Syria uprising intensifies, spills into Lebanon

 

Syrian armour moved against protest flashpoints and a general was gunned down in Damascus on Saturday as the bloodshed showed no signs of abating, even spilling over into Lebanon.

 

The Syrian National Council, or SNC, said Arab recognition of the opposition umbrella group was imminent, ahead of key talks on the crisis in Cairo on Sunday.

 

In Aleppo, tensions escalated as President Bashar al-Assad s forces stepped up security after twin car bombs killed 28 people and wounded 235 in Syria s second city on Friday, activists said.

 

Thirty-one people were killed across the country on Saturday, mostly civilians, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

 

Tank shelling killed 10 civilians in Homs, nine of them in the rebel stronghold neighbourhood of Baba Amr, Abdel Rahman told AFP. Dozens were wounded.

 

Assad s forces have waged a brutal week-long onslaught on the central protest city of Homs that has killed at least 500 people since February 4, Abdel Rahman said.

 

In Lebanon, a 17-year-old girl was among three people killed and 23 were wounded in clashes between Sunni Muslims hostile to Syria s regime and Alawites who support it, a security official said.

 

Ten of the wounded were Lebanese soldiers, including a sergeant in critical condition.

 

The rival factions in Tripoli fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the bloodiest clashes since June, when six people died in the wake of demonstrations against Syria s government.

 

In recent years Tripoli has been rocked by intense clashes between members of its Sunni-majority community and Alawites — the community from which hails the Syrian president.

 

Syrian state media, meanwhile, blamed “terrorists” for Friday s double car bomb attacks on security posts in Aleppo.

 

The rebel Free Syrian Army accused the “criminal” regime of launching the attacks “to steer attention away from what it is doing in Homs, Zabadani and elsewhere.”
 

Seven killed in Iraq attacks

 

Seven people including a tribal chief were killed on Saturday in attacks west of Baghdad and in the capital itself, police and medics said.

 

A roadside bomb at Amariyat al-Fallujah in Anbar province killed Sheikh Najem Mustafa al-Hafez, head of the Aweissat tribe, along with his brother, his wife and their two-year-old son, police lieutenant Jabbar Hamad said.

 

Hamad said Hafez was well-known for his hostility to insurgents and his loyalty to the police and army.

 

A doctor at Fallujah hospital 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Baghdad confirmed that the facility had received four bodies after the incident.

 

The hospital also received the remains of two people killed when a magnetic bomb attached to their car in the city exploded.

 

In the capital, an interior ministry employee named as Haidar Shamki was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car in east Baghdad, a ministry official said.
 

Nejad vows to inaugurate nuclear projects

 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at Israel, saying the “story” of the Holocaust underpinning its existence had been “smashed”.

 

In a speech marking the anniversary of Iran s 1979 revolution, Ahmadinejad said his nation will “never yield” to Western sanctions and threats of military action from Israel and the United States.

 

A crowd of an estimated 60,000 people in Tehran s main Azadi (Freedom) Square cheered Ahmadinejad s words despite the winter weather. Many held aloft placards declaring “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

 

In pointed messages aimed at those two arch-foes, Iranian officials planted a full-scale model of a US spy drone captured in December at an entrance to the square, and hosted on the stage the Hamas prime minister of Gaza.

 

Hamas “will never recognise Israel,” Gaza leader Ismail Haniya told the crowd just before Ahmadinejad spoke.–Agencies

 

Egyptian PM dismisses US aid threats over NGO case

 

Egypt is refusing to back down in a dispute with the U.S. over Cairo s crackdown on nonprofit groups despite Washington s threats to cut aid, while the military deployed troops to the nation s streets after a surge in violence and protests against its rule.

 

Egypt s official MENA news agency said Wednesday the army was deploying more troops to reinforce the police, restore security and state “prestige.” The move comes in the wake of a deadly soccer riot last week that sparked days of clashes between the police and protesters. At least 89 people were killed in a week of violence.

 

The deployment appeared to be a show of force by the military in response to a surge in criticism of its handling of the country s transition to democracy and rising calls for the ruling generals to step down. There are calls for a general strike on Feb. 11 that have been gaining traction.

