Also, more info on the MV Iran Deyant.
TEHRAN, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Iran's main shipping firm has told its vessels to install barbed wire on their decks and put crew on watch against pirates in the Gulf of Aden, it said on Wednesday.
The bulk carrier Iran Deyanat, owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), was hijacked on Aug. 21, one of numerous ships hijacked by pirates in the waters off the Horn of Africa. It was freed on Oct. 10.
One report suggested the Iran Deyanat had been carrying arms to Eritrea, and a Kenyan-based shipping organisation suggested the ship was carrying a "dangerous chemical" that had injured and killed Somali pirates. IRISL denied both allegations in a statement on Wednesday. It said the Iran Deyanat had sailed to Salalah, Oman, after its release and was now in the Mediterranean, heading to Rotterdam. "The cargo was loaded in China under normal circumstances and there is no danger associated with it," IRISL said. "We didn't go to Eritrea with any weapons," Captain Majid Ensan Najib of IRISL told Reuters. Oh...well. I'm convinced.
Najib, the head of IRISL's maritime affairs department and emergency response committee, who was involved in Iran Deyanat's release, said the ship's manifest had listed only minerals and industrial goods, not chemicals or arms. See. It says so right here on the manifest. So...go away now.
He said IRISL had instructed its ships to take extra precautions in the region."We are protecting boarding areas of the ship with barbed wire. We are keeping personnel on standby on deck day and night when passing through the Gulf of Aden," he said. They gonna be armed? Continued on Page 47
After sponsoring terrorism against three of its neighbors, Syria plays the victim when its own border is breached.
It was interesting to observe the wails of outrage from Syrian officials yesterday (Monday)following a raid on a target near the country's border with Iraq, carried out by helicopter-borne U.S. commandos. "Criminal and terrorist aggression," charged Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem. "The law of the jungle," bemoaned spokesman Jihad Makdissi at the Syrian Embassy in London. This from a regime whose most notable activities of the past few years have been the serial assassination of senior Lebanese politicians, including former prime minister Rafik Hariri; the continuous and illegal supplying of weapons to the Hezbollah militia for use against Israel and Lebanon's democratic government; the harboring in Damascus of senior leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups; and - most relevant - the sheltering of an al-Qaeda network that dispatches 90 percent of the foreign fighters who wage war against U.S. troops and the Iraqi government.
The logic of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad seems to be that his regime can sponsor murders, arms trafficking, infiltrations and suicide bombings in neighboring countries while expecting to be shielded from any retaliation in kind by the diplomatic scruples of democracies. For most of this decade that has been lamentably true: U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials have over and over again pointed to the infiltration of al-Qaeda militants through the Damascus airport and the land border with Iraq, and Syria's refusal to curtail it, without taking direct action. Yet in the past year Israel has intervened in Syria several times to defend its vital interests, including bombing a secret nuclear reactor.
If Sunday's raid, which targeted a senior al-Qaeda operative, serves only to put Mr. Assad on notice that the United States, too, is no longer prepared to respect the sovereignty of a criminal regime, it will have been worthwhile.
Mr. Assad's government has lately taken a few cautious steps toward breaking out of its isolation, participating in indirect peace talks with Israel and granting formal diplomatic recognition to Lebanon for the first time. European governments have been quick with rewards, and the next U.S. president - if it is Barack Obama - may also hasten to upgrade contacts. If the Syrian regime is genuinely interested in making peace with Israel, distancing itself from Iran and the terrorist movements it sponsors, and rebuilding ties with the West, that is to be welcomed. What Damascus should not be allowed to do is reap the diplomatic and economic rewards of a rapprochement while continuing to plant car bombs, transport illegal weapons and harbor terrorists. Israel has let Mr. Assad know that it is prepared to respond to his terrorism with strikes against legitimate military targets. Now that the United States has sent the same message, maybe the dictator at last will rethink his strategy. And this was Tuesday's house editorial in The Washington Post. Anybody else creeped out about that? Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/29/2008 06:24 ||
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Link ||
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#1
I guess kicking Syria around is something that brings us all together in this difficult time.
Can we go again?
#2
Syria, we just did that because we love you. You are destroying your life among peaceful nations by your self destructive behavior with your friends. Radical terrorists have a hold on your life that we are going to help you break. We are here standing by you to help you face the truth. Not buying the terrorist dependency schick, eh? Oh well, the helicopters will return, then.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/29/2008 10:03 Comments ||
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#3
I'm impressed by WaPo. Liberal as they are they seem to retain some common sense.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/29/2008 11:45 Comments ||
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#4
Well, doctor, when compared with the NY or LA Times I have to agree with you.
