Syria news of note......
http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkish-fm-slams-assad-for-not-responding-to-israeli-strike/
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attends a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, last month (photo credit: AP/Michel Euler)
Turkey’s foreign minister blasted embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday for not responding to an alleged Israeli strike on targets in Syria.
On his way to Munich, where he will meet with world leaders to discuss developments in Syria, Ahmet Davutoglu asked reporters, ”Why didn’t Assad even throw a pebble when Israeli jets were flying over his palace and playing with the dignity of his country?”
Davutoglu suggested that the Syrian leader is conspiring with Israel: “Is there a secret agreement between Assad and Israel? The Assad regime only abuses. Why don’t you use the same power that you use against defenseless women against Israel, which you have seen as an enemy since its foundation,” he said, according to The Hurriyet news agency.
The foreign minister said that Turkey will not stand by as Israel attacks a Muslim country.
“Syria must do what a country under attack has to do,” Today’s Zaman quoted Davutoglu as saying, seemingly goading the Assad regime to retaliate.
Media outlets throughout the world have reported that the Israeli Air Force carried out several strikes against targets in Syria overnight Tuesday. Israel has made no official comment.
Among the reported targets was a convoy presumably carrying advanced weapons — including SA-17 missiles — to the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as a so-called research facility, where non-conventional weapons were reportedly stationed.
A report in TIME magazine on Friday claimed that Israeli jets also struck at a biological weapons research center.
The US government has given the “green light” for Israeli to conduct further similar strikes, according to the report.
Also on Friday, outgoing US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared to confirm that it was in fact Israel that had stuck targets in Syria. He suggested that Washington was fully behind Israeli efforts to prevent advanced weapons from landing in the hands of terrorists.
“We have expressed the concern that we have to do everything we can to make sure that sophisticated weapons like SA-17 missiles or, for that matter chemical biological weapons, do not fall into the hands of terrorists,” he told AFP.
Obama green light for Israel to strike Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah military links
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 2, 2013, 4:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
Obama approves Israeli action after Iran ducks out of nuclear diplomacy
The air raid over the Jamraya military complex near Damascus Wednesday, Jan. 30, attributed to Israel by Western sources was Israeli’s first assault on the Syrian-Hizballah military compact forged between Bashar Assad and Hassan Nasrallah.
That was the real strategic import of the operation, which took place with the approval of US President Barack Obama, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
In every other respect, it was a surgical strike on a well-defined target, comparable to Israel’s attack in September 2007 on the nuclear reactor North Korea was building at El Kabir in northern Syria. The object then was to sever the Syrian-Iranian-North Korean nuclear link before it took physical shape and began turning out plutonium for Iran’s nuclear program.
After its destruction, Tehran and Pyongyang decided to cut Syria out of their nuclear plans because its proximity to Israel made any nuclear site an easy mark.
The overriding importance of the attack on the Syrian military compound therefore lies in its three objectives:
1. The Jamraya complex was selected because it serves the shared military agendas of Syria, Hizballah and Iran.
The bombers struck three targets: a Syrian chemical weapons store and laboratories; a depot holding the sophisticated weapons Iran had sent Hizballah in the last two years - some of which, like the SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, are termed “game changers” in a potential clash with Israel; and a large fleet of trucks standing by to ferry the munitions across the border into Lebanon.
Israeli threats to destroy the weapons had so far prevented their transfer.
In a separate building at Jamraya, Hizballah forces learned how to use the new Iranian hardware and maintained a team of drivers ready to move the arsenal over to Lebanon. This building was not attacked.
2. The air strike was a move toward disrupting the cooperative military efforts of all three allies in Syria and Lebanon;
3. Israel took its first step into the Syrian conflict.
As we first reported in the latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday, the operation went forward with a green light from President Obama, after he was briefed on the plan by AMAN (Israeli Military Intelligence) commander, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi at the White House on Jan. 22.Our sources also reported that another Israeli emissary, National Security Adviser Yakov Amidror, visited Moscow at the same time to warn Russian leaders of the coming attack in Syria.
The bombers struck three targets: a Syrian chemical weapons store and laboratories; a depot holding the sophisticated weapons Iran had sent Hizballah in the last two years - some of which, like the SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, are termed “game changers” in a potential clash with Israel; and a large fleet of trucks standing by to ferry the munitions across the border into Lebanon.
Israeli threats to destroy the weapons had so far prevented their transfer.
In a separate building at Jamraya, Hizballah forces learned how to use the new Iranian hardware and maintained a team of drivers ready to move the arsenal over to Lebanon. This building was not attacked.
2. The air strike was a move toward disrupting the cooperative military efforts of all three allies in Syria and Lebanon;
3. Israel took its first step into the Syrian conflict.
As we first reported in the latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday, the operation went forward with a green light from President Obama, after he was briefed on the plan by AMAN (Israeli Military Intelligence) commander, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi at the White House on Jan. 22.Our sources also reported that another Israeli emissary, National Security Adviser Yakov Amidror, visited Moscow at the same time to warn Russian leaders of the coming attack in Syria.