 

Egypt s military rulers are also facing a deepening dispute with the United States over Cairo s campaign against foreign-funded pro-democracy and rights groups, which began late last year with raid by security forces on the organizations  offices. Authorities allege there is a foreign conspiracy against Egypt to explain the widening protests against the military s performance.

 

On Sunday, Egyptian investigative judges referred 16 Americans and 27 others to trial on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.

 

That immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warning that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of some $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt. Some U.S. legislators even said every aspect of the relationship with Egypt must be examined following the crackdown.

 

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called on Egypt to release the Americans, saying the 16 “have not done anything wrong.” Egyptian authorities put the number of Americans referred to trial at 19, but Nuland on Tuesday said there are 16 Americans in the case.

 

Nuland said the U.S. received a 175-page document in Arabic outlining the charges, but “our view remains that this is not fundamentally a judicial issue,” but an issue between governments over the proper role of the groups.

 

With tensions rising, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, is to travel to Egypt this week for talks with military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Dempsey s spokesman, Col. Dave Lapan, said Wednesday the trip has long been planned, but that the nonprofit spat will come up if it hasn t been resolved. He said Dempsey would talk with Egypt s leaders about “choices and consequences,” but declined to elaborate.

 

Despite the warnings from Washington, Egypt s military-backed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri struck a defiant tone Wednesday, telling reporters he was “saddened” by the pressure Egypt was facing but insisting authorities “can t back down or won t change course because of some aid.”

 

“Egypt used its legal right to face some violations by civil groups,” he said. “The lofty judiciary moved and discussed and investigated the case. … The West then turned against us because Egypt exercised its rights.”

 

El-Ganzouri also charged that aid pledged by Arab states has also stalled since the dispute began. He said he met in early December with Arab ambassadors “who promised that Egypt will receive a lot of money,” but two months later “none of these promises have come through.”

 

He hinted that the U.S. and Arab allies are withholding aid money because Egypt has adopted more independent policies since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

 

Egypt s net international reserves were down 50 percent year-on-year by the end of December as the country s economy is reeling from the overall effect of the uprising and the turmoil that followed. The government is discussing with the International Monetary Fund a $3.2 billion loan.

 

Addressing the rising calls for the military to step down, el-Ganzouri said the generals will not leave office before the end of June as currently planned. He warned against calls for the speedy end of military rule, recalling the fall of the Iraqi army after the U.S. invasion in 2003. He said the Iraqi army s demise pushed the country down the path to civil war.

 

In an attempt to rally public support, el-Ganzouri appealed to nationalist sentiment and urged Egyptians to unite in the of face tough times ahead. He argued that the current conditions in Egypt are worse than after the country s crushing military defeat in 1967 when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

 

“What we are seeing now is worse than after the 1967 defeat, which was a military one,” he said. “What is happening is a call to defeat the whole people, not only a military defeat. If we unite, we will get through this.”

 

El-Ganzouri also warned that Egypt was the backbone of the Middle East, a region in flux at the moment, and that “if it (Egypt) falls, the whole region will follow.”

 

“Neither the West, nor the Arab brothers are aware of this,” he said.

 

Local civil groups say the campaign on foreign-funded nonprofit groups is in preparation for a harsh crackdown on local rights groups who have been documenting and lobbying against the military rulers since they took office last year.

 

Hafez Abou Saada, a veteran Egyptian human rights activist, said Cairo s clash with the U.S. over the groups “is incomprehensible and unjustified and goes to show that the case against the civil groups is not a legal but is a political one.”

 

He said el-Ganzouri s comments are “an attempt to rally a domestic front behind the government and create an enemy.”

 

The military rulers charge that the foreign groups fund and support anti-government protests. The military claims that “foreign hands” are behind the opposition to their rule. They frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilize the country.

 

On Wednesday, Egyptian judges said the evidence collected in the case against 16 Americans referred to court for their alleged involvement in banned political activity through nonprofit groups include maps, cash and videos taken of churches and military facilities. Among the Americans referred to court is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

 

Ashraf el-Ashmawi, one of the judges investigating the case, said authorities are investigating other groups.
In reference to the already named groups, he said: “Their activities have nothing to do with human rights.”

 

Israeli attack on Iran is likely, concludes Panetta

 

For the first time in nearly two decades of escalating tensions over Iran s nuclear program, world leaders are genuinely concerned that an Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic could be imminent an action that many fear might trigger a wider war, terrorism and global economic havoc.

