Iranian forces have tightened security along the country's borders in recent months, killing some 120 insurgents and arresting many others.
Border police commander, Ebrahim Karimi, said Wednesday that security clampdowns along the country's border has claimed the lives of 120 rebels and 19 police members in less than a year.
"The past nine months saw an increase in efforts against rebels who threaten national security by engaging in arms dealing and drug trafficking," said the Iranian colonel.
The Islamic Republic has taken new security measures in its border provinces, following terrorist attacks on its eastern and Western borders.
On its eastern borders, the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist organization is responsible for orchestrating cross-border attacks on Iranian officials. The terrorists kidnap the officials and 'execute' them on camera.
Last June Jundullah terrorists abducted 16 Iranian police officers at a checkpoint in the southeastern city of Saravan in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan Province. The hostages were reportedly taken to Pakistan where they faced execution in early December.
To the East, meanwhile, Iran faces security threats from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) -- an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Funded by the US and Israel, PJAK carries out acts of sabotage against the Iranian government in a bid to establish an independent Kurdish state.
At least five Iranian security officials were killed by PJAK militants in the month of October, prompting border authorities to tighten securities on the borderline.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), which identifies itself as a Marxist-Islamist guerilla army, is also another anti-Iran terrorist group, which is notorious for plotting a regime change as well as a slew of assassinations inside the Islamic Republic.
Hezbollah's chief says Israel's failure to achieve its goals in the Gaza Strip marks the second defeat for Israel in recent years.
Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah congratulated the victory of Hamas over Israeli three-week long military campaign in the Gaza Strip in a phone conversation with Hamas Political Chief Khalid Mashaal, Lebanese al-Nahar daily reported Wednesday. "It is the second time in two and a half years that the Zionist enemy is defeated," Nasrallah was quoted referring to Hezbollah's 33-day war with Israel in 2006.
The Hezbollah secretary-general also praised other Palestinian resistance movements for being united against Israel during the Gaza war, which claimed the lives of more than 1,340 Palestinians and left over 5,320 others wounded.
Israel ended its offensive against Gaza on Saturday by declaring a unilateral ceasefire without having achieved any of the objectives it was seeking in the coastal sliver. Some officials in Tel Aviv had said toppling the democratically-elected ruler of the strip, Hamas, was the main objective in Gaza. Other officials later said they only sought to weaken the Hamas movement and end rocket attacks against Israeli towns.
In response to Tel Aviv's unilateral ceasefire, Hamas brought a ceasefire into effect on Sunday but gave Israel a one-week ultimatum to completely withdraw from the Palestinian territory and end its 18-month blockade of the coastal enclave.
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed Wednesday that Tel Aviv had completed its troop pullout from Gaza. According to a Press TV correspondent at the Rafah border crossing, Israeli officials refused to allow Human Rights Watch and aid agencies to cross the border into the beleaguered strip Wednesday.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm beginning to think this guy is actually a giant hologram...
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.
Hezbollah's chief says Israel's failure to achieve its goals in the Gaza Strip marks the second defeat for Israel in recent years. 
