marked targets.
According to DEBKAfiles sources, the Egyptians were led to believe that the al Qaeda team was raised in Alexandria to fight Americans forces in Iraq. It departed on July 26 and reached Sinai two days later armed with forged Egyptian passports made out in false identities.
But they were never meant to reach Iraq; their missions were in Sinai. On arrival, the al Qaeda group split up into small groups, one of which picked up weapons and explosives form a local cache. Their orders are to strike the two American brigades stationed in Sinai one at the Multinational Force based at Gora near El Arish in the north, the other at Sharm e-Sheikh. They will also try and hit the US warships and naval units docked in the bay.
All three US units are on high alert for al Qaeda attacks.
Israeli tourists, although urgently warned to leave Sinai without delay are still heading for their favorite haunts at the desert resorts at the rate of 1,000 a day.
The U.S. and Egypt also participate in combined military exercises, including deployments of U.S. troops to Egypt. Every other year, Egypt hosts Operation Bright Star, a multilateral military exercise with the U.S., and the largest military exercise in the region. Units of the U.S. 6th Fleet are regular visitors to Egyptian ports.
#6
I just went to military.com and couldn't find out exactly what is deployed in the Sinai, but it appears there are US Army units deployed in the Sinai.
#7
We have some observer units there as part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement. I didn't think it was a whole battalion, however.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2006 18:13 Comments ||
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This Congressional Research report says we have 700 troops as part of the Task Force Sinai. That would be one or two battalions, depending on their type.
#10
The US used to have a battalion of the 82nd Airborne as peacekeepers in the Sinai (Camp David accords, thanks again Jimmy Carter). Now it is others units, but the numbers are probably still the same, about 800 out of a total about 2000. More info at MFO Contingents
Posted by: ed ||
09/04/2006 18:41 Comments ||
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#11
Should have read your comments before posting, lotp.
Posted by: ed ||
09/04/2006 18:43 Comments ||
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#12
However, after long experience of information emanating from Egyptian sources, American and Israeli security tend to take this information with a large pinch of salt.
Sort of like what we do with reports from... DEBKA?
HT to LGF
A FORMER henchman of Abu Hamza al-Masri is among the 14 men arrested in London on suspicion of involvement in terrorist recruiting. learned at the knee of the master, huh?
Abu Abdullah, 42, assumed the leadership of the Supporters of Shariah group when Abu Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque, was arrested in May 2004.
He is banned from almost every mosque in Britain but continues to preach an inflammatory message in private study circles jerks and has attended camps in the grounds of the Jameah Islamiyah school.
Mr Abdullah, a father of four who is from a Turkish Cypriot family but was born in Britain, is a former youth football coach. He was often seen by Abu Hamzas side when the cleric preached on the streets of Finsbury Park. Last month The Sunday Times reported comments by Mr Abdullah in which he described the July 7 bombers as my honourable brothers in Islam and said that suicide bombing was halal, meaning permissible under Islamic law.
He added: The martyr that goes about his enemies is going to shield his people. He doesnt have weapons of mass destruction, he only has household chemicals . . . The West is escalating their killing of Muslims. We have a right to defend ourselves. If I had the means to go back there [Afghanistan] and kill an American or British soldier I would love to do so.
Mr Abdullahs home in Bromley, South London, is among 17 addresses being searched by police
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2006 09:47 ||
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Just how many muslims are getting killed in the UK? So where is the justification for attacking people in the UK? There is no logic in islam. You have to twist your mind to practice this monn god cults belief.
#2
Why is this sack of sh!t walking around free? He openly advocates sedition and violence. His known associates are amongst Britain's most violent. Detain or deport, or both, in that order.
Does Finbury Park mosque still stand? If it does, rip it down, stone by stone, and put a 7-7 memorial in its place.
#3
He was just arrested, Zenster, so he isn't walking around free anymore. And his home is being searched by the police, so quite possibly all his little friends will be joining him soon.
British police on Sunday searched the homes of 17 individuals suspected of involvement in training members of an Islamic terrorist network. Over the weekend, authorities in the UK revealed suspicions that a school run by the Muslim Brotherhood was used in the training of terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Carry on, cousins! I do look forward to the next cascade of arrests and reports of prevented plots. Those poor Al Qaeda leaders unhappily holed up with their smelly Punjabi tribal wives and in-laws in the Pakistan/Afghan border country must be feeling terribly frustrated just now.
