http://www.debka.com/ DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security en Copyright 2000-2007 DEBKAfile Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:08:06 +0300 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:08:06 +0300 webmaster@debka.com (Debka.com Webmaster) http://www.debka.com/images/logo.gif http://www.debka.com/ <p><b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b>’s military sources discount the claim by Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Maj. Gen. Ali Jafari that Iran had test-fired a new naval weapon that could destroy any vessel within a 300-km range. </p><p>Jafari boasted to reporters Mon. Aug. 4: “Today the IRGC has the capability to target the enemies’ targets with a wide range of missiles and in a few minutes in case of any attack.” Western intelligence sources dismissed the IRGC commander’s boast as “propaganda fantasy.”</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5493 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:08:06 +0300 <p>Sources in Washington commented Wednesday night, Aug. 6, that, while it is unlikely that Israel would attack Iran without US approval, this might change if tough sanctions were taken off the table. </p><p><b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b> reports that this information was leaked by Washington sources, apparently to warn Moscow that by closing the door to sanctions, it was opening the door to an Israeli attack.</p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5491 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:04:07 +0300 <p>In 50 ceremonies up and down the country, some 8,500 members of Gaza’s former 21 communities and many sympathizers from Israel and abroad marked the third anniversary of their forcible evacuation. More than 80 percent are still living in temporary accommodation, many still jobless. The Knesset has set up a state commission to inquire into the government’s failed handling of the Gush Katif evacuees.</p><p>Since the withdrawal of Israeli military bases and eviction of those communities the Gaza Strip has become a stronghold of the Palestinian Hamas.</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5492 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:00:03 +0300 <p>The US Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, soon to be promoted to Central Command chief, arrived unannounced in Lebanon on Wed. Aug 6. <b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b>’s military sources report he came to check out the strategic ramifications of Hizballah’s seizure on behalf of Syria and Iran of two strategic Lebanese peaks, Mt. Sannine and Mt. Barukh. Petraeus also sought the exact import of the Lebanese government’s policy decision of Aug. 4, to let Hizballah stay armed (in violation of UN Security Council resolutions) and continue its war against Israel. </p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5489 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:04:17 +0300 <p>While security measures have been imposed across China ahead of the Olympic Games opening Friday, special steps have been taken in the northwestern province of Xinjiang after two Uighur members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) killed 16 policemen in Kashgar, 4000 km from Beijing Monday, Aug. 4. The regional authorities have tightened security for trucks, buses and transport hubs, reporting that the assailants who drove a garbage truck showed that ETIM had for the first time begun using cars or trucks in their attacks.</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5487 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:00:03 +0300 <p>The intense exchanges afoot between Ankara, Damascus and Tehran in recent months burst into the open Tuesday, Aug.5 at the south Turkish Aegean resort town of Bodrum, when Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan entertained Syrian president Bashar Assad and a large party of notables. This is revealed by <b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b>’s Middle East sources.</p><p>Assad came fresh from his triumphant talks in Tehran three days earlier. The two leaders’ Aegean lunch was followed on cue by Tehran’s announcement that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would visit Ankara for talks with president Abdullah Gul on August 14.</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5488 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:04:37 +0300 <p>Damascus Sunday broke its silence about the mysterious assassination of Gen. Muhammad Suleiman in Tartus early Saturday, Aug. 2 and confirmed <b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b>’s disclosure that the general played an important role in adminstering the al Kibar plutonium reactor. Officials in Damascus leaked to Middle East media that Suleiman was a member of the Syrian Research Commission, the government body in charge of missile, chemical and biological weapons and nuclear development.</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5485 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:04:49 +0300 <p>The Syrian president Bashar Assad was due to visit Tehran in a week’s time. The trip was brought forward to Saturday, Aug. 2 to coincide with the deadline the six powers gave Iran for an answer to its offer of benefits in return for its consent to suspend uranium enrichment – or face a fourth round of sanctions. </p><p><b>DEBKA<i>file</i></b>’s Middle East sources report: Iranian and Syrian rulers are so pleased with their unforeseen success in outmaneuvering the West that they called an urgent summit for follow-up planning.</p><p></p> http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5482 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:00:03 +0300