#6
Clearly President W is employing the No Safe Haven Doctrine espoused by our future President Ô. Pakistanis, Syrians, they are just bitter people clinging to their guns and religion.
Syria denied on Tuesday that a U.S. raid inside its territory had targeted an al-Qaeda operative, as the cabinet decided to shut down an American school and an American cultural center in Damascus, the official SANA news agency said, two days after the deadly raid.
Syria said the Sunday strike in the border village of al-Sukkari killed eight civilians while a U.S. official said the raid was believed to have killed a major al-Qaeda operative who helped smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq. "What they are saying is just unjustified. I deny it totally," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told Reuters.
SANA said the cabinet also decided to postpone a Syrian-Iraqi bilateral committee meeting which was scheduled for Nov. 12- Nov. 13 in Baghdad.
Moualem has characterized the attack as a "terrorist aggression" and said if repeated, Syria would defend itself. He has called for a U.S. and Iraqi investigation into the attack.
Syria said four U.S. helicopters attacked the border region in eastern Syria. Iraq, which said the raid targeted staging grounds used by militants, denounced the air strike. France and Russia have also condemned the attack.
An unnamed U.S. official told Reuters on Monday that the raid was aimed at Abu Ghadiya, a former lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. air strike in 2006.
"What they are saying is not accurate," said Moualem, who is on a visit to London. "Do you imagine that a man and his three children are terrorists?" he said, referring to one of the people Syria said was killed in the raid.
He said the people killed were innocent civilians, and repeated his accusation that the attack was a "terrorist act" by the United States. "This is a war crime attempt by the United States against Syria," he said.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Aw..
Maybe they want the Syrian immigrant Rezko back.. from jail so he doesn't sing about Obama?
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
10/29/2008 12:14 Comments ||
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#3
Moualem has characterized the attack as a "terrorist aggression" and said if repeated, Syria would defend itself.
We should start flying F-15's over their airspace and breaking the sound barrier like the Israelis do whenever they want. Flip them the supersonic bird, if you will...
Iran's Navy Commander says the new naval base in the strategic port of Jask will be used to block the Strait of Hormuz in case of war.
In a Tuesday interview, Chief Navy Commander Habibollah Sayyari said the presence of foreign forces near Iranian waters prompted the army to expand its strategic positions in the Sea of Oman. "The newly-inaugurated naval base offers a new defensive front to the east of the Strait of Hormuz," said Rear Admiral Sayyari.
He stressed that the base would become an impenetrable barrier in the event of war, blocking the entry of enemy naval units into Persian Gulf waters.
Washington and Israel have threatened to strike the Islamic Republic, under the pretext of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. A US attack on the Syrian village of Sukkariyah on Monday, has raised speculation about the likelihood of a unilateral strike on the Islamic Republic.
Tehran has warned that in the event of war, it would not hesitate to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's sea-transited crude oil passes.
In a Sep. 11 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy says that in the two decades since the Iran-Iraq War, the Islamic Republic has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces. According to the report, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGCN) has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world's oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.
The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran's response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2008 00:00 ||
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[11145 views]
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#1
"Jask" is the Iranian word for "A hole so big you cannot see the other side."
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/29/2008 10:26 Comments ||
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#7
ION IRAN, WAFF > TUNNEL LEADS TO IRAN NUCLEAR SITE/UNDERGROUND TUNNELS LEADING TO DEEPLY ENTRENCHED ENRICHMENT FACILITIES. various Posters strongly doubt US-Israeli air strikes will be able to successfully destroy Tunnels andor NucFacs.
Iranian Interior Minister Ali Kordan says he will not resign from his post, arguing that doing so does not serve the country's interest. Kordan, who acknowledged in a September 27 letter that he was in possession of a forged Oxford University degree, must obtain a confidence vote on November 4.
Ever since the revelation about his doctorate degree, Iranian parliamentarians have called on Kordan to resign before he is impeached on the Majlis floor. More than 30 lawmakers from the Iranian Parliament's Principalist bloc, which holds the majority of seats in Parliament, have supported the impeachment move.
In a Tuesday meeting with members of the bloc, Kordan rejected widespread calls for his resignation. "I feel that my resignation will not serve the raison d'etat. Therefore, I will not resign," said the newly appointed minister.
A spokesman for the Principalist bloc, Mohammad-Hassan Abou-Tourabi, who attended the meeting confirmed that Kordan was asked to resign before his impeachment day.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2008 00:00 ||
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U.S. troops in helicopters flew four miles into Syrian territory over the weekend to target the leader of a network that channels foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq, killing or wounding him and shooting dead several armed men, U.S. officials said Monday.