#4
In Londonistan, Muslim Brotherhood's schools are legal.
Antisemitic propaganda is legal too: in my last trip to London, I saw the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' sold in the street by young Muslims.
After the London's bombings (July 7th, 2005), Blair publicized many anti-terror measures he wanted to adopt... but the Britishs still have a lot of work to do to root out the Islamists.
A remote-controlled bomb exploded in southeastern Turkey Sunday, killing two people and injuring seven others. The bomb was left at a tea garden in the town of Catak, in Van province which borders Iran, a police official said. Two people, including a police officer, died in the attack. Police suspect autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels were behind the bombing, the police official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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About 100 people were evacuated from a terminal at Mineta San Jose International Airport Saturday morning after screeners discovered a suspicious but ultimately harmless electrical device in a traveler's carry-on luggage.
According to airport spokesman Rich Dressler, the south concourse of Terminal C was evacuated for about a half hour starting about 8 a.m. Saturday. Screeners had found two flashlights hooked together through wiring during in a routine X-ray of a man's carry-on bags. Authorities decided the device was suspicious enough to warrant evacuating a portion of the terminal.
Travelers waited on the secured tarmac of the terminal while police and transportation authorities inspected the flashlights and interviewed the traveler. After the device was found to be harmless, people were allowed back into the terminal. San Jose police cited the man traveling with the wire-rigged flashlights. No flights were affected by the evacuation.
QUETTA: A bomb damaged a gas pipeline in Balochistan on Sunday, cutting supplies to thousands of homes but causing no injuries. The blast damaged less than a metre of the 45-centimetre-wide pipeline in the mountainous area of Lakpass, south of Quetta, said area police official Hamid Shakil. No one was reported hurt, but the blast disrupted gas supplies to about 2,000 homes and businesses in Mastung and Kalat districts, Shakil said. There was no claim of responsibility, but authorities have blamed rebel Baloch tribesmen for similar attacks in the past on pipelines, gas fields, railroads and security forces in Balochistan. Sunday's explosion came amid widespread anger in the province over the August 26 killing of prominent tribal chief, Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Pukhtoon militants who fought against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan have formed a new anti-Shia militant group, according to investigators inquiring into the assassination of Shia leader Allama Hassan Turabi. Sources told Daily Times that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials had learnt of the new group from interrogations of three men arrested for suspicion of involvement in the prominent Shia clerics murder in Karachi. The FIA team, headed by its director general, Tariq Pervaiz, has sent a report to the Interior Ministry detailing its findings.
The suspects - Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah and Muslim, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid and Abdullah, and Mohammad Rehman alias Mani told investigators the group was planning suicide attacks against Shia leaders, says the report. The new militant group is led by Mufti Ilyas and Hazrat Ali of Darra Adam Khel. Its members include men who recently fought against US forces in Afghanistan, and have links with Abdullah Mehsud, the militant leader responsible for the attack on Chinese engineers at the Gomal Zam Dam site, and other militants from Waziristan and Afghanistan. It also includes some women members.
The report says that the new group has no links with any other militant organisation, including the banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and is active in Quetta, Karachi and other major cities in Pakistan. It also says the group has established a supply line of weapons and ammunition between Darra Adam Khel and Karachi.
The Interior Ministry has directed the provincial chief secretaries and Islamabad chief commissioner to identify members of the group operating in their areas. Security officials in Waziristan and other tribal areas have also been put on alert, the sources said. The ministry has asked the special investigation group of the FIA in Peshawar to collect information about Mufti Ilyas and Hazrat Ali, and investigate their possible links with other militant groups in the country, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Programs! Git yer programs! Right here! Can't tell the players without a program!
MUMBAI: Suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad members Mohammad Zuber and Mohammad Sohail, who were arrested in West Bengal in mid-August, have admitted that they were sent to carry out a terrorist mission in Mumbai, police said. The duo, which has not been linked to the July 11 train blasts yet, was arrested by a Border Security Force patrol when trying to sneak through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border.
