Iran launches a large-scale war game Sunday, partly in Syria and with the participation of Palestinian volunteers who will practice invasions of Israel. Supreme leader Khamenei has reverted to assassinations of opposition leaders overseas and repressive measures at home to stifle rising dissent against the Islamic regime.

As Islamabad frets over a possible US raid to seize its nuclear arsenal, Moscow, with Beijing's support, steps in to woo Pakistan and back Iran against US punishment for its rogue progress towards a nuclear bomb.

The Muslim Brotherhood's role in post-revolt Arab capitals – sought by Barack Obama – faces counter-pressure from Russia, China and Iran – particularly in Damascus. Not just Iran, but Russia and China too have stepped up their arms consignments to the regime, loath to see fundamentalist Muslim power reigning in any Middle East capital. In Damascus, Moscow has set up a military-diplomatic headquarters.

Iran's 20 percent enriched uranium production exceeds its needs. debkafile' reports that this disclosure by Iran's atomic energy agency head Fereydoon Abbas enables the program to move into the production of 60 percent grade fuel, one step before weapons grade. This progress plus the relocation to an underground location near Qom of accelerated enrichment brings forward to the spring of 2012 the potential completion of between two and four bombs and Tehran's ability to conduct a nuclear test.

Saudi Arabia is importing thousands of Pakistani Sunnis to Bahrain, soldiers and complete famlies, to offset the Shiite majority population. After declaring the special relationship with the US history, Riyadh is venturing across new diplomatic frontiers : Through Islamabad, Riyadh is also opening the door to a Chinese foothold and influence in ...

The fingerprints of Al Qaeda's operations commander Saif al Adal were all over the assault on the important Pakistani Mehran naval air base in Karachi, which began Sunday night, May 22 and ended only after 17 hours of fierce combat, debkafile's counter-terror sources report. The attack  hit a shared strategic Pakistani-US-Chinese installation, destroying US surveillance aircraft. It also impaired Pakistani reconnaissance capabilities against al Qaeda's strongholds in North Waziristan and its watch over the Arabian Sea dividing Pakistan from India. 

Arms and military personnel are streaming to Libya. Thursday, April 21, President Barack Obama authorized two armed Predator drones for breaking the siege of Misratah, while British, French and Italian military officers headed for rebel headquarters in Benghazi, part of a military aid package from the US, Britain, France, Italy and Qatar. Muammar Qaddafi is restocking his arsenals with Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Serbian hardware, along with combat personnel from East Europe and the former Yugoslavia.

Two US high-ranking emissaries in six days to Riyadh have not bridged the differences between Obama and Abdullah. While attaching supreme importance to relations with Washington, Abdullah insists on continuing on his independent policy path and arms purchases from multiple sources.

A Korean showdown edged nearer as the North threatened  "a merciless military blow" if the four-day naval war games the US and South Korea launched on the Yellow Sea border Sunday, Nov. 28 encroached on its waters. South Korea next turned down China's call for urgent Six-Power consultations in Beijing early next month – almost certainly in consultation with Washington . Artillery fire echoed from the North Korean mainland - apparently from military practice.

China has decided to throw its military support behind Iran and the radical Middle East camp it leads including Syria and Turkey. Beiijng likes the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's plan for reviving the Non-Aligned Movement established in the 1950s.

The arrival of a new Middle East player has startled Washington and Jerusalem: debkafile's military sources disclose that when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan met Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus Monday, Oct. 11, they talked less about the Kurdish question and more about the role China is willing to play in the military-intelligence alliance binding Syria, Iran and Turkey. Chinese warplanes took part in Turkey's recent air maneuver after breaking their journey to refuel in Iran.

China will never countenance regional wars or any other upsets that destabilize the regimes governing its oil supplies - Iran, most of all. Beijing also relies on American leverage for keeping the Middle East stable. The US shift in nuclear policy caught China off-balance.

Chinese president Hu Jintao indicated a willingness to consider abstaining on a UN Security Council vote imposing sanctions against Iran - if the United States reciprocated by withholding its veto on sanctions against Israel over construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  debkafile's sources report US president Barack Obama did not reject the idea.