While Russian officials voiced objections to Israeli attacking Syria, they also apparently omitted to forewarn President Assad of what was coming and he was taken by surprise. After the raid, President Vladimir Putin advised the Syrian ruler to refrain from exacerbating the military situation with Israel.
The reported Israeli strike on Jamraya had two key consequences of future relevance:
a) President Obama’s consent for Israel and its armed forces IDF to be the first pro-Western power to intervene in the Syrian war, after keeping them out of involvement in the Arab Revolt raging around its borders for two years:
a) President Obama’s consent for Israel and its armed forces IDF to be the first pro-Western power to intervene in the Syrian war, after keeping them out of involvement in the Arab Revolt raging around its borders for two years:
b) Officials in Tehran publicly warned last week that an attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a message no doubt underlined through diplomatic channels to Washington. Nonetheless, after holding the Israeli government back for years from striking Iran’s nuclear sites, Obama approved an attack with the potential for widening into a major Israeli-Iranian military clash.
While the importance of keeping sophisticated missiles and poison gas out of Hizballah hands cannot be overrated, DEBKAfile’s sources in Washington and Tehran reveal that what really pushed the US president into his change of face was Iran’s withdrawal from the secret talks he set much store by for a diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.
Three further changes of major strategic importance occurred this week.
Tehran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that new, high-speed IR2m centrifuges were being installed in Natanz to expand the 20-percent uranium enrichment taking place at the Fordo underground facility.
The Iranian letter was posted to the IAEA the day after the two Israeli emissaries visited Washington and Moscow.
Three further changes of major strategic importance occurred this week.
Tehran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that new, high-speed IR2m centrifuges were being installed in Natanz to expand the 20-percent uranium enrichment taking place at the Fordo underground facility.
The Iranian letter was posted to the IAEA the day after the two Israeli emissaries visited Washington and Moscow.
The diplomatic channel to Tehran was symbolically shut down in Washington last week by the resignation of Gary Samore, President Obama’s Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Counter-Terrorism and Arms Control.
DEBKAfile discloses that Samore was lead negotiator in the failed nuclear talks with Iran. His exit means that he sees no way of curbing Iran’s race for a nuclear weapon. He has taken up an appointment as Executive Director of Research in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.
US Vice President Joe Biden provided the third key development. Asked Saturday, Feb. 2, in Munich when Washington might hold direct talks with Tehran, he replied dismissively: “When the Iranian leadership, the supreme leader, is serious.”Biden spoke for the Obama administration when he suggested that Khamenei has not been serious to date.
All three events contributed to the US president’s decision to let Israel have a go at the Syrian military complex, thereby broadcasting a signal to Tehran that, in the absence of serious negotiations, Washington is ready to expand its efforts for breaking up the Iran-Syrian Hizballah axis, using the IDF as its hammer.and..
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/01/retired-israeli-general-warns-of-syria-escalation/
Retired Israeli General Warns of Syria Escalation
Israeli Warplanes Sighted Over Lebanon on 'Practice' Runs
by Jason Ditz, February 01, 2013
Retired Israeli general Giora Eiland, who also served as a National Security Adviser, is warning that he sees a danger of escalation in the wake of Wednesday’s Israeli attack on Syria.
He noted that Israel actually appears to have comparatively little intelligence about what is ongoing in Syria right now because of the civil war, and that it is possible the Assad regime might launch a “symbolic” missile in retaliation for the Israeli attack.
Eiland further warned that attacking what are in essence “defensive weapons,” referring to anti-aircraft SA-17 missiles reportedly targeted in the Israeli strike could risk worsening Israel’s relationship with Russia, and that Israel ought to be trying to negotiate with Russia on its role in the region instead of antagonizing them with further strikes.
The Israeli warplanes attacked Syria by way of neighboring Lebanon, and today Israeli warplanes were reportedly sighted across southern and eastern Lebanon, carrying out “mock raids” on the towns in the region.
and.....
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/01/obama-green-lit-israeli-attack-on-syria/
Obama ‘Green-Lit’ Israeli Attack on Syria
Strikes Targeted Multiple Locations, Officials Confirm
by Jason Ditz, February 01, 2013
Reports surrounding Wednesday’s Israeli attack on Syria were full of conflicting stories about what was hit, and it turns out they were both right, as officials now confirm that “several targets” were hit by Israeli warplanes in the attack.
The reports go on to explain the ambivalent US reaction to the attack by noting, citing US intelligence sources, that President Obama had given Israel a “green light” to launch the attack ahead of time.
The building destroyed near Damascus, which the Syrian government confirmed, was reportedly a warehouse, and officials believed it included equipment related to deployment of chemical weapons, though not the weapons themselves. They also insisted that the attack on the convoy to Lebanon, which Syria has yet to confirm, was another of the attacks, and claimed “one to two additional targets” beyond those.