Joint Commissioner of Police KP Raghuvanshi, who heads the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the state police, said on Sunday, "Zuber and Sohail have admitted to us that they planned to execute a suicide mission in the city. Six of their associates, who infiltrated from Pakistani provinces, are still at large. We are trying to learn more about the kind of targets they had in mind."
Raghuvanshi said Sohail and Zuber told police that they were awaiting instructions from a contact who was supposed to take them to Mumbai. Intelligence officials will also be interrogate Al-Badr's J&K chieftain Tohfooq Akmal Hashemi to find if there is an "al-Qaeda imprint" on the train blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Miran Shah: Hundreds of army troops withdrew from posts on Sunday in a tribal region where it`s believed Osama Bin Laden may be hiding, as an intelligence official said Islamic militants and the government were close to unveiling a peace deal. However, there were conflicting accounts as to whether the deal has been formally signed.
About 250 troops have pulled back from 11 roadblocks in the area`s main town, Miran Shah...
The militants had long been demanding troop removals from security posts in north Waziristan, a tense region near the Afghan border. About 250 troops have pulled back from 11 roadblocks in the area`s main town, Miran Shah, the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his work. An unspecified number of troops have also left posts guarding two key government buildings, he said. Military spokesmen did not immediately confirm the withdrawal.
Pakistan has deployed more than 80,000 troops in north Waziristan and other areas along the Afghan border where many believe al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are hiding.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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OBL and al-Zalwahri must have greased the right palms in Pakistan.
#4
Some in India's Military Intelligence establishment believe General Musharraf is again considering a Kargil-style enterprise. In recent weeks, the 19 Division, a reserve formation of the Muree-based X Corps, which has its peace-time headquarters at Jhelum, moved to concentration area at Chakoti, in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Troops of the Mangla-based 26 and 28 Brigades, along with the 7 Azad Kashmir Brigade from Jhari Khas are thought to have reinforced the Division, along with significant numbers of Special Forces personnel. In addition, the Jalalpur Jattan-based 333 Infantry Brigade, part of the 23 Division's reserves, has moved to forward positions facing the town of Naushera in Rajouri. Such movements typically precede a sharp, localised military thrust, which in this case would threaten Indian positions in Gulmarg and Poonch.
No one believes these troop movements are in themselves indicators of war. However, they suggest that the idea of a limited war in Jammu and Kashmir continues to engage the minds of Pakistani military strategists. An Indian strike against terror training camps in Pakistan, provoked for example by a massive terrorist attack of the kind seen in Mumbai in July, could be the pretext for such an attack. So, too, could large-scale artillery exchanges along the LoC. Most important of all, a massive escalation of violence in Balochistan, on election-eve, is certain to provoke charges that India is underwriting the secessionists and push Gen. Musharraf to appropriate nationalist sentiment through military action.
Posted by: john ||
09/04/2006 21:26 Comments ||
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#5
if they open war with India - we should take the opportunity to scorched-earth the frontier along Afghanistan
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2006 22:19 Comments ||
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Mumbai: Two Pakistani nationals were held in West Bengal today in connection with the seizure of huge arms and ammunitions at Aurangabad recently from suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.
The two suspects were brought to Mumbai today and were produced before the holiday court which remanded them to police custody.
Few days ago, police had suspected involvement of a "foreign power" in the plot to bring the huge arms and ammunitions by suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives near Aurangabad.
The ATS was in search of Jamiruddin Ansari who, according to the ATS, was the brain behind mobilising arms and explosives and was the only person who was in touch with the elements behind the plot.
Ten persons had been arrested in the arms seizure case. Three persons Mohammed Amir, Syed Zuber and Mohammed Jamil Ahmed were held with the cache near Aurangabad. This was followed by the arrest of Abdul Azim (driver of the four-wheeler used by the suspects), Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammed Ishaq, Javed Ahmed, Afzal Khan and Riyaz Ahmed and Dr. Mohammed Sharif.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Security forces have seized CDs of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafeez Sayeed from a group of infiltrators during an encounter in the Poonch district recently, police sources said on Sunday.
