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Sat February 25, 2012
Breaking News
NATO command recalls all personnel from Afghan ministries after two US officers, a colonel and a major, shot dead inside Interior Ministry in Kabul Saturday • Taliban claimed the shooting at close range by an Afghan policeman • British embassy withdraws military and civilian advisers from institutions in Kabul • Al Qaeda claims car explosion at Yemeni presidential palace which killed 26 people Saturday just after new president Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi took oath of office • Ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh attended ceremony • US-Chinese exchange of insults: Clinton blasted Russia and China as “despicable” for blocking UN Syria vote • Chinese news agency shot back: US and Europe harbor "hegemonistic ambitions" in Syria and hide a dagger behind a smile • US National Intelligence chief James Clapper holds talks in Israel under total blackout • Friday he met PM Netanyahu • Obama calls on international community to use “every tool available to prevent slaughter of innocents in Syria • "It is time for that regime to move on” • UN nuclear watchdog reports "serious concerns" about military dimensions of Iran's nuclear work • One Palestinian killed, 6 injured, by Israeli army fire Friday night at Kalandia terminal north of Jerusalem against rioters • Disturbances erupt in Jerusalem village of Issawiya • At least 11 Israeli policemen injured by rocks thrown earlier by Palestinians on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount • Iranian Defense Miniser Vahidi: Any move against Iran will put an end to the Zionist regime’s existence •
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 25, 2012, 8:52 AM (GMT+02:00)
Doctors in Jordan refused entry to Syria

Under US, European, Turkish and Arab protection, the first Red Cross convoys reached Homs Friday, Feb. 24. They began evacuating injured victims and bringing medical aid to the city bombarded for three weeks by Bashar Assad’s troops - and opened the door to foreign intervention in the Syrian crisis.  debkafile reports exclusively that Washington and Ankara warned Assad through confidential channels that if he interfered in this emergency route, US and Turkish warplanes would fly in from East Turkey with air cover.

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Obama Considers Sarkozy’s Syria Plan
A US-led alliance would provide a safe haven under collective air force protection.
more
US Undercover Operation to Stall Israeli Iran Strike
A network of informants placed to alert Washington.
more
Iran’s Preemptive Threat Is Real
Tehran prepares ground to justify an attack on the grounds of self-defense.
more






Headlines
US, France, UK, Turkey, Italy prepare for military intervention in Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 23, 2012, 10:29 AM (GMT+02:00)
Secret Homs press center

Military preparations for intervention in the horrendous Syrian crisis are quietly afoot in Washington, Paris, Rome, London and Ankara. President Barack Obama is poised for a final decision after the Pentagon submits operational plans for protecting Syrian rebels and beleaguered populations, debkafile reports. The deaths of two notable journalists helped galvanize the West into action. They died after Syrian artillery located their secret press center in Homs with the help of Russian spy satellites or Iranian electronic measures - and gutted it. 

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Iran cuts down to six weeks timeline for weapons-grade uranium
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 22, 2012, 9:06 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Iran nuclear   Israel   US-Iran   US-Israel 
Parchin nuclear center

Tehran this week hardened its nuclear and military policies regardless of forthcoming international nuclear talks. The threat by Iran’s armed forces deputy chief Gen. Mohammad Hejazi of a preemptive strike against its “enemies,” was accompanied by its refusal to allow UN nuclear watchdog inspectors to visit the Parchin facility, following which the IAEA chief cut their mission short. The transfer of 20 percent uranium enrichment to Fordo is estimated to have shortened Iran’s race for weapons grade material to six weeks.

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Tehran steps into US-Israel Iran row with threat of pre-emptive strike
DEBKAfile Special Report
February 21, 2012, 2:58 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Iran nuclear   US-Israel 
Iran General Mohammad Hejazi

Deputy Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi said Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Our strategy now is that if… our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests… we will act without waiting for their actions.”  debkafile’s sources report that an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel, in the air for some weeks, became realistic when Tehran seized on the dragging US-Israeli argument over a military strike and the two government’s indecisiveness as a golden opportunity to further its interests ahead of talks with world powers.

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More articles below
Climax in US-Israel altercation over Iran military strike
DEBKAfile DEBKA-Net-Weekly
February 21, 2012, 12:03 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  US-Israel   Iran nuclear   Russia 
Iran confrontation on March 5

In its latest issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s exclusive sources detail the exact points reached in the debate between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government over an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Washington is seen working Israel’s domestic scene to build up an anti-attack opposition, as a gleeful Iran keeps track of the new climax in the US-Israeli spat. And discover the new turnabout in Moscow’s policies toward Washington, Tehran and Damascus before it surfaces in this eye-opening issue.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly, click here

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Obama to try and talk Netanyahu out of Iran strike after his advisers failed
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 20, 2012, 9:14 PM (GMT+02:00)
Natanz nuclear site air defenses

After a high-ranking US delegation headed by White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon failed in three days of tough talks (Feb.18-20) to dissuade Israeli leaders to back off plans for a military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites, the White House invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for talks with President Barak Obama on March 5. He will try and break the stalemate which ended his advisers’ talks with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

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Iran names Istanbul for nuclear talks, joins Russia to buttress Assad
DEBKAfile Special Report
February 19, 2012, 6:30 PM (GMT+02:00)
US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon

Iran continues to behave as though it is calling the shots. The first formal announcement of the resumption of Iran-world powers nuclear talks (confirming debkafile’s exclusive) came from its Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Selahi who Sunday, Feb. 19, named the venue as Istanbul, Turkey. Saturday, two Iranian warships got away with delivering arms for Bashar Assad’s crackdown without US or Israeli interference. They docked at Tartus port Saturday alongside a Russian naval flotilla, symbolizing their joint effort to preserve Assad.

