Iran scorns Hamas leader's mediation bid in Yemen conflictDEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 14, 2009, 8:47 AM (GMT+02:00)  Palestinian issue sinks on regional priority scale Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's offer to mediate an end to the bloody Yemen civil war between Saudi-backed government forces and rebels supported by Iran, DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report. The Hamas leader carried a Saudi proposal to the Persian Gulf regional summit taking place in Manama which focuses on the Iranian nuclear issue and the Yemen war, whereby Tehran would state it does not support the Yemeni Houthi rebels and will not furnish them with arms. | ||
Israel's defense minister declares war on IDF-linked seminariesDEBKAfile Special Report December 14, 2009, 11:06 AM (GMT+02:00)  Defense minister Ehud Barak As Israel wrestled with a fateful decision on Iran's nuclear issue and war tensions building up around its borders, defense minister Ehud Barak went to war on the military-yeshiva "Hesder" contract, under which seminary students are conscripted - most volunteering for combat units - along with their studies. Raising the specter of mutiny in the armed forces, Barak Sunday, Dec. 13, expelled the West Bank Mt. Bracha yeshiva from the contract when its dean, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, refused a summons to a hearing with the minister on charges of inciting student-soldiers to refuse orders affecting the status of Jewish settlements on conscientious grounds.
DEBKAfile Special Report December 13, 2009, 9:04 AM (GMT+02:00)  Asians bid for first ever unmanned stealth craft, Protector SV The first unmanned stealth craft on the seas, designated Protector SV or Death Shark, recently deployed in the Persian Gulf, is in high demand after its successful performance with the Singapore Navy. DEBKAfile's military sources report that India and South Korea asked Israel's Rafael to build craft to their specifications. Operated by remote control from a shore base, the crewless nine-meter long speedboat is armed with a Close-in Weapon System (CIWS) for detecting and destroying incoming anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft at short range. Are Osama bin Laden's whereabouts really unknown?DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Report December 13, 2009, 8:39 AM (GMT+02:00) Nearly a decade after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden vanished, DEBKA-Net-Weekly's intelligence sources have a good sense of his present location. Our latest issue out last Friday opened a fresh windown on Al Qaeda's new set-up and what bin Laden has in store. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE .
DEBKAfile Special Report December 8, 2009, 2:07 PM (GMT+02:00)  US stealth jet drone in first photo US Air Force spokesmen confirmed this week that the hitherto secret unmanned, high-altitude stealth jet, the "Beast of Kandahar," was present at the big US air base of Bagram, in Afghanistan. Photos of the Beast on the Bagram tarmac - outside its regular base at Kandahar near the Iranian and Pakistani borders - appeared in various Internet sites this week. Designated RQ-170 Sentinel, it is the first jet drone ever developed for military use.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis December 12, 2009, 8:57 AM (GMT+02:00)  West Bank mosque trahed by unidentified vandals Whoever trashed a West Bank village mosque early Friday, Dec. 11, tossed a match onto dry firewood. The Netanyahu government's construction moratorium on settlement construction has had an acutely polarizing effect on Israelis on both sides of the Green Line. Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin has called Mahmoud Abbas' boycott of Israel as a negotiation partner an ominous "diplomatic intifada," while three major Palestinian terrorist attacks were foiled in the last ten days. DEBKAfile's Exclusive Analysis below goes to the causes of the spreading unrest. | ||
Monday, 14 December 2009
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