DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 21, 2008, 9:17 AM (GMT+02:00) Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier heads for Mediterranean As the West awaits Moscow’s threatened reprisal for the treaty installing American missile interceptors at Redzikowo, on Poland’s Baltic coast – signed in Warsaw Wednesday - the Kremlin is striking back in the Middle East – hence Russian president Dimitry Medvedev’s honeyed words of reassurance to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert in a call he made to Jerusalem Wednesday, Aug. 20. At the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Syrian president Bashar Assad told reporters Thursday, Aug. 21, that he is considering a Russian request to deploy missiles in his country in view of Russian-Western tensions over the Georgian conflict, which he said had polarized East and West anew. DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive August 21, 2008, 9:21 PM (GMT+02:00) The new DEBKA-Net-Weekly homes in on the post-Georgia contests building up on the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean – the first controlled by the Russian Navy, the second dominated by the US Sixth Fleet. These loaded maneuvers are examined in detail in the coming issue out Friday. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE . August 20, 2008, 4:43 PM (GMT+02:00) In a special advisory issued Wednesday, Aug. 20, the Counter-Terror Center in Jerusalem warned Israelis traveling abroad that they run the risk of kidnapping by agents of the LebaneseHizballah terrorist organization. DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 19, 2008, 10:41 PM (GMT+02:00) Extra-powerful US FBX-T radar In granting Israel the powerful FBX-T radar system to enhance its early warning resources against incoming missiles, Washington laid down a strict hands-off proviso. The system will be installed at a US base in the southern Israeli Negev. It will be off-limits to Israelis and managed exclusively by American personnel. This discovery, revealed here for the first time by DEBKAfile’s military sources, has aroused astonished rancor in senior Israel army circles. DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 18, 2008, 1:05 PM (GMT+02:00) USS Ronald Reagan DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that the Iranian satellite carrier space launch Sunday, Aug. 17, was prompted by a joint caution toTehran from Saudi King Abdullah and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. After their meeting Saturday, the spokesman of the presidential palace inCairo, Suleiman Awwad, said: Iran should not present on a silver platter the “justifications and pretexts for those [US and Israel] who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope.” Our military sources report that the war scare in Cairo and Riyadh also infected Kuwait. DEBKAfile Special Report and Analysis August 20, 2008, 12:00 PM (GMT+02:00) Russia's Dep. Chief of Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn raises the tone of threats DEBKAfilereports that both powers have begun acting to cool the rhetoric and review relations, after spokesmen in Washington - and especially Moscow - raised the threat level of their oratory to its highest pitch since the Cold War’s end. The coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly, out Friday, will elaborate on this effort. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE . Friday night, Aug. 15, Russia’s deputy chief of staff Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned Poland it was “exposing itself to a strike 100 percent.” Washington took the first step. TOP STORIES August 20, 2008, 11:24 PM (GMT+02:00) Deputy chief of the Russian army general staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn told reporters Aug. 20: “The president ordered us to stop where we were. We are not pulling out or pulling back troops behind this administrative border into South Ossetia,” he said. He pointed out the proposed Russian positions on a map, one just outside the Georgian city of Gori. Moscow planned to establish 18 long-term checkpoints including at least eight in undisputed Georgian territory. DEBKAfile Special Report August 19, 2008, 10:42 PM (GMT+02:00) A reunion to punish Israel for arming Georgia The timing was precise. Tuesday, Aug. 19, the Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nagovitsyn accused Israel at a Moscownews conference of arming and training the Georgian military. Wednesday, Syrian president Bashar Assad arrives in the Russian capital for a two-day visit during which the Kremlin fully expects him to exploit the storm clouds blowing in from Georgia over Russian relations with the West to press for sophisticated weapons systems not so far released by Moscow. DEBKAfile Special Report August 19, 2008, 9:42 PM (GMT+02:00) Iran puts satellite carrier in space A US official said Tuesday, Aug. 19, that the dummy Safir satellite carrier launched by Tehran Sunday, Aug. 17, failed “shortly after liftoff and in no way reached its intended position.”DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources disclose that the launch did not fail at that point but nevertheless did not reach its intended orbit around Earth. Our military sources stress that the test was still a strategic breakthrough in that it testified to Tehran’s long-range missile delivery capability, possibly armed with nuclear warheads. August 20, 2008, 10:48 AM (GMT+02:00) President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived inAfghanistan Wednesday, Aug. 20, two days after 10 French soldiers were killed in battle with Taliban 30 km east of Kabul. Local sources said 13 insurgents had been killed in the clash. Sarkozy said he did no regret his decision to deploy another 700 French troops to Afghanistan. Near the border with Pakistan, insurgents were earlier thrown back from an attempt to storm NATO's Camp Salerno in Khost city Monday night. After being chased out by fighter aircraft and helicopters, six of the attackers seeing they were cornered blew themselves up. August 20, 2008, 11:40 AM (GMT+02:00) The twin attack at Bouira, 150 km east of Algiers, left 11 dead and 31 injured, including four military personnel, Wednesday, Aug. 20. Tuesday, a suicide attacker killed 43 people and injured 38 in a paramilitary police training school at Issers, 60 km east of the capital. Al Qaeda in the Maghreb has taken responsibility for a wave of recent attacks in Algeria. Most recently, a suicide bomber killed eight people at a beach resort.
Big Russian flotilla led by Admiral Kuznetsov carrier heads for Syrian port
More...The US and Russia revive Cold War tactics at sea
Israelis traveling abroad risk kidnapping by Hizballah terrorists
More...American crews will control US FBX-band radar granted Israel
More...Arab world fears an Iran war may be impending
More...Back-door US-Russian contacts to de-escalate war of words - after Moscow threatens to nuke Poland
More...Moscow plans 18 long-term checkpoints inside Georgia
More...Moscow accuses Israel of arming Georgia - day before Assad arrives for big arms purchases
More...Iran’s “dummy satellite” was a partial failure but strategic breakthrough
More...Sarkozy in Afghanistan after 10 French soldiers killed fighting Taliban
Double bombing kills 11 in Algeria, day after 43 die at police academy
Thursday, 21 August 2008
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