 

High-level foreign dignitaries, including the UN chief and the head of the American military, have stopped in Israel in recent weeks, urging leaders to give the diplomatic process more time to work. But US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has reportedly concluded that an Israeli attack on Iran is likely in the coming months.

 

Despite harsh economic sanctions and international pressure, Iran is refusing to abandon its nuclear program, which it insists is purely civilian, and threatening Israel and the West. It s beginning to cause jitters in world capitals and financial markets.

 

“Of course I worry that there will be a military conflict,” Britain s deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said in a magazine interview last week. He said Britain was “straining every single sinew to resolve this through a combination of pressure and engagement,” rather than military action.

 

Is Israel bluffing? Israeli leaders have been claiming Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons since the early 1990s, and defense officials have issued a series of ever-changing estimates on how close Iran is to the bomb. But the saber-rattling has become much more direct and vocal.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently draws parallels between modern-day Iran and Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust.

 

On Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed during a high-profile security conference that there is a “wide global understanding” that military action may be needed.

 

“There is no argument about the intolerable danger a nuclear Iran (would pose) to the future of the Middle East, the security of Israel and to the economic and security stability of the entire world,” Barak said.

 

A day earlier, visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implored Israel to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff.

 

Israel views Iran as a mortal threat, citing Iranian calls for Israel s destruction, Iran s support for anti-Israel militant groups and Iranian missile technology capable of hitting Israel.

 

On Friday, Iran s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Israel a “cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut,” and boasted of supporting any group that will challenge the Jewish state.

 

When faced with such threats, Israeli has a history of lashing out in the face of world opposition. That legacy that includes the game-changing 1967 Middle East war, which left Israel in control of vast Arab lands, a brazen 1981 airstrike that destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor, and a stealthy 2007 airstrike in Syria that is believed to have destroyed a nuclear reactor in the early stages of construction.

 

Armed with a fleet of ultramodern U.S.-made fighter planes and unmanned drones, and reportedly possessing intermediate-range Jericho missiles, Israel has the capability to take action against Iran too, though it would carry grave risks.

 

It would require flying over Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria or Turkey. It is uncertain whether any of these Muslim countries would knowingly allow Israel to use their airspace.

 

With targets some 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away, Israeli planes would likely have the complicated task of refueling in flight. Iran s antiquated air force, however, is unlikely to provide much of a challenge.

 

Many in the region cannot believe Israel would take such a step without a green light from the United States, its most important ally. That sense is deepened by the heightened stakes of a U.S. election year and the feeling that if Israel acts alone, the West would not escape unscathed.

 

The U.S. has been trying to push both sides, leading the charge for international sanctions while also pressing Israel to give the sanctions more time. In recent weeks, both the U.S. and European Union have imposed harsher sanctions on Iran s oil sector, the lifeblood of its economy, and its central bank. Israeli officials say they want the sanctions to be imposed faster and for more countries to join them.

 

Last week, The Associated Press reported that officials in Israel all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Iran were concerned that the measures, while welcome, were constraining Israel in its ability to act because the world expected the effort to be given a chance.

 

Even a limited Israeli operation could well unleash regionwide fighting. Iran could launch its Shihab 3 missiles at Israel, and have its local proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, unleash rockets. Israel s military intelligence chief, Aviv Kochavi, warned last week that Israel s enemies possess some 200,000 rockets.

 

While sustained rocket and missile fire would certainly make life uncomfortable in Israel, Barak himself has said he believes casualties would be low suggesting it would be in the hundreds.

 

Iran might also try to attack Western targets in the region, including the thousands of U.S. forces based in the Gulf with the 5th Fleet.

 

An Israeli attack might have other unintended consequences. A European diplomat based in Pakistan, permitted to speak only under condition of anonymity, said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation. That raises the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal. To some, the greatest risk is to the moribund world economy.

 

Analysts believe an Israeli attack would cause oil prices to spike, since global markets so far have largely dismissed the Israeli threats and not “price in” the threat. According to one poll conducted by the Rapidan Group, an energy consulting firm in Bethesda, Maryland, prices would surge by $23 a barrel. The price of oil settled Friday at $97.84 a barrel.

