Hamas arrests Aqsa Martyrs Brigade activists in Gaza and took possession of at least a 100 rockets and other assorted weaponry.

Qatar: Arab Turmoil makes Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement more pressing

Gulf state’s emir tells Doha

Mideast

Forum, “Our region will not see peace unless we see a resolution to the Palestinian issue.”

By Reuters

Qatar’s emir, who has thrown his state’s riches behind Arab uprisings, said on Monday that the emergence of ‘people power’ had put Arabs in direct confrontation with Israel and made a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more pressing.

קרי במסיבת עיתונאים עם ראש הממשלה א-תאני (צילום: AP)

Qatari PM Al Thani (L) and Kerry during press conference – Photo: AP

“We heard in the past that reform (in the Arab world) must wait until a peaceful settlement with Israel is achieved, but everybody should realize that such belief is now unfounded after the Arab Spring revolts,” Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told a conference in the Qatari capital. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Arab Spring, John Kerry, peace talks, Qatar

israelandstuffcom | May 20, 2013

Hezbollah takes serious losses in Syria with 30 killed on Sunday

At least 30 members of Shiite terrorist group fighting alongside Assad’s troops killed in battles in Qusair.

IDF outpost observes shooting directed at Israel from Syria.

Yoav Zitun, Maor Buchnik

An IDF observation post in the border area in the Golan Heights reported detecting small arms firing from the Syrian side of the border at an open area in Israel. No injuries or damage were reported.

Rebels in Qusair – Photo: AP

A complaint was lodged with the United Nations. The army is checking whether fire had indeed been directed at Israel.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists reported that about 30 Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad were killed in heavy fighting with rebels on Sunday in the town of Qusair. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Hezbollah, IDF, Syrian rebels, Syrian unrest

israelandstuffcom | May 20, 2013

Shots Fired at IDF from Syria Border…Again

IDF assessment was that the gunfire was spillover from fighting between Syrian forces & rebels. No one is hurt.

By Gil Ronen

IDF soldiers carrying out routine security assignments along the border with Syria reported that shots were fired in their direction from the Syrian side of the border Monday morning.

No one was reported hurt in the incident.

The IDF’s general assessment is that the gunfire is spillover from the fighting in Syria, between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels.

There have been several incidents of fire from Syria hitting Israel in the last few months, including mortar shells. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Goln Heights, IDF, Syrian unrest

Hamas Values: Mother Raises Her Children & Grandchildren to be a ‘martyr’

I brought them up to be martyrs. To become martyrs for the name of Allah. There wasn’t a definite time in which they told me that they wanted to become martyrs. I instilled this in them and they followed it… and the ones who just started – they are going to continue.

– Umm Nidal (Mariam Farhat) in interview with National Geographic, 2009

Mariam Farhat, a former member of parliament for Hamas in Gaza, raised each of her six sons to commit terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. She hoped that each of them would die in the process – that each of them would become a ‘martyr’.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza Terrorism, Hamas Gaza, suicide attacks

Iran hangs 2 men for spying for Mossad and CIA

The two men executed allegedly provided the Mossad & CIA with classified information on Iran, but it’s unclear when the alleged espionage activity happened or about the information passed.

By The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

Iran’s state radio says authorities have executed two men convicted of spying for the Mossad and the American CIA spy agency.

Sunday’s report says Mohammad Heidari, who was accused of providing the Mossad with classified information in exchange for money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, who allegedly gave the CIA intelligence on Iran, were hanged.

The report didn’t say when the men were arrested or tried.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: CIA, Iran, Mossad

Hamas confiscates Fatah’s rockets in Gaza

Hamas arrests Aqsa Martyrs Brigade activists in Gaza and took possession of at least a 100 rockets and other assorted weaponry.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Hamas has confiscated rockets and other types of weaponry belonging to Fatah’s armed wing, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday.

Palestinian gunmen from Al-Aqsa brigades of Fatah – Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The sources told the Fatah-affiliated Palestine Press News Agency that Hamas confiscated 100 rockets and 500 “combat units” when Fatah tried to move them from one location to another in the Gaza Strip.

The sources did not explain what they meant by “combat units.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Gaza

UK Report: Syria Aims their missiles on Tel Aviv

Britain’s Sunday Times writes Assad’s regime sets advanced surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles on standby with orders to hit Tel Aviv if Israel should launch another strike.

