Iran has blocked thousands of fuel trucks from crossing into Afghanistan as its initial reprisal for US fuel sanctions and the reported US-Israeli partnership in activating the Stuxnet virus against its nuclear program, DEBKAfile's sources report. More Iranian retribution is ahead. The fuel shortage and insurgent attacks on fuel convoys coming in from Pakistan are showing their mark on the war effort. (The coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly out next Friday deals with Iranian-Taliban collusion in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here) In private conversations, Defense Minister Ehud Barak who Monday, Jan. 17 resigned as Labor chairman and established a new party with four supporters, has accused President Shimon Peres of plotting his downfall with MK Haim Ramon of the opposition Kadima and Ofer Eini of Labor,DEBKAfile's exclusive sources report. Early Tuesday, Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud and Atzmaut (Independence) sign a coalition agreement assigning four cabinet portfolios to the new party. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has resigned from Labor and formed a new party called Atzmaut (Independence.) Four of the 13 party members have so far followed him. Barak stays on as defense minister in the coalition headed by Binyamin Netanyahu. DEBKAfile reports the two were in sync every step of the way. Three Labor ministers, Yaacov Herzog, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Avishai Braverman quit the government. Barak introduced the new party Monday, Jan. 17, as "centrist, Zionist and democratic." Outgoing Mossad Director Meir Dagan has revised his earlier prognosis that Iran would not have nuclear weapons before 2015 because of technical obstacles. In his last briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and the Security Committee, Monday, Jan. 17, Dagan said, "The Iranian nuclear challenge will remain significant… the timing will not change the fact that Iran is working towards nuclear military capabilities and in certain scenarios can shorten the timeline." He mentioned North Korea in this context.
But Hizballah may outmaneuver him by forming its own government in Beirut.
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A new mainstay for Iranian intelligence – the Turkish MIT secret service.
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First signs that the Ben Ali regime is in peril, depending on the military.
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DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile Special Report
DEBKAfile Special Report
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 18, 2011, 2:20 PM (GMT+02:00)
Another US fuel truck attacked
Obama Confronts Iran in Lebanon
Iran Takes Aim at New Mossad Head
Deadly Riots in Tunisia
Barak privately accuses President Peres of plotting his downfall
January 18, 2011, 10:58 AM (GMT+02:00)
Former colleagues in Labor
Defense minister Ehud Barak splits Labor in step with Netanyahu
January 17, 2011, 12:00 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ehud Barak sets up "Independence" party
Even Mossad can get it wrong. Dagan backtracks on Iran's 2015 timeline
January 17, 2011, 8:19 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan
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