 

“Traders don t believe there s anything but bluster going on,” said Robert McNally, president of Rapidan and an energy adviser to former President George W. Bush. “A potential Israeli attack on Iran is different than almost every scenario that we ve seen before.”

 

McNally said Iran could rattle oil markets by targeting oil fields in southern Iraq or export facilities in Saudi Arabia or Qatar and withhold sales of its own oil and natural gas from countries not boycotting.

 

Iran also could attempt to carry out its biggest threat: to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world s oil passes. That could send oil prices soaring beyond $200 a barrel. But analysts note Iran s navy is overmatched.

 

If a surge in oil prices proved lasting, financial markets would probably plummet on concerns that global economic growth would slow and on the fear that any conflict could worsen and spread.

 

For the U.S. economy, higher gasoline prices would likely result in lower consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. That could have devastating consequences for an incumbent president seeking re-election.

 

Nick Witney, former head of the EU s European Defense Agency, said “the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe” since the likely spike in the price of oil alone “could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession.”

 

He said this could lead to “messy defaults” by countries like Greece and Italy, and possibly cause a collapse of the already-wobbly euro. Witney, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, added that “the Iranians would probably retaliate against European interests in the region, and conceivably more directly with terrorism aimed at Western countries and societies.”

 

Oil disruptions or higher oil prices will also dent growth in Asia. China, India, South Korea and Japan all buy substantial amounts of Iranian crude and could face temporary shortages.

 

China s fast-growing economy, which gets 11 percent of its oil from Iran, has urged all sides to avoid disrupting supplies. Any impact on China s economy, the world s second-largest, could send out global shockwaves if it dented Chinese demand for industrial components and raw materials.

 

Why is the issue coming to a head with such unfortunate timing, with the U.S. election looming and the global economy hanging by a razor s edge?

 

The urgency is fueled by a belief in Israel that Iran is moving centrifuges and key installations deep underground by the summer combined with doubts about whether either Israel or the United States have the bunker-busting capacity to act effectively thereafter.

 

At last week s security conference, Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief, said all of Iran s nuclear installations are still vulnerable to military strikes. In a startling threat, he appeared to contradict assessments of foreign experts and Israeli defense officials that it would be difficult to strike sensitive Iranian nuclear targets hidden deep underground.

 

American officials acknowledge the current version of its bunker-buster bombs considered the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal may not be able to penetrate Iran s heavily fortified underground facilities. The Pentagon is asking Congress to reprogram about $82 million in order to make the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb more capable.

 

But U.S. officials also say there are a number of ways to cripple or disable the sites, such as targeting entrance and exit routes to an underground facility, rendering it inaccessible.

 

Israeli officials at the conference asserted that Iran has already produced enough enriched uranium to eventually build four rudimentary nuclear bombs and in what would be a new twist was even developing missiles capable of reaching the U.S.

 

Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israel s military intelligence, said the world needed less discussion on the issue. “There is the danger that an escalation could get out of control,” he said. “Israel should go back to what it does best: Shut up.”

 

Militants kill security man in Khyber Agency

TrendPK.com

BARA: A security man was killed and another two sustained injuries in fierce gun attack carried out by militants at a security check-post in Bara tehsil on Thursday night, reports TrendPK.

According to details, terrorists launched gun assault on a security check-post in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, destroying the outpost completely. The attack left a security personnel martyred and two more injured, sources confirmed.

Attack prompted soldiers to retaliate which forced terrorists to be on the go; they fled away.

Later, the law enforcement agencies surrounded the area and conducted search operation against extremists.

Injured were hospitalized in critical state, sources said. TrendPK

Huffington Post to launch streaming network

WASHINGTON: The Huffington Post on Thursday marked the first anniversary of its acquisition by AOL with an announcement that it plans to launch an online video streaming network.

The HuffPost Streaming Network will launch this summer with 12 hours a day of original programming, to be increased to 16 hours a day by the end of 2013, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington said in a blog post.

Huffington said the network will “live on every platform — computer, smartphone, tablet, Over-the-Top TV — with the goal of creating the most social video experience anywhere.”

She said the network “will be built around segments spotlighting the biggest, hottest, most engaging stories HuffPost is covering at any given moment.”