Analyst: Missiles ‘extremely accurate’ and can cause ‘serious harm’

Ynet

Syria has put its most advanced missiles on standby with orders to hit Tel Aviv if Israel launches another strike on its territory, The Sunday Times reported overnight Sunday.

Russian S-300 missile – Photo: AFP

According to the British newspaper, reconnaissance satellites have been monitoring preparations by the Syrian army to deploy surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles.

An Israeli official told The New York Times that Israel, which has launched three recent attacks on Syria, was considering further strikes and warned President Bashar Assad that his government would face “crippling consequences” if he hit back at Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: IAF strike, Syria, Syrian missiles, Tel Aviv

PM Netanyahu: Israel will prevent transfer of arms to Hezbollah

Prime Minister Netanyahu says the Israeli gov’t is operating in a ‘responsible, determined & level-headed’ manner to prevent advanced weapons from reaching the Lebanese terror group.

By Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a government meeting on Sunday that Israel will prevent advanced weapons from being sent from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. “The Israeli government is acting in a responsible, determined and level-headed manner in order to guarantee the safety of the citizens of Israel,” he said, “in accordance with the policy we have set of preventing as much as possible” the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, chemical weapon, Hezbollah, Syria

Smuggler Killed When Hamas Tunnel Collapses

Hamas smuggler dies as another tunnel caves in.

By Gil Ronen

An Arab youth was killed when a tunnel linking Egypt to Gaza collapsed on Saturday, Arab medical sources said.

Tunnel smuggler “Mussa Ghonaim, 26 years old, was killed in the tunnel collapse south of the town of Rafah,” the sources said, according to AFP.

In February, the Islamist terror movement Hamas, which governs Gaza, closed hundreds of tunnels used for smuggling in Rafah, which straddles the border between Egypt and the coastal enclave.

Hamas is making at least amillion dollars a day in “tax” money from Gaza smugglers, a senior IDF officer said Monday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Hamas Gaza, Rafah Crossing, smuggler tunnels

Abbas’ P.A. crackdown on local journalists continues

Despite promises from the PA to honor freedom of the press, this past week PA security forces have again detained & interrogated journalists.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Despite promises to honor freedom of the media, the Palestinian Authority is counting its crackdown on Palestinian journalists in the West Bank.

PA Police In the past week, PA security forces interrogated and detained two journalists: Haroun Abu Arrah and Omar Arqoub.

Abu Arrah, hisho was born in Jenin and lives in Ramallah, was detained by the PA’s General Intelligence Security [GIS] for interrogation.

He told the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom: “I went to the headquarters of the GIS two days after receiving a summons.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Freedom of the Press, journalists, PA

Egyptian Security keeps Gaza border closed

Egyptian Policeman say the crossing will remain closed until the 7 remaining kidnapped hostages that were taken by Islamic militants from the Sinai are freed.

They’re also demanding that the Interior Minister comes to listen to security concerns.

By REUTERS

CAIRO – Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travellers, witnesses said.

Palestinian baby sleeps next to his mother at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in Gaza, May 17, 2013 – Photo: REUTERS

The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Egypt, Egyptian Bedouin, kidnapping, Sinai

It’s no Secret. Even the Sinai Bedouin Say: It Was Better Under Israeli Rule

The Sinai Bedouin blame Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s interior ministry for the kidnappings in the region saying: ‘We’ve already paid a price for Israel returning the land.’

By Elad Benari, Canada

Bedouin tribes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula implied on Thursday that they were better off living under Israeli rule and that they have been suffering since Israel withdrew from the region as part of the peace agreement with Egypt.

Desert tourism – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The residents of the Sinai spoke to the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, after local tribesmen kidnapped seven Egyptian security personnel near the city of El-Arish.

The seven were kidnapped by an unknown group in north Sinai while en route to Cairo. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Egypt, Egyptian Bedouin, kidnapping, Sinai

Ex-MI Chief: If Assad Starts War with Israel, he’ll be “finished”

Former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin said that if Syrian President starts a war with Israel, he will be “finished”.

By Elad Benari, Canada

If Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will start a war with Israel, he will be “finished”, former Military Intelligence head, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, said on Friday.

“There is pressure on Assad to respond [to recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria], but he will be finished if he starts a war,” Yadlin, who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told Channel 10 News.

“We must not think that what worked several times will always work,” he added, referring to alleged Israeli airstrikes in Damascus targeting weapons meant for Hizbullah. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Amos Yadlin, Bashar Assad, Syria Unrest