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International airport security stepped up after airliner incident DEBKAfile Special Report December 26, 2009, 1:56 PM (GMT+02:00) Security has been tightened for US, British and Dutch airports and air traffic following the failed attempt by a London-based Nigerian to blow up Northwest Flight from Amsterdam shortly after it landed in Detroit on Dec. 25. Security officials say he was armed with "a sophisticated device" consisting of liquid chemicals and a bag of explosive powder.  More... Greek admiral's visit signifies deepening military ties with Israel DEBKAfile Special Report December 26, 2009, 7:00 AM (GMT+02:00) Greek Navy chief Vice Adm. G. Karamalikis The strategic and military ties between Greece and Israel are deepening in reverse proportion to Turkey's estrangement from Israel and its growing closeness to Iran and Syria, DEBKAfile's military sources report. Significantly, when the commander of the Greek Navy, Vice Admiral G. Karamalikis secretly visited Israel earlier this month, he was treated to a rare tour of the top-secret Dolphin submarine and Eilat corvette.  More... Egypt, Saudis secretly draft Palestinian statehood motion for Security Council DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 24, 2009, 10:06 PM (GMT+02:00) Jerusalem today DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf emirates and the Palestinian Authority are secretly drafting a UN Security Council motion granting Palestinian statehood within the pre-1967 war borders of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem its capital. This group is working under tight wraps, using diversionary tactics, to keep the US and Israel from discovering their scheme. Without a US veto, the draft is assured of a majority.  More... Lebanon repudiates UN 1559 outlawing Hizballah terror militia DEBKAfile Special Report December 23, 2009, 11:34 AM (GMT+02:00) Hizballah parades Syrian arms deliveries Lebanon has announced its repudiation of 2004 UN Security Council resolution 1559 which in 2004 ordered all militias including Hizballah disbanded and disarmed. The announcement came two days after Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Beirut and shortly after Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri held talks in Damascus with Syrian president Bashar Assad.  More... US on terror alert after failed al Qaeda airliner explosion DEBKAfile Special Report December 26, 2009, 1:24 PM (GMT+02:00) Northwest 253 lands safely after failure to blow it up The White House described as an attempted act of terrorism the presumed "firecracker" aboard the Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25, Christmas Day. The suspect, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian engineering student at University College London, is described as admitting he tried to detonate an explosive powder taped to his leg with chemicals aboard the Airbus 330 which was carrying 278 passengers. he said he had links to al Qaeda  More...

Israeli forces kill rabbi's three Fatah murderers in Nablus, 3 would-be infiltrators from Gaza DEBKAfile Special Report December 26, 2009, 11:35 AM (GMT+02:00) IDF special units' hands full stemming West Bank terror upsurge Early Saturday, Dec. 26, an Israeli special force went into the West Bank town of Nablus and killed Ghasen Abu Sharaf, Raad Sukarj and Banan Suboh, leading members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the suicide-military wing of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah. All three were implicated in the drive-by shooting murder of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai Thursday night. Although the Brigades owned up to the murder, Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of "a war crime."  More...

I D F blockades Palestinian Tulkarm after terrorists murder rabbi

DEBKAfile Special Report

December 25, 2009, 10:09 PM (GMT+02:00)

Murder scene outside Shavei Shomron, West Bank

Israeli forces placed the Palestinian West Bank town of Tulkarm under blockade Thursday night, Dec. 24, after Palestinian terrorists murdered Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai, 45, father of seven, in a drive-by attack on his car near his home in Shavei Shomron.

The Fatah suicide wing, al Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack.

A senior IDF officer told DEBKAfilethat the cooperative ties between Palestinian, American and Israeli security forces now face their first critical test. 
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US drones wipe out top al Qaeda leaders in Yemen

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 24, 2009, 6:37 PM (GMT+02:00)

The imam who preached to Fort Hood killer and 9/11 hijackers

DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that the air strike in eastern Yemen Thursday, Dec. 24, which left more than 30 dead, was in fact a US drone attack which wiped out a large part of al Qaeda's leadership in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Among them were two high-ranking Yemen al Qaeda operatives Saud al Qahtani, Mohammed Amir, al Qaeda's commander in Saudi Arabia, Saad Shahani, and Anwar al Awkali, the American imam who preached to US. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who murdered 13 US military personnel at Ford Hood, Texas last month. 
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