The Huffington Post was launched by Huffington, a Greek-American author and columnist, in May 2006 and sold to AOL last February for $315 million.

Huffington said that over the past year, the number of unique monthly visitors to the Post has increased by 47 percent to 36.2 million.

The Huffington Post also launched Canadian, British and French editions, she said, and has plans to launch Spanish and Italian versions. AGENCIES

FIA man house bombed in Quetta; DIK’s girls school blown up

TrendPK.com
QUETTA: Residence of a senior official of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was bombed in the city overnight; however, no fatalities were reported. Meantime, a girls school was blown up by the terrorists in Dera Ismail Khan, TrendPK reported Friday morning.

The FIA director Akbar Baloch’s house was attacked overnight with a hand grenade. The powerful blast sound was heard far and wide. The outer wall of the residence and vehicles parked inside were partially damaged.

The FIA director who is currently appointed in Karachi and his family remained safe in the attack. Police and bomb disposal squad arrived as soon as the report was received. Police began search for the miscreants who fled the scene after hurling the hand grenade.

Meantime, a girls model school located in Kotla Saidan area of Dera Ismail Khan was destroyed with explosives. Earlier, terrorists manhandled the security guard and bound him down with ropes. Leaving explosives in a room of the school, they went away.

The loud bang turned school into heap of debris. The security guard said he was attacked by three saboteurs who tied him after torture.

Heavy contingent of police arrived as soon as the report was received and putting security cordon around the area, kick-started the investigations. TrendPK

Israel may strike Iran: US Defense Secretary Panetta

BRUSSELS: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a “strong likelihood” that Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear installations this spring, the Washington Post said Thursday in an editorial.

When asked about the opinion piece by reporters travelling with him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Panetta brushed it aside.

“I’m not going to comment on that. David Ignatius can write what he will but with regards with what I think and what I view, I consider that to be an area that belongs to me and nobody else,” he said.

“Israel indicated they’re considering this (a strike), we’ve indicated our concerns,” he added.

The Post columnist said Panetta “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June before Iran enters what Israelis described as a ‘zone of immunity’ to commence building a nuclear bomb.”

President Barack Obama and Panetta are “said to have cautioned the Israelis that the United States opposes an attack, believing that it would derail an increasingly successful international economic sanctions program and other non-military efforts to stop Iran from crossing the threshold,” he said.

“But the White House hasn’t yet decided precisely how the United States would respond if the Israelis do attack.”

Panetta said Sunday in an interview with CBS that Iran needed “about a year” to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, and one or two more years to “put it on a deliverable vehicle.”

Iran insists its nuclear project is peaceful and has threatened retaliation over the fresh sanctions, including possibly disrupting shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli media reported in October last year that the option of pre-emptive air strikes on Iran was opposed by the country’s intelligence services but favored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Israeli television said Mossad chief Tamir Pardo raised the possibility of a unilateral strike on Iran during a visit last week to Washington. AGENCIES

Freedom leader Ch. Rehmant Ali’s anniversary today

TrendPK.com
KARACHI: Great political leader who spearheaded the movement for the freedom of subcontinent, Choudhry Rahmat Ali is being remembered on his death anniversary today (Friday) on his death anniversary.

Rehmat Ali was born on November 16, 1895. From early days of his childhood, Rahmat Ali showed signs of great promise as a student.

After completing his schooling, he joined the Islamia College of Lahore in order to get his Bachelor of Arts degree. Rahmat Ali finished education in England, obtaining MA and LLB with honors from the universities of Cambridge and Dublin.

It was during the years 1930 through 1933, that he seemed to have established the Pakistan National Movement, with its headquarter at Cambridge.

He is taken as the first Muslim nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan.

He is credited with creating the name “Pakistan” for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the founder of the movement for its creation.

He is best known as the author of a famous 1933 pamphlet titled “Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever”, also known as the Pakistan Declaration.

The pamphlet started with a famous statement:
“At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN – by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan.”

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali took forward the Scheme of Pakistan with a missionary zeal since its inception in 1933. In August 1947, Pakistan came to be established and in 1948 Chaudhry Rahmat Ali visited Pakistan. Later he proceeded to England to champion the cause of Kashmir through the United Nations.

He died on February 3^rd, 1951. TrendPK

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