They said that Al-Qaeda supremo Osama Bin Laden's provocative CDs were also recovered from village Gursai in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
Hafeez Sayeed, currently in a Pakistani jail, changed the name of his organisation to Jamaat-ud-Dawa after the LeT was banned by the US and Pakistan. "The Lashkar chief was clearly heard provoking youth of the state to join jihad and get arms training in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK)," sources added.
They said CDs had been recorded and shot at Jamaat-ud-Dawa office at Chburgi, Lahore, bearing telephone numbers (042) 7240940, 7230549 and 7231106 and email address www.jamatdawa.org. This is for the first time that the audio and video CDs of Hafeez Sayeed have been seized from the possession of slain terrorists during the 17 years of terrorism in the state, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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A British tourist has been killed and six others wounded after a man opened fire on them in Amman. Witnesses said the man fired at least 12 bullets before he finished his ammunition and was overpowered by police and arrested. The attack took place on afternoon Monday in a crowded part of central Amman close to a Roman amphitheatre - an area popular with tourists. Two British people, a Dutch citizen, a New Zealander, a Dutchman and their Jordanian tour guide were wounded during the shooting, said Nasser Joudeh, the government spokesman. Jordanian officials said they were investigating whether the man acted on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group.
The shooting is the first attack in the pro-western kingdom since scores of people died in triple suicide bombings against luxury hotels claimed by al Qaeda last November. During a visit to the hospital where the wounded were being treated, the Jordanian prime minister, Marouf al-Bakheet, said: "We will ascertain in the next period whether this was a sole act or whether this individual is a member of a terrorist cell."
The Jordanian interior minister, Eid al-Fayez, described the incident as a "cowardly terrorist attack, which we regret took place on Jordanian soil."
Muhammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi man who witnessed the shooting, said: "I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) and fire repeatedly. "Then I saw one tourist who appeared to be dead and three who were injured. They were in a group of seven. A woman told me they were tourists from New Zealand and England."
The gunman has been identified as Nabil Ahmad, a Jordanian in his late thirties and a resident of the industrial town of Zarqa, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Jordanian officials said. He is believed to have acted on his own.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 17:07 ||
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#1
Acted on his own? We are to believe he just woke up one fine sunny morning and decided to take a gun and go shoot up some infidels? His mission in life came to him in a dream?
These 'loners' all happen to be called Muhammed, or Azziz. They go to bed as peaceful souls and awake with guns or SUVs and a desire to kill in the name of Allan. The whole damn religion appears to be one large terrorist cell.
Posted by: john ||
09/04/2006 18:14 Comments ||
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"I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) and fire repeatedly."
Six Philippine marines were killed and 19 wounded in a clash early Monday with close to 200 al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels believed led by some of Southeast Asia's most wanted militants, officials said.
The biggest battle yet in a U.S.-backed offensive that started Aug. 1 erupted at dawn near mountainous Patikul town on Jolo island, where troops sighted Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and two Indonesian militants, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who goes by one name, military officials said.
Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, commander of the military's Western Mindanao Command, said several Abu Sayyaf rebels were believed either wounded or killed in the two-hour clash.
"We believe many of them were either killed or wounded because we've recovered clothes and bandoleers of ammunition stained with blood," Cedo told reporters.
A military officer, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said about 30 marines started the assault by hurling grenades at more than 20 Abu Sayyaf rebels who were eating at dawn in the jungle.
The grenade blasts possibly killed many of the rebels but alerted a main group of close to 200 guerrillas nearby, many of whom opened fire, he told The Associated Press by telephone.
After the gunbattle, two MG520 helicopters fired rockets at the fleeing militants. Other troops were deployed to back the marines and help pursue the rebels, who were fleeing toward Jolo's thickly forested mountainous heartland, Cedo said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was monitoring the clashes from Manila, sent a mobile phone message to Cedo stating, "My prayers for our troops, please disseminate to our troops," he said.
Washington has offered a reward of up to US$5 million (?3.9 million) for information leading to the capture of Janjalani and his key commanders who have been charged with several deadly attacks, including a 2004 bombing that gutted a ferry, killing 116 people in Southeast Asia's second-worst terrorist strike.
The Indonesians, also on Washington's most-wanted terror list, are suspected members of the regional group Jemaah Islamiyah and among the alleged masterminds of the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.
