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| Summary of DEBKA Exclusives in the Week Ending November 18, 2011 | |
 November 11, 2011 Briefs:
Libyan mercenaries reach Gaza with Grad multiple rocket launchers DEBKAfile Exclusive Report  11 Nov. Fifty Libyan Muslim Brotherhood mercenaries arrived in the Gaza Strip from Tripoli last month - in time to take part in the Jihad Islami's last missile offensive against Israel starting Oct. 29, DEBKAfile's military sources report. They arrived at the wheels of minivans on which were mounted the new Grad multiple rocket-launchers which Palestinian terrorists fired for the first time last month. These mobile rocket-launchers were last seen on the Libyan battlefield in use against Muammar Qaddafi's army.Their effectiveness was demonstrated most strikingly in the Gaza Strip, where they instantly improved the Palestinian extremists' aim against Israeli locations. Most of these rapid-firing missiles were also able to evade Israel's Iron Dome missile interceptors. When the Palestinians reverted to their old weapons, they continued to miss their aim. November 12, 2011 briefs:
Iran loses its top missile expert in Guards base explosions Exclusive Report  12 Nov. Brig. Hassan Moghadam, head of Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) missile development and sections of its nuclear program, was killed in the consecutive explosions that hit two IRGC bases 46 kilometers west of Tehran Saturday, Nov. 12. The official fatality figure is 36. The bases are located in Malard, a town in the Shahryar district. Our sources report increasing evidence that the first explosion was caused by a failed effort to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile. It was powerful enough to shatter windows and damage shops in Tehran. November 13, 2011 Briefs:
Senior Iranian's son murdered by same method as Hamas' Mabhouh  13 Nov. Shortly after explosions rocked Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases near Tehran Saturday, Nov. 12, Ahmed Rezaie, 31, was found dead in Dubai's Gloria Hotel. He was the the son of a high-ranking Iranian official, Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the powerful Expediency Council and former IRGC commander. The cause of his death strongly resembled the method by which Hamas' contact man with Tehran, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, was slain on Jan. 19, 2010 in another Dubai hotel – injected with a muscle relaxant and smothered with a pillow.Our Iranian sources add that Ahmad Rezaie left for the United States in 1998. There, he gave interviews to American and Western media, including the Voice of Israel's Farsi station, in which he openly criticized Iran's rulers especially Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At one point he contacted Israelis with an offer to help run down what happened to the Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing since 1986 when his plane went down over Lebanon. Mid-East war fears heightened by Iranian base blasts, Syria's Arab League suspension DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis  13 Nov. The potential for a regional flare-up shot up Friday and Saturday, Nov-11-12, with the blasts at two Iranian arms bases which killed at least 32 Revolutionary Guards men including Iran's top missile expert, and the Arab League Foreign Ministers' decision to suspend Syria's membership over Bashar Assad's brutal military crackdown on civilians. Even he understands that the AL is preparing more steps "to protect Syrian civilians." Middle East capitals are on edge for the acts in the linked scenarios. The AL decision was praised by US President Barack Obama and backed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. This penalty hurts Bashar Assad more than would a threatened Turkish invasion and seizure of a buffer enclave to serve the Syrian opposition. It conveys the Arab world's rejection of the legitimacy of Bashar Assad's regime. November 14, 2011 Briefs:
| Iran will have five nukes by April 2012. Only 2-3 months left for military option DEBKAfile Exclusive Report  14 Nov. By April 2012 Iran will have five nuclear bombs or warheads, according to intelligence reaching US president Barack Obama and relayed to Jewish leaders at a closed meeting in New York Sunday, Nov. 13, DEBKAfile's sources report. The window of opportunity for stopping Iran attaining a nuclear weapon will slam shut in late March after which any military action would generate radioactive contamination across the Gulf oil region. Our sources refute claims that Saturday's Iranian base blasts were caused by the CIA or Mossad.Obama said later Sunday that, while his strong preference was to resolve the Iran issue diplomatically, "We are not taking any options off the table. Iran with nuclear weapons would pose a threat not only to the region but also to the United States." This was the first time the US president had called a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to the United States. Until now, official statements limited the threat to "US regional interests and influence." November 15, 2011 Briefs:
Israel to help build E. African coalition against fundamentalism and Iran DEBKAfile Special Report  15 Nov. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga ended his visit to Israel this week with a promise from President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to help establish a new alliance to combat the spread of fundamentalist Islam into the predominantly Christian African nations Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. Their combined populations total 138 million. Israel agrees to supply drones, fast naval boats and electronic surveillance equipment to help Kenya "rid its territory of Islamist elements" and counter Iranian expansion.Israel owns a strong interest in curtailing the presence in these strategic lands not only of Islamist terrorist groups but also of Iran. It needs naval bases along the Gulf of Aden and eastern Indian Ocean where Iran has in the past year built up a naval presence close to Israel's southern border. It remains to be seen whether Israel's military assistance will help Kenya achieve this objective. Syrian army deserters strike first big security facility at heart of Assad regime DEBKAfile Special Report  16 Nov. The Assad regime suffered a shock Wednesday Nov.16 when self-styled "Free Syrian Army" deserters firing shoulder-borne rockets and heavy machine guns struck its biggest security complex at Harasta west of Damascus. This was the first rebel attack on a major strategic target and a potential game-changer. DEBKAfile: It was undoubtedly part of a well-laid plan drawn up by Turkey, the Persian Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan to topple Iran's closest ally, Bashar Assad. "The Air Force Intelligence Service," targeted for the attack is a misnomer. This 20,000-strong body is the regime's primary covert arm for suppressing opposition and shoring up its minority Alawite rule. Its officers are posted in every Syrian diplomatic and trade mission abroad, while its elite units specialize in cutting down the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and other foes and keeping the Kurdish, Druze and Syrian Catholic minorities in check. Israeli Prime Minister "is acting to stop" Iran's nuclear armament DEBKAfile Special Report  16 Nov. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu informed the full Knesset plenum that "all options are on the table when it comes to Iran's nuclear program." This short statement which a minister read out to the Knesset Wednesday, Nov. 16, said: "The prime minister and the authorized bodies are acting to stop the nuclear armament of Iran. The efforts are ongoing and we will do everything possible to enlist states in the international community, "he continued "because the Iranian threat is a danger not only to the State of Israel but to world peace."Earlier, the supreme commander of Iran's armed forces Gen. Hassan Firouz-Abadi warned "the Zionist regime cannot escape its bitter fate – an implied nuclear threat. November 17, 2011 Briefs:
Barak: Iran is testing uranium- and plutonium-based bombs – not tactical nuclear arms DEBKAfile Special Report  17 Nov. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the PBS interviewer Charlie Rose Wednesday, Nov. 16 that none of the experiments Iran was conducting was based on a neutron source. "It's always simultaneous explosions on heavy metals and certain other activities which cannot be explained," he said.DEBKAfile's military sources note his stress on the lack of evidence that Iran was trying to develop tactical neutron bombs. Tehran, he said, was experimenting with uranium- and plutonium- based explosives, meaning large nuclear bombs rather than small, tactical warheads. Barak warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would touch off a Middle East nuclear arms race drawing in Egypt and less responsible regimes headed by the Muslim Brotherhood. He did not believe sanctions would stop Iran in its nuclear tracks. |
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