The US is willing to replenish NATO's empty missile and smart bomb arsenals but needs to know who is footing the bill. Robert Gates like British and French Libyan war commanders don't believe in NATO's ability to topple Muammar Qaddafi.

Saudi-US disagreements have solidified for the first time in King Abdullah's decision to put their policy arguments behind him and go for action independent of the US. His first move was to freeze his $60 billion arms purchases from America. His second: to encourage the Yemeni ruler to defy Washington. The blow to American pockets as well as prestige is disastrous: For decades, Saudi Arabia has been the top buyer of American military hardware 

After weeks of rising tension, Israel and Hamas have taken a step towards a full-blown military confrontation: Saturday, April 2, an Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades gunmen in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army spokesman said the operation pre-empted a major Palestinian terror-cum-kidnap campaign scheduled for Passover. Hamas warned Israel its "dangerous escalation" would have "consequences." debkafile's sources: The coming conflict will be influenced by the changing forces rising from current Arab unrest.

Profound disagreements among three allies and within their administrations are hampering progress in the Libyan operation. NATO and Arab props crumple.

The Saudi-led GCC forces in Bahrain to support the king face the onset of a Shiite guerrilla war organized by Hizballah on Iran's behalf. They all understand that this war will spread further.

The 10 US warships plus an Israeli and German battle vessel each, which transited the Suez Canal Friday, June 18, have reached the Persian Gulf.  But first, from June 6 through June 10, the USS Harry S. Truman carrier Strike Group was deployed 50 miles off the shore of southwestern Israel on a secret joint war exercise, as first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 449 on June 18.

US defense secretary Robert Gates reported Thursday, June 17 that the US had overhauled its missile defense plans following intelligence that Iran could fire "scores or hundreds" of short- and medium-range missiles against Europe -in salvoes rather than one or two at a time. The new US program, designed to protect NATO allies, uses sea and land-based interceptors. He did not mention Israel, but these figures mean it has fallen back sharply in the regional balance of strength, even before adding on the thousands of Hizballah rockets.

US and Israeli defense chiefs Robert Gates and Ehud Barak told reporters at the end of their talks in the Pentagon on April 27: "Syria and Iran are providing Hizballah with rockets of ever-increasing capability...  and we're watching it very carefully" - Gates; and "We do not intend to provoke any kind of major collision in Lebanon or with Syria, but are watching closely..." - Barak.

debkafile: Neither sounded ready to halt the headlong Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah drive for a summer war.

The New York Times Sunday, April 18, reveals a secret memo from US Defense Security Robert Gates determining that the White House has no effective policy for dealing with Iran's steady progress towards nuclear capability. This confirms what debkafile has been saying for more than a year, while also exposing the hollowness of the assurances of Israeli leaders, current and past, that it was safe to line up behind US strategy for preventing Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Riyadh Wednesday, March 10, flying in unexpectedly from Kabul in Afghanistan, after the Saudis demanded urgent clarifications of the Obama administration's Iran policy. debkafile's military sources report the demand followed the failure of US Vice President Joe Biden's talks with Israeli leaders to resolve their differences on More...