U.S. officials have long complained that the Syrian government has allowed Arab fighters to pass through the country to enter Iraq, but since last year, top military leaders have praised Syrian efforts to curb the flow. In recent months, officials have estimated that as few as 20 fighters a month have been crossing into Iraq, down from more than a hundred a month in 2006.
But officials said the raid Sunday, apparently the first acknowledged instance of U.S. ground forces operating in Syria, was intended to send a warning to the Syrian government. "You have to clean up the global threat that is in your back yard, and if you won't do that, we are left with no choice but to take these matters into our hands," said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the cross-border strike.
The United States has offered similar justifications for recent cross-border strikes in Pakistan, where it has launched missile attacks and at least one air assault against suspected members of Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency. "As targets present themselves, and are identified . . . they become more and more at risk. Just like in Pakistan, there will be steps taken to deal with it," the senior official said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem called the operation Sunday a "criminal and terrorist aggression" that killed seven civilians. Speaking to reporters in London, he said Bush administration officials were following "the policy of cowboys" and noted that the United States has been unable to seal its own border with Mexico.
The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement expressing "serious concerns" about the raid and the loss of Syrian lives. Syria has lately embarked on policies that France and other Western governments have viewed favorably, including indirect peace talks with Israel. Russia also voiced concern about the operation.
In the raid, four helicopters carrying U.S. troops flew into an isolated area of scattered residences and buildings in search of an Iraqi insurgent whom the U.S. Treasury designated in February as a key facilitator of the transfer of weapons, money and fighters into Iraq. Treasury officials gave his full name as Badran Turki Hishan al-Mazidih and his nickname as Abu Ghadiyah, and said that the founder of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had named him the organization's commander for Syrian logistics in 2004.
On the ground, U.S. troops disembarked and opened fire to kill "several armed males who posed a threat to U.S. forces," according to the senior official. The official declined to say whether Mazidih was killed or injured in the fighting. Other unnamed U.S. officials were quoted in news media accounts Monday as saying he had been killed.
Moualem said U.S. troops landed at a farm where they killed a father and his three children, the farm's guard and his wife, and a fisherman.
The network run by Mazidih has smuggled hundreds of foreign fighters into Iraq, including many who became suicide bombers, officials and analysts said. "He ran one of the largest and most productive foreign fighter networks out of Syria" and was "directly responsible for hundreds of foreign fighters who killed thousands" of Iraqis, the senior official said.
The U.S. military has shown patience, the official said, but "eventually you can't wait for guys like that to come back across the border and kill scores of Iraqis or, worse, your own forces."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2008 00:00 ||
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[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
MOUD = IRAN + REST ASIA must be feeling a little like a proverbial "fish in abarrel" - WHETHER FOR THE US OR AGZ THE USA OR NEUTRAL/NON-ALIGNED [NAM], THEY MUST SEE US = US-ALLIED FLAGS PROPPING UP ALL OVER THE MAP OF ASIA + AROUND THE GLOBE.
#7
A summer 2007 U.S. military raid on a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq house in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, near Syria, yielded a wealth of information about alleged Syrian smuggling networks used to move foreign fighters into Iraq.
The documents included al-Qaeda in Iraq records of more than 500 foreign fighters who had entered from Syria, according to the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where civilian analysts are examining the documents. A July report made public their latest findings.
The documents indicated that at least 95 Syrian "coordinators" were involved in moving the foreign fighters. Many of the coordinators were from smuggling families in Bedouin clans and other Syrian tribes. A number of them appeared to be cooperating with al-Qaeda in Iraq for pay rather than out of ideological sympathy.
Many recruits reported to their handlers in Iraq that they had passed through Damascus, Syria's capital, and then an area near the Iraqi border called Abu Kamal. Sunday's raid occurred in Abu Kamal.
Best wishes crossing out numbers 2-95 on that list.
Posted by: ed ||
10/29/2008 11:51 Comments ||
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#8
My 14 year old son would call this a Bitch slap.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/29/2008 16:03 Comments ||
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After sponsoring terrorism against three of its neighbors, Syria plays the victim when its own border is breached.
Iran's Navy Commander says the new naval base in the strategic port of Jask will be used to block the Strait of Hormuz in case of war. 
U.S. troops in helicopters flew four miles into Syrian territory over the weekend to target the leader of a network that channels foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq, killing or wounding him and shooting dead several armed men, U.S. officials said Monday. 