Officials discussing the matter cited Israeli and US concerns that weapons might be transferred out of Syrian government control into Lebanon, and added an ominous aside: that the United States is itself planning to attack targets in and around Aleppo if the rebels get too close to sites related to chemical weapons.
The Israeli strikes threaten to lead to a major escalation and regionalization of the war. One can only imagine that if the US follows through with attacks targeting both regime and rebels the matter will be dramatically more serious.
And Might the US actually be violating its own Iran sanctions ?
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/01/the-united-states-could-be-violating-its-own-iran-sanctions/272714/
The United States Could Be Violating Its Own Iran Sanctions
Oops.
An Afghan National Army (ANA) patrol is covered in dust from an ANA Air Corp M-17 helicopter in southern Afghanistan. (Tim Wimborne/Reuters)
It's hard to think of another case where sanctions have had such drastic effects on a country's economy so quickly. Iran used to export 2.14 million barrels of oil every day; that was two years ago. Now that number stands at some 890,000. The value of the rial has crashed, and the IMF reports that Iran's economy has shrunk for the first time in more than two decades. Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admits the country is feeling the pressure.
But despite the U.S. campaign to marginalize Iran, a new report suggests Washington may be unwittingly undercutting its own efforts by buying up Iranian oil -- a clear violation of the sanctions prohibiting almost all economic activity with the pariah state.
Since 2007, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has allocated $1.55 billion for the purchase of fuel for the Afghan national army (ANA). Problem is, nobody seems to know for certain whether that fuel came partly from Iran.
"DOD is unable to determine if any of the $1.1 billion in fuel purchased for the ANA between fiscal year 2007 and 2012 came from Iran, in violation of U.S. economic sanctions," according to the report filed by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR). "Given the Afghan government's continued challenges in overseeing and expending direct assistance funds, it will become more difficult for DOD to account for the use of U.S. funds as it begins to transfer funds -- in March 2013 -- directly to the Afghan government for the procurement and delivery of ANSF fuel."
While tracking fuel sources might sound like an easy task ("Who did you pay?"), it's complicated by the fact that what gets put in Afghan vehicles is often the result of a blending process involving petroleum from Russia, Turkmenistan, and, if we're to believe a fuel vendor interviewed by SIGAR, possibly Iran.
Lest there be any doubt that this is a problem, the relevant language from the U.S. Treasury makes it clear:
IRANIAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY - U.S. persons may not trade in Iranian oil or petroleum products refined in Iran, nor may they finance such trading. Similarly, U.S. persons may not perform services, including financing services, or supply goods or technology that would benefit the Iranian oil industry.
With defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel taking questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee as we speak, this seems just like something that a Hagel opponent like Senator James Inhofe or Senator David Vitter might bring up.
As Syria heats up , Iraq still a bubling cauldron of sectarian violence.....
Iraq Death Toll Spikes Again in January
246 Killed Nationwide, 735 Wounded
by Jason Ditz, February 01, 2013
It was another deadly month for Iraq in January, with reports putting the overall toll at 246 killed and 735 wounded in a month of attacks. 30 police and 18 soldiers were among the slain.
The toll includes a large number of Shi’ite pilgrims killed on their way home from the Arbaeen holiday in Karbala, with multiple strikes aimed at large clusters of Shi’ites.
There was also a flurry of strikes against Shi’ite targets in the middle of the month,with 175 people, mostly Shi’ites, killed in a single week as militant factions tried to turn Sunni political protests into another sectarian civil war.
The toll is unusually high for this time of year, and the most people killed in a month since September, during which huge attacks killed 365 people. The rise in violence over the past several months has been attributed in part to the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which is apparently getting a sympathetic boost from the sectarian civil war in neighboring Syria.
And note the familiar pattern already emerging in Mali - insurgency.....
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/01/roadside-bombings-in-mali-signal-transition-to-insurgency/
Roadside Bombings in Mali Signal Transition to Insurgency
Rebel Leaders Vanish Into Desert, Setting Stage for Long Fight
by Jason Ditz, February 01, 2013
Most of the focus on the French war in Mali has been on officials patting themselves on the back for overwhelming rebel-held central cities with a combination of air strikes and ground operations. Yet that isn’t the whole story.
Rebel leaders in those central cities have gone missing by the dozens, and French and Malian troops have reported improvised explosive attacks along the roadsides between the towns, with at least five Mali soldiers slain.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reported that many of the rebel leaders have gone to Adrar des Ifoghas, a serious of caves and tunnels in the desert traditionally used by smugglers and now, by rebel troops transitioning from a ground war to an insurgency.
With so much of northern Mali a no-man’s land, small pockets of civilization interspersed with broad desert wastes, hunting down rebel leaders could well be even more complicated than it was in Afghanistan, and with nebulous borders leading to multiple other nations’ desert hinterlands, the same problems that have left Afghanistan mired in never-ending war can be said of Mali, only moreso.
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