The Indonesians are believed to have fled to the southern Philippines shortly after the attacks, and large U.S. rewards also have been offered for their capture.
An unspecified number of marines moved toward the Abu Sayyaf rebels after getting intelligence reports late Sunday of the militants' presence near Patikul. They began the assault at dawn Monday, Cedo said.
Military commanders strongly believe Janjalani, his key commanders, including one-armed militant Radulan Sahiron, and the Indonesians were near Patikul because of the number of gunmen who ringed the rebel leaders in three layers of security, Cedo said.
An Abu Sayyaf commander, Abu Sulaiman, claimed last week that the militants have dealt heavy casualties to government troops on Jolo and were not intimidated by U.S. backing of military assaults. The military dismissed his claim as propaganda.
The Abu Sayyaf, which the military estimates to have about 400 armed men in Jolo and outlying provinces, is notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and other crimes.
U.S. and Australian officials have been deeply concerned by reported terrorist training by Indonesian and Filipino militants in the south. The Philippine military says key training camps run by Jemaah Islamiyah have been destroyed and the militants are mostly on the run.
Colombo: At least two civilians were gunned down by unidentified persons in Sri Lanka amid a lull in fighting a day after 80 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in battles between the LTTE and government rebels in the island nation.
The north-eastern port district of Trincomalee was quiet today with both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and security forces holding back their long range attacks, defence officials said. They said Jaffna peninsula too was silent with no major confrontations between troops and Tigers. The government is also sending a second ship carrying essential supplies to Jaffna today after ending a two-week siege of the region following heavy fighting.
Meanwhile, a second cargo ship was due to leave the capital today with supplies of food and medicine for desperate residents of the embattled Jaffna peninsula, the site of the six-hour battle yesterday.
The pro-rebel Tamil net website said at least 30 Sri Lankan sailors were missing following the rebel counter attack that also damaged two Israeli-built gunboats. The military said 80 rebels were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2006 00:00 ||
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A large number of the short-range rockets fired at Israel from southern Lebanon were launched from permanent positions, the Israel Air Force discovered by chance toward the end of the war. The discovery was made after an air strike burned away vegetation, revealing a dug-in Katyusha position on a permanent launch pad. Additional permanent positions were subsequently discovered.
If the tactical intelligence of the Northern Command was unaware of the existence of hundreds of permanent short-range rocket launching positions in South Lebanon, then this is a major intelligence failure. If the Northern Command knew of them and did not pass on detailed information to the air force, then this is a serious failure in the management of the war.
Short-range rockets were one of the biggest problems in Hezbollah's war of attrition against Israeli civilians. The size of these rockets - sometimes small enough to be carried on the back of a donkey, on a motorcycle or by one or two men - made then difficult to pinpoint.
Hezbollah managed to fire a large number of Katyushas during the war - as many as 240 in one day toward the end of the fighting. The rockets, stored near the launch points in underground shelters or houses, were usually aimed with a direction and trajectory precalculated to hit a specific target in Israel. They were usually set up in orchards by arrangement with the grove owners, who were paid by Hezbollah.
The two-by-three-meter positions consisted of a hydraulic launch pad in a lined pit. The pad could be raised to fire the 122-mm rockets from a launcher at its center, and then lowered and camouflaged with vegetation. The farmers received instructions by cell phone regarding the number of rockets to launch and in what direction and range. They were often provided with thermal blankets to cover the position in order to keep IAF aircraft from detecting the post-shooting heat signature.
If the IAF had had details regarding the permanent positions of these short-range rockets, it is reasonable to assume the results of the struggle against them would have been different at the end of the fighting.
#1
The farmers received instructions by cell phone regarding the number of rockets to launch and in what direction and range.
then they're not "farmers", are they? Call em hezb tools or paid tools, but the fact is they're firing rockets at civilian targets. Call them terrorists then call them dead. Kill em
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/04/2006 10:28 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like a good application for all that unused napalm or agent orange in the nest war.
#4
Bulldoze all trees and structures within 500-1,000 meters of any launch pad they discover. Shielding or actively supporting terrorists is terrorism.
