[Iran Press TV Latest] Lebanon's army has put its forces on high alert after Israeli forces made advances toward the area of Shaba farms amid heightened tensions with the Hezbollah movement.
Lebanese army sources said Sunday that three armored Israeli vehicles, accompanied by a civilian car, advanced toward Shaba farms, along southeast borders with Lebanon on Monday, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The Lebanese army, stationed on its side of the border, has also been deploying tanks and positioning soldiers inside fortifications.
Tensions follow an escalating war of words between Israel and Lebanon amid threatening remarks by officials in Tel Aviv about the likelihood of Hezbollah's inclusion in the new Lebanese government.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Beirut over Hezbollah's participation in the upcoming government, saying Beirut would be held responsible for any military attempts by the movement.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if Arabs realize what the next war will be like?
#2
It would be to the advantage of the Israelis to get more of the Lebanese army to the border, with the Hezbollah moving back, if Israel plans to hit Iran. That backward momentum is hard to halt if all of a sudden they get advance and attack orders. And with the Leb army in the middle.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi claimed several of the protesters jailed following Iran's June unrest have been savagely raped as a leading lawmaker said Monday the illegal entry to the Islamic republic of three detained American citizens may have been linked to the unrest.
"A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely. Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped," Karroubi said in a letter to powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, which was obtained by AFP. "The young boys are suffering from depression and serious physical and mental damage since their rapes," calling for Rafsanjani to order an investigation.
Karroubi's "confidential letter" was delivered on July 29 to Rafsanjani in his capacity as head of the Assembly of Experts, the powerful body which selects and supervises the activities of the supreme leader.
Karroubi urged Rafsanjani to take up the issue with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying the "clergy and the Islamic republic will be held responsible" for such acts. "The people who told me about this hold sensitive positions and some are veterans of the war (with Iraq)," he said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
One more nail in the coffin of the Revolution. I almost feel sorry for what's going to happen when the time comes. And I wouldn't be too surprised if Nutjob or the Nutatollahs use their first nuke against their own people.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Intelligence Ministry has issued a warning to the media about revealing "classified data" about its operatives, documents and structure.
In a statement released on Monday, the ministry warns the media against publishing "false news" that could result in revealing information -- "documents, identities of personnel, internal structure" -- pertaining to the Intelligence Ministry.
"This subject is among classified material and it is obligatory for all individuals, and especially media supervisors, newspapers, websites to refrain from publishing such reports," the statement elaborates.
The revelation of such information will lead to "interruption of the staff in their line of duty and the management of the ministry, and is harmful to the national interests," the Iranian Student News Agency quoted the statement.
The ministry also warned of prosecution against those who publish such reports.
In recent weeks, there have been persistent media speculations about shuffles within the Intelligence Ministry after the disputed June 12 presidential election and the sack of the former Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
A number of names have been mentioned in the media, whose opinions are alleged to differ from those of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As reports emerge that Iran's post-vote detainees were raped while in custody, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani calls for investigations into the allegations.
Larijani said Monday that "a special Majlis (Parliament) committee had carried out investigations into the situation in [Iranian] jails and the treatment of detainees and it should also look into whether 'jail rape' allegations are true or false," Tabnak reported.
The call for investigations comes as opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi wrote a letter to Head of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on July 29, informing him that a number of detainees had claimed that several women and men, arrested over the course of post-vote demonstrations, were 'sexually assaulted' by their jailers.
"A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely," Karroubi said in the letter.
"Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped," he said, adding that they were suffering from depression and serious physical injuries after the alleged attacks.
Karroubi went on to say that senior officials in the country had informed him of the appalling behavior taking place in Iranian jails, adding that if true, this would be a catastrophe for the Islamic Republic.
The grim revelations surfaced after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution ordered officials to shut down a "non-standard" prison in July amid reports of the mistreatment of detainees who protested against the result of the disputed presidential vote.
Later on, the Iranian police force contended that violations of detainee rights along with dereliction of duty have been evident at the notorious detention center, Kahrizak, in southeastern Tehran.
The deaths of at least three people in custody also prompted Iranian authorities to jail the head of the Kahrizak detention center.
People were put in prisons after the disputed presidential vote in June provoked mass protests with supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Karroubi taking to the streets to express dissatisfaction at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election with a massive margin.
At least 30 people were killed, hundreds of others injured and nearly 3,000 people arrested in the country in the aftermath of the election.
About 200 of 3,000 opposition activists, protesters and journalists arrested over the course of the unrest in Iran are still being held in detention, who face mass trials on charges of plotting to topple the government through a "velvet coup."
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Jail cheif under fire, now this - sounds like they're beginning to eat their own which is just ducky. Start offering their own supporters up as sacrifices and the loyalty goes out the window.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Top Iranian Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi denies reports suggesting that he has congratulated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his disputed re-election.
"Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi has not sent any congratulatory messages to Ahmadinejad and the cleric considers such fabricated reports as a means of creating dissension," an official in the office of the top cleric's office was quoted as saying by Tabnak website.
The remarks came after some news agencies reported that the top cleric had sent a congratulation letter to the office of the president.
The aide refused to elaborate on reason as to why the cleric has not congratulated Ahmadinejad who, according to the official vote results, won the June 12 election with a massive margin.
The election, which defeated candidate reject as fraudulent, provoked an outpouring of discontent demonstrated in widespread protests by supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
During the post-election unrest, Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi criticized "aggressive language" employed by state-run media and urged officials to use the language of "compassion."
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Posted by: Fred ||
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#3
I continue to be weirded out by stuff like this appearing in Iran Press TV. It reinforces the "old revolutionaries' civil war" thesis. When do Bakunin and Stalin turn on Zinoviev & Kamenov?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/11/2009 18:00 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid heated discussions on his choices for Cabinet members, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces challenges in introducing interior and defense ministers.
Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff has reportedly opposed Ahmadinejad's choice for the Defense Ministry, Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, Asre Iran reported on Monday. The report added that due to the opposition to the pick, the president would have to name another candidate for the post.
Meanwhile, some prominent figures have also opposed appointing the incumbent Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar as the 10th government's interior minister. Subsequently, the former head of the presidential office and an academic member of Iran's University of Science and Technology, Ali Sheikholeslami, has emerged as a candidate, reports say.
Sheikholeslami has served as the deputy governor of Hormozgan province and is a close ally of President Ahmadinejad.
With less than two weeks before Ahmadinejad has to introduce his Cabinet, the president met the Parliament's Principlist bloc to discuss the next government.
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Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi called Monday for intensified international pressure to help her country democratize and denounced the crackdown on opposition protesters.
"I oppose military and economic sanctions against Iran as they will aggravate the situation," Ebadi was quoted as saying in an interview with South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper. "However, intensified international public opinion will contribute to Iran's democratization."
Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights defender who won the Nobel prize in 2003, arrived in Seoul Saturday for a six-day trip to receive this year's Manhae Peace Prize named after a 20th century Korean Buddhist reformer. She said she would step up her campaign to remove censorship in Iran. "I want to let all the people know what's going on in Iran and make it a free country," she said.
Eradicating violence
Ebadi denounced Iran for jailing citizens who protested at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in a June 12 poll that sparked weeks of unrest.
"I don't take a political stance but I oppose the government's violent oppression," she told Dong-A Ilbo in a separate interview. "Violence must be eradicated and all those who were arrested after the election must be freed."
At least 20 people have died in clashes with security forces and hundreds of opposition protesters have been detained. Iran has also jailed dozens of journalists, political activists and reformist leaders.
Ebadi said the government had misinterpreted the spirit of Islam to discriminate against women.
She told Dong-A that Islam can "develop into a direction in which the religion stays in harmony with human rights. The problem is that undemocratic governments abuse the term "Islam" for an oppressive policy that defies human rights."
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani's turn to lead the Friday prayers stirs up controversy in Iran, the influential cleric reverses his decision to deliver the sermon in order to avoid "clashes" at the event.
The office of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani issued a statement on Monday, explaining that he would not lead the Friday prayers this week at Tehran University. The clarification came as on Saturday, the website of the two-time former president announced that he would lead the prayers on August 14.
However, head of the Policy-making Council for Friday prayers leaders Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Reza Taqavi made a move on Monday to reject the report. Hojjatoleslam Taqavi acknowledged that based on regulations, August 14th is Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani's rotational turn to deliver the sermon. He, however, added that "in order to prevent any abuse of the Friday prayers occasion for unconventional and political reasons" Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani will not lead the prayers.
Shortly after, the statement by the office of Ayatollah Rafsanjani explained that "in order to prevent possible clashes during the political ritual the head of the Assembly of Experts and Chairman of the Expediency Council will not lead the Friday prayers."
The assertion comes after opposition supporters on July 17 made use of Ayatollah Rafsanjani leading the Friday prayers for the first time since the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president on June 12 to express their protest at the results of the vote. The protests following the sermon came as the Interior Ministry on many occasions has refused to issue permits for demonstrations -- gatherings at the Friday prayers venue does not require any authorization.
During the historically-attended sermon, the influential cleric told hundreds of thousands of worshipers -- most of whom were opposition supporters -- that the ambiguities surrounding the presidential vote had led to the distrust of the Iranian nation in the establishment. "Doubt has been created," he said. "There are two currents; one has no doubt and is moving ahead. And the other is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."
Following his sermon, fresh protests took place in the streets of the Iranian capital, provoking another crackdown on the worshippers who had crammed into downtown Tehran. Iran's police department later announced that 40 people were arrested in the protests on July 17.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] As Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani's turn to lead the Friday prayers stirs up controversy in Iran, the influential cleric reverses his decision to deliver the sermon in order to avoid "clashes" at the event. 