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US-Israel crisis: Approaching nuclear talks with Iran disable sanctions, spark anti-Israel terror
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
February 18, 2012, 9:42 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  US-Iran   Iran nuclear   Israel 
There were better times

US President Barack Obama is convinced that the resumed international nuclear negotiations he has worked hard to set up will not only avert war but lay to rest once and for all the problem of Iran’s nuclear bomb program. But the imminence of Iranian talks with world powers has already had the negative effects of sparking a wave of Iranian terror against Israeli overseas targets and seriously devaluing sanctions, debkafile reports. Anyway, Tehran has no intention of yielding on its drive for nuclear arms.

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Crisis in US-Israel relations over nuclear talks with Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report
February 18, 2012, 6:57 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  US-Iran   US-Israel   Iran nuclear   Barack Obama 
They agree to talk

Wednesday, Netanyahu blasted Iran – and indirectly Washington– when he said in Cyprus that sanctions “haven’t worked” and that a regime which attacks diplomats to have nuclear weapons “is something of enormous concern for the United States and for Israel.”In the last 24 hours, the approach of international talks with Iran on its nuclear program has escalated high tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government.
US President Barack Obama decided to send his US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon on an urgent visit to Israel Saturday for three days of talks ...

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Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 11, 2012, 10:24 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Bashar Assad   Syrian uprising   Russia-Iran   Turkey   US 
No qualms about tank fire against residential buildings

Western intelligence sources reporting in real time concluded Saturday night, Feb. 11 that Bashar Assad's loyal forces had by and large managed to subdue the rebellion against the regime, even though flare-ups are still to come. They are now purging the last pockets of resistance, especially in Syria's third largest city, Homs. The Syrian ruler will go on record as crushing his own people with the help of non-Arab Iran and Russia. For the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia this is a contretemps.

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DEBKA-Net-Weekly    A sampling from past issues
Israel Girds up for Strike on Iran
DEBKA-Net-Weekly  #527
February 3, 2012

Israel's military (the IDF) is no longer hiding from view its preparations for an attack on Iran's nuclear program – most probably from the spring – and its expectation of armed hostilities erupting consequently on at least three fronts, Syria, the Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza. On Jan. 31, a division exercise was held for drafting reservists under fire.

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US-Iranian Exchanges on Three Secret Tracks
DEBKA-Net-Weekly  #526
January 26, 2012
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The Obama administration saw in the unimpeded passage of the Abraham Lincoln carrier through the Strait of Hormuz a signal that Tehran may be amenable to nuclear talks. Preparatory feelers are going forward on three tracks via Baghdad, Ankara and Vienna between the emissaries of the US President and Iran's Supreme leader.

Read more
Moscow Bets on Assad Winning War
DEBKA-Net-Weekly  #528
February 10, 2012
Tags:  Russia   US   Syria   Iran   Bashar Assad   Muslim Brotherhood 
Vladimir Putin

Russia has a comprehensive long-term plan to overtake - or at least match - America as a world superpower and it therefore extends a helping hand to any Middle East and Arab power, principally Syria and Iran, willing to defy Washington. Moscow is also betting on Bashar Assad winning the Syrian conflict.

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Analysis
Assad may start regional war if UN tells him to step down – Gulf sources
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 31, 2012, 7:23 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Bashar Assad   UN Security Council   US   Russia   Israel 
Syrian officers visit Russian aircraft carrier in Tartus port

Syrian President Bashar Assad is reported by Persian Gulf sources Tuesday, Jan. 31 to have confided to his advisers that he will start up a regional conflict if the UN Security Council calls on him to step down. The heads of the Syrian armed forces and intelligence have been given their orders. Other sources tell debkafile that the Russian flotilla in Tartus appears to be on alert and Sunday, a US nuclear submarine and destroyer sailed through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea.

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Azerbaijan foils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 24, 2012, 10:13 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Hizballah   Iranian terror   Israel   Azerbaijan 
Habad Baku leaders targeted by Iranian-Hizballah terrorists

A Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (MNS) officers, who thwarted attacks on the Israeli embassy and the Habad center as well as on Israeli and local personages. Two cell members reside in Azerbaijan; its Tehran-based leader was recruited by Iranian intelligence. This was the first known instance of Iranian intelligence and a Hizballah cell cooperating for a terror operation.

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India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 23, 2012, 5:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  India   China   sanctions   Iranian oil   European Union 
Iranian oil for India

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile reports exclusively.  Our sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both will therefore substantially cushion the impact on the Iranian economy of the European decision of Monday, Jan. 22, to impose an oil embargo on Iran and freeze the assets of its central bank.

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Nuclear Iran is past its point-of-no-return, yet oil sanctions remain on paper
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 21, 2012, 3:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
US Gen. Martin Dempsey received by Binyamin Netanyahu with friendly discord

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advised visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Friday, Jan. 20 that the time for action against Iran was now - for two reasons: First, Iran has passed the point of no return for developing a nuclear weapon; second, the US-led embargo on Iranian oil is not catching on. debkafile: China, Japan, South Korea, India, Turkey and the European Union members which buy 85 percent of Iran's exported crude are dilly-dallying over a ban.

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