Libyan Islamists go to Gaza to fight with the Palestinian Jihad Islami, bringing with them advanced Grad multiple missile launchers supplied by Qatar and the UAE and sold to Palestinian extremists. A thriving new weapons market with a price list rises in the W. Libyan town of Zintan.

Israeli timed the unveiling of its first nuclear-capable missile, Jericho 3, for the run-up to the IAEA report on Iran, called in Vienna a game-changer. Washington is preparing harsh sanctions against Iranian oil exports and international banking for slapping down straight after the report.

A rush of military events was orchestrated Wednesday, Nov. 2, to persuade Tehran that the US, Britain and Israel are on the verge of a military operation unless it gives up its drive for a nuclear weapon - depending on President Barack Obama's okay. Israel would not participate in a US-led NATO strike on Iran but reserve its armed forces to defend the home front, guard the assault forces against Iran's allies and serve as a strategic reserve.

The disclosure Tuesday, Nov. 1, by the International Atomic Energy Agency - that a spinning factory built in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasaka in 2003 was in fact an enriched uranium site - had a purpose: To crowd Bashar Assad into talking to the leaders of the revolt against him instead of slaughtering them. debkafile's intelligence sources report that although the NATO commander firmly denied an alliance role in Syria, NATO is already there – and not just  members like Turkey. 

Muammar Qaddafi never trusted his eldest son Saif al Islam and cut him out in favor of his younger brother Mutassim as heir apparent. It was Saif who persuaded his father he would be safer in Sirte than in his desert sanctuary. But when Qaddafi was run to ground, ...

Iran and Hizballah declare NATO would never attack Syria, yet they are making military preparations for this very eventuality. Syria's only option to stem arms smuggling to the opposition is to seize large parts of Lebanon and Jordan, thus provoking a NATO assault.

Behind the grisly images of Muammar Qaddafi's last moments on Thursday, Oct. 20, a quiet contest is afoot between the US and at least two NATO allies, France and Germany, over the credit for his termination and the ending of the alliance's military role in Libya. The episode demonstrated that in the Middle East and North Africa, the Western allies have no compunctions about terminating dictatorships abruptly nor about liberated societies shifting to fundamentalist Islamic regimes committed to Sharia law.

Once the fact of Muammar Qaddafi's abrupt demise on Thursday, Oct. 20, is absorbed, Libya will be left with the same power struggle - with the added horror of blood revenge pursued by his loyalists. debkafile's military sources report mounting indications that a NATO special forces unit – although of which nation is unknown – located and captured Muammar Qaddafi in the Sirte area, shot him in both legs and handed him over to a Misrata militia. NATO can now end its Libya mission.

The bid to replace toppled Arab regimes with pro-Western Arab democracies was a complete flop, the US and NATO intelligence chiefs meeting secretly in the third week of September agreed. In Libya, in particular the NATO operation on the side of the rebels opened the door for elements identified ...

The consensus of US and Western intelligence chiefs at their closed door meeting in Langley was that NATO should count itself out of further military interventions in Arab uprisings in the coming year – especially in Syria - after its mistakes in Libya. Reliance on Turkey was seen as a letdown. The Yemeni crisis was judged more dangerous to broader regions of the Middle East and East Africa than the Syrian conflict.

Turkey's assertiveness has raised the concern of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and its fellow allies. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, debkafile's military sources report, ordering them to change course in a bid to assert Turkish mastery in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel has sent warplanes to fly over the areas of the incidents.
Western naval sources say the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major confrontation.

Muammar Qaddafi and his sons have raised a new army of 12,000 soldiers - all fighters of loyal Touareg tribes of the Sahara, debkafile’s military sources report.

Saturday, Sept. 24, Libyan rebel troops reportedly clashed with his diehards after entering the town of Sirte from the west. Two thousand kilometers to the south, in Niger, the ousted Libyan ruler won a guarantee of protection and alliance from the Touareg tribal council and their declaration of war on his enemies.

A suicide bomber blew up a truck packed with 9,000 kilograms of explosives at the entrance to a NATO Combat Outpost Sayed Abad base in central Afghanistan's Wardak province Saturday, Sept. 10. The attack took place as America marked the 10th anniversary of 9/11and New York and Washington DC were on terror alert for a vehicle-borne strike.

The base targeted serves US Special Forces in Afghanistan. The truck bomb injured at least 89 US servicemen.

If Qaddafi can send large convoys across 900 kilometers of Libyan highway to Niger undisturbed, he is demonstrably in control of most parts of the country. As long as he alive and at large, NATO and the rebels cannot hope to extend their control beyond Tripoli and Benghazi, especially ...

In a world exclusive, debkafile's intelligence sources reveal that Muammar Qaddafi, two of his sons and several thousand fighters have gone to ground at Targan. This dot on the vast Saharan map lies several hundred kilometers southwest of the remote desert town of Jiffra which, too, is more than 1,500 kilometers from rebel-held Tripoli. At Sirte and in a large enclave between this town and Tripoli, his loyalists are still holding out against Libyan rebels.

The lion's share is promised France of Libya's oil reserves with smaller stakes for Britain, Italy and Qatar. But the rebels may be counting their chickens too fast. First, the war is not yet won and the promises may stay on paper and second, only the US has the ...

Two CIA agents, one working undercover, were instrumental in opening the doors of Tripoli to the rebels. One was a close Qaddafi confidant called Mahmud Bin Juma'a, the second Khalifa Hafter, spent 25 year in America and is marked for high office.

On Wednesday, Aug. 31, the Obama administration admitted that former al Qaeda extremists who fought US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan were part of the rebel push to capture Tripoli. Further highlighting Al Qaeda's importance, Muammar Qaddafi instructed his son Saadi to contact self-styled Tripoli commander Abd Al-Hakim Belhadj, one of the a/m extremists, to discuss ways of ending the war. Qaddafi would have to follow in the West's footsteps and work with al Qaeda supporters if he plans guerrilla warfare against the rebels, the US and NATO.

Members of the Al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – LIFG, are in control of the former strongholds of Muammar Qaddafi captured by Libyan rebels last Sunday, Aug. 21, debkafile reports from Libyan sources. Their chief Abd Al-Hakim Belhadj, an al Qaeda veteran from Afghanistan, now calls himself "Commander of the Tripoli Military Council." A US source confirms that NATO's British and French special forces opened Tripoli's door to the rebels. Now, the LIFG is unlikely to relinquish power to the NTC.

NATO, Britain and France are too broke to finish the job the started in Libya. The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council is ready to provide financing but wants a NATO military arm for overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria and promoting its other interests. The Obama administration welcomes the hook-up to relieve ...