Infinite Unknown

N.Y. Times: U.S. targeted al-Qaida fighters in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military has conducted nearly a dozen secret operations against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Syria, Pakistan and other countries since 2004, The New York Times reported in Monday editions.

Meantime, Pakistan’s president said he expects U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to re-evaluate American military strikes on al-Qaida and Taliban targets on its side of the Afghan border.

Citing anonymous U.S. officials, the Times story said the operations were authorized by a broad classified order that then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed and President Bush approved in spring 2004. The order gave the military authority to attack al-Qaida anywhere in the world and to conduct operations in countries that were not at war with the United States.

One such operation was the Oct. 26 raid inside Syria, the Times reported. Washington hasn’t formally acknowledged the raid, but U.S. officials have said the target was a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure. Syria has asked for proof and said eight civilians were killed in the attack.

In another mission, in 2006, Navy SEALs raided a suspected terrorist compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The raids have typically been conducted by U.S. Special Forces, often in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency, the newspaper said. Even though the process has been streamlined, specific missions have to be approved by the defense secretary or, in the cases of Syria and Pakistan, by the president.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Asif Ali Zardari, CIA, civilians, David Petraeus, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Iraq, Military, Pakistan, Politics, Syria, Taliban, terrorism, U.S., War

Syrian men carry the body of a relative killed in the raid on Sukkariya yesterday

Senior US officials claimed last night that the head of a Syrian network responsible for smuggling foreign fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq had been killed in Syria during a raid by US special forces that sparked strong condemnation from Damascus.

The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem said the raid had killed eight civilians and was an act of “criminal and terrorist aggression.” Speaking at a news conference in London, he warned that Damascus would defend itself against any such future attack.

Sunday’s raid, 10km from the Iraqi border, took place in daylight and therefore was “not a mistake,” he said.

The rare attack into Syria marks an unexpected expansion of the war in Iraq and comes as the level of fighting drops to its lowest level for four years.

“We are taking matters into our own hands,” said a US officer in Washington, confirming that American commandos had entered Syria on Sunday evening to attack a network of guerrillas linked to al-Qa’ida.

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Tags: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, George Bush, Government, Iran, Iraq, Military, Pakistan, Politics, Syria, terrorism, U.S., War

A U.S. military official confirmed late Sunday an American helicopter attack in an area along Syria’s border with Iraq, which left 8 people dead and three people wounded.

Syria condemned the attack, which it called “serious aggression.”

The raid indicated the desert frontier between the two countries remains a key battleground, more than five years into the Iraq war. The U.S. official said the attack targeted elements of a robust foreign fighter logistics network and that due to Syrian inaction the U.S. was now “taking matters into our own hands.”

A government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said the attack occurred at the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles (eight kilometers) inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction, firing at the workers inside shortly before sundown, the statement said.

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Tags: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Government, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Politics, Syria, U.S.

Russia’s strategic and space troops successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Topol (RS12M).

The missile is designed to avoid detection by anti-missile defense systems. The launch was performed at 2:36 p.m. Moscow time from Plesetsk space port, RIA Novosti reports.

The missile successfully covered the distance of almost 6,000 kilometers and hit a hypothetical target on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

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Tags: Abkhazia, Georgia, Government, ICBM, Iran, Libya, Mikhail Saakashvili, Military, NATO, Russia, South Ossetia, Syria

MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to supply Syria with defensive weapons, the Russian foreign minister said on Thursday following a meeting between the two countries leaders in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

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Tags: Dmitry Medvedev, Georgia, Israel, Middle East, missile shield, Russia, Syria, U.S., weapons

The Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is ready to head from Murmansk towards the Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian base in the area. The “Admiral Kuznetsov”, part of the Northern Fleet and Russia’s only aircraft carrier, will head a Navy mission to the area. The mission will also include the missile cruiser “Moskva” and several submarines, Newsru.com reports.

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Tags: Georgia, Government, Mediterranean, Military, Navy, Politics, Russia, Submarines, Syria

Syria has recently test launched a series of surface to surface missiles and rockets, Channel 2 news reported Monday.

The test launch was detected by Israel’s radar systems, including the Oren Yarok (green pine) and Oren Adir (magnificent pine) radars which activate Israel’s Arrow anti-ballistic missiles, Channel 2 reported.

Syria has some 1,000 models of Scud missiles with a range of 300 to 700 kilometers. The Syrian missiles are capable of striking targets anywhere in Israel. The Syrian military can fit the missiles with chemical warheads, and may have conducted experiments with biological warheads as well.

In addition to the Scud missile arsenal, Syria also possesses SS21 missiles with a range of 80 kilometers but with much higher precision than the Scuds.

The biggest threat facing Israel, however, is Syria’s arsenal of thousands of rockets with a range of nearly 100 kilometers, some of which can reach as far as the Haifa bay. The rockets are more accurate than the Scud missiles.

In response to Syria’s drill, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Air Force anti-aircraft unit conducted an exercise simulating a possible Syria missile attack. Continue reading »

Tags: Air Force, Biological weapons, chemical weapons, Israel, Military, Missiles, Syria

Earl Of Stirling

The Olympics are what is right about the world. On this last Friday, the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the new millennium we witnessed a fantastic spectacle, a peaceful gathering of the many nations of our small blue planet; a competition of the best young athletes from all over the world. The Olympics make us proud to be humans; proud to be citizens of Earth.

Sadly, on this same day, we saw what future historians will count as the day that the Third World War began. It was designed this way, by the evil people who worked hard to begin the war under the cover of the Olympics.

We all like to be right, myself included, but sometimes it is not so wonderful. I have written a series of articles over the last few weeks on the coming nightmare centered on the neo-con grand strategy. I predicted the outbreak of hostilities in Georgia and Russia and said that there is a strong link between what is happening there and to what is about to happen against Iran. I said that the war in Georgia was intended as a strategic distraction for Russia as America, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and others assemble their large naval blockade of Iran, but a strategic distraction that would backfire. I also described the massive US Naval armada headed for Iran; the make-up of this extremely large and powerful force is as I described it several days ago (this has now been confirmed by Israeli sources).

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Tags: 9/11, Bush administration, China, George Bush, Georgia, Government, Iran, Israel, Military, NATO, Navy, Neoconservatives, New World Order, Olympic Games, Olympics, Russia, Syria, U.S., War

Vladimir Putin (left), then the president of Russia, met with Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, in April to discuss arms, energy and debt. AFP

Employing strategies redolent of a new Great Game, Russia has stepped up its diplomatic and trade activities in the Middle East and North Africa in a bid to enhance its geopolitical clout and gain access to, and at least partial control over, the region’s oil and gas reserves.

Among the former global superpower’s tactics: linking arms deals and debt-forgiveness to energy deals.

The strategy has been most apparent in former client states of the ­Soviet Union including Libya, Iraq and Syria, although by no means limited to such countries. Moreover, Moscow has not shied away from courting the authoritarian regimes of countries such as Iran, Syria and Libya that are or have been shunned by the US and other western governments.

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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Commodities, Gas, Gazprom, Government, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Qaddafi, Oil, Politics, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Vladimir Putin

Syria has complained to the United Nations about a series of alleged Israeli wrongdoings in the Golan Heights, including burying nuclear waste and discriminating against the region’s Druze residents.

The complaint was made in a report Syria handed to a UN fact-finding committee comprised of Senegal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia’s ambassadors.

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Tags: human rights, Israel, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Syria, U.N.