Zitat:IDF seizes freighter of Iranian weapons headed to Gaza

The IDF seized a freighter ship with dozens of tons of weaponry from Iran headed for Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The ship, known as Victoria, was flying a Liberian flag, and was seized by the navy in the Mediterranean Sea, 200 miles off of Israel's coast.

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The ship set sail last night from Turkey, and was expected to dock in Alexandria. There, it was supposed to unload the weapons, which would travel by land to Gaza. The IDF's assessment is that the weapons did not originate in Turkey, but that the containers were unloaded there and transferred onto the Victoria .

"The operation was approved as necessary in accordance with government directives in light of Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz's recommendations," an IDF statement read.

Gantz updated Defense Minister Ehud Barak about the findings on-board the vessel earlier in the morning.

"The IDF and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alerted German authorities about the interception of the "Victoria" due to the German ownership of the ship," the statement said.

Zitat:Navy: Anti-ship missiles, Farsi manual found on seized vessel

(Video) IDF estimates some 50 tons of weapons found on Gaza-bound 'Victoria' vessel intercepted by commandoes; Rear Admiral Ben-Yehuda says Chinese-made C-704 anti-ship missiles would have threatened Israeli sea-based strategic installations, navy vessels had they reached Strip. Containers were loaded after Iranian ships docked in Syria two weeks ago, he adds

Zitat:Former Mossad chief: Israel air strike on Iran 'stupidest thing I have ever heard'

In first public appearance since leaving post as Mossad chief, Meir Dagan warns of regional war if Iran is attacked; says fall of Assad regime would benefit Israel. [...]

Dagan said that Iran has a clandestine nuclear infrastructure which functions alongside its legitimate, civil infrastructure. It is the legitimate infrastructure, he said, that is under international supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Any strike on this legitimate infrastructure would be "patently illegal under international law," according to Dagan.

Dagan emphasized that attacking Iran would be different than Israel's successful air strike on Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. Iran has scattered its nuclear facilities in different places around the country, he said, which would make it difficult for Israel to launch an effective attack. [...]

When asked about what would happen in the aftermath of an Israeli attack Dagan said that: "It will be followed by a war with Iran. It is the kind of thing where we know how it starts, but not how it will end."

Zitat:Einem Geheimdienstler, egal welcher Seite, würde ich garnichts glauben.

Zitat:'US, Israel equip anti-Iran groups'
Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:44AM GMT

Senior Iranian cleric Hojjatoleslam Gholamreza HassaniA senior Iranian cleric says the US and Israel equip and support counterrevolutionary forces in northern Iraq to use them against the Islamic Republic.
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Iran has recently deployed 5,000 military forces in the northwest of the country along its common border with the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
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Zitat:'Iranian forces to dismantle PJAK bases'
Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:52PM GMT

Iranian armed forces will continue their operations to dismantle the bases of the terrorist group of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) in the western Iran, an official says.
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Mojahedi went on to say that the Iranian forced intensified their attacks on the terrorist group after families of the victims of PJAK's terrorist activities filed several complaints against the group.
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On Monday, an Iranian military commander, Delavar Ranjbarzadeh, said that a number of PJAK members were killed in the clashes with the IRGC forces on Saturday and Sunday.
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Zitat:...
Israel has not only invested a lot in scores of business ventures in Iraqi Kurdistan, it has also extensively trained Kurdish peshmerga special commandos, who could easily share their knowledge with their PKK cousins.

The new PKK offensive coincides with a PKK flush with new mortars, anti-tank weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and even anti-aircraft missiles. And most of all, the PKK drive coincides with the mysteriously vanished scores of light weapons the Pentagon sent to Iraq with no serial numbers to identify 97% of them.
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As much as the PJAK - and the PKK - use American largesse for greater Kurdistan ends, the Bush administration uses especially the PJAK for its wider "war on terror" target: the destabilization of Iran.
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Zitat:Report: U.S. Sponsoring Kurdish Guerilla Attacks Inside Iran
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AMY GOODMAN: And finally Reese Erlich, the relationship of Britain and Israel, both U.S. Allies with these parties.

REESE ERLICH: Israel is backing various Kurdish groups. Both among the Iraqi Kurds as well as the P.J.A.K. among the Iranian Kurds. For Israel that have a long history of supporting non-Arab countries in an effort to divide the Arab world so they supported the Shah of Iran, Hali Salasi in Ethiopia. Turkey, they were allied in Turkey for many years and they see trying to use the Kurds in the same way. You have Israeli security officials training the guards at the Arabial Airport in northern Iraq. You have training of special anti-terrorism squads. I think they’re working with P.J.A.K. although this is all denied by P.J.A.K. and the Israelis are also playing a very dangerous game because they are intervening in the affairs of Iraq and causing a great deal of trouble both for Iran and now they’re outs with Turkey who was their long-time ally.

AMY GOODMAN: You described in your forth coming book about Israel participating actively in — with Mossad agents posing as businessmen setting up shop in the K.R.G. soon after the 2003 U.S. invasion, in B.B.C. TV, discovering Israeli former special forces soldiers training Kurdish security at the airport. Say more about that.

REESE ERLICH: Yeah, exactly. The B.B.C. did a very good television special in which they interviewed these former Israeli intelligence agents who are now allegedly working as private contractors, much like the C.I.A. does with it’s agents around the world. So it was on TV and when I asked the Iran — the Iraqi officials about this, they denied everything, even though they had been on TV and an obviously reputable news organization. I had talked to various people who had met with supposed Israeli businessmen who were much more interested in arms trades and intelligence and that sort of thing.

So the Israelis have significantly stepped up their activities in northern Iraq. I think if ultimately the Iraq war goes very badly for the United States, as all indications are that it will, eventually Iraq will split into three different countries including an independent Kurdistan on the north and the Israelis hope to benefit from that by having a beachhead against the Sunni and the Shiia and Arab parts of Iraq and as well as the other neighboring Arab countries. That’s a long time goal of the Israelis.
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Zitat:IRGC kills 35 PJAK terrorists
Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:30PM GMT

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed 35 members of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) during a clash with the terrorist group in the country's northwest.

During the clash that took place on Monday, some of the PJAK members were captured by the IRGC, a Press TV correspondent reported.

According to the report, PJAK terrorists moved their wounded members to Iraq, from where they were transferred to the city of Arbil by ambulances belonging to the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party.
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Zitat:Kurdistan: Iran greift PJAK-Lager an

Iranische Streikkräfte sind unter Verstoß gegen das Völkerecht in den benachbarten Irak eingedrungen und haben ein Massaker an Mitgliedern der linken kurdischen Organisation PJAK (Iranischer Ableger der PKK) angerichtet.

Zitat:Published 12:20 31.10.11Latest update 12:20 31.10.11

Report: Israel seeking to upgrade its nuclear weapons capabilities

Israel is extending the range of its Jericho 3 missiles and upgrading its sea-based cruise missiles, according to an independent U.K. commission report published in the Guardian.

By Haaretz
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