#5
I would have thought that a bird in the sky would be able to pinpoint launch positions. Now if the launch is mobile and moves around quickly, then it would be hard to hit and destroy. But if the launch pads are stationary, the fixed patterns would become obvious and easily targeted, no?
Posted by: john ||
09/04/2006 19:09 Comments ||
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john, we do not share such detailed satellite-based high resolution data, even with Israel.
Daring the Israelis to trigger a pan-Arab attack? Or
Qatar Airways says it will resume direct flights to Beirut on Monday despite a blockade by Israel. The airline said it had received approval from Lebanon and the flight would be a daily service.
Israel has maintained an air and sea embargo on Lebanon since a 14 August ceasefire ended its 34-day conflict with Hezbollah fighters. It has allowed two airlines to fly to Beirut on condition they go through Amman, Jordan, for security.
Monday's Qatar Airways flight is also to carry humanitarian aid. A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said Flight 422 would arrive in Beirut at 1530 local time (1230GMT) on Monday after a three-hour journey from Doha.
Israel bombed runways at Beirut international airport at the beginning of the conflict with Hezbollah.
Since the UN-brokered truce, which calls for the lifting of the blockade, Lebanon's Middle East Airlines and Royal Jordanian have been able to fly to Beirut via Amman. Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said on Saturday he had been assured by the UN that the blockade "would be lifted in the coming days".
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani became the only head of state to visit Lebanon since the conflict when he travelled to Beirut on 21 August.
The UN is installing 15,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. More than 1,100 Lebanese and about 160 Israelis died in the conflict, sparked by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.
They keep leaving out the 6 soldiers who were murdered during that attack. Asses.
#1
It's obviously bait, the plane will be loaded to the gills with Children Fluffy Bunnies and baby Chicks.While they thumb their nose at the IDF and Double-Dog Dare them to shoot it down.
The pilots will be told to completely ignore IDF signals and Fighters,
It's to gain Face, and Count Coup.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/04/2006 16:20 Comments ||
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#2
If Israel doesn't have the balls to shoot the thing down then they should crater the runway for real just before it comes in. Let them divert to Syria.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
09/04/2006 17:44 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sudan has asked African Union peacekeeping forces that have been monitoring a shaky truce in its violent Darfur region to leave the country when their mandate ends on September 30, according to a government spokesman. Jamal Ibrahim, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Sunday: "This is a final decision. We are asking them to leave since they indicated that they will not be able to continue their mission."
QUETTA: A bomb damaged a gas pipeline in Balochistan on Sunday, cutting supplies to thousands of homes but causing no injuries. The blast damaged less than a metre of the 45-centimetre-wide pipeline in the mountainous area of Lakpass, south of Quetta, said area police official Hamid Shakil. No one was reported hurt, but the blast disrupted gas supplies to about 2,000 homes and businesses in Mastung and Kalat districts, Shakil said. There was no claim of responsibility, but authorities have blamed rebel Baloch tribesmen for similar attacks in the past on pipelines, gas fields, railroads and security forces in Balochistan. Sunday's explosion came amid widespread anger in the province over the August 26 killing of prominent tribal chief, Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Pukhtoon militants who fought against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan have formed a new anti-Shia militant group, according to investigators inquiring into the assassination of Shia leader 
Miran Shah: Hundreds of army troops withdrew from posts on Sunday in a tribal region where it`s believed Osama Bin Laden may be hiding, as an intelligence official said Islamic militants and the government were close to unveiling a peace deal. However, there were conflicting accounts as to whether the deal has been formally signed. 
A British tourist has been killed and six others wounded after a man opened fire on them in Amman. Witnesses said the man fired at least 12 bullets before he finished his ammunition and was overpowered by police and arrested. The attack took place on afternoon Monday in a crowded part of central Amman close to a Roman amphitheatre - an area popular with tourists. Two British people, a Dutch citizen, a New Zealander, a Dutchman and their Jordanian tour guide were wounded during the shooting, said Nasser Joudeh, the government spokesman. Jordanian officials said they were investigating whether the man acted on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group.
Colombo: At least two civilians were gunned down by unidentified persons in Sri Lanka amid a lull in fighting a day after 80 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in battles between the LTTE and government rebels in the island nation. 
