American fighter jets flattened a suspected insurgent safe house near the Syrian border, the U.S. military said Friday, as hundreds of U.S. troops searched remote desert villages house by house for followers of Iraq’s most wanted militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi .

American forces have met little resistance since the first two days of Operation Matador , aimed at clearing a region believed to be a haven for foreign fighters slipping over the border from Syria , the military said in a statement Friday. American intelligence indicates the insurgents are either in hiding or have fled the region, U.S. Capt. Jeffrey Pool said in the statement.

Villagers reached by telephone Friday said gunmen still roamed some areas and they continued to receive U.S. shelling.

Read more…

HAARETZ: Syria joins UN treaty against terror funding

Syria, accused by the United States of being a sponsor of terrorism, has formally acceded to a UN treaty designed to cut off funding for terrorist activities, UN officials said on Sunday.

Syria’s instruments of ratification were submitted at a UN crime conference in Bangkok, where the financing of terrorism, increasingly through money laundering and organized crime, has been a key issue.

“It is an important decision, not only in the context of Syria,” Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters.

More like the UN Office of High on Drugs, if they believe this.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• A member of the Israeli parliament that works closely on defense issues states that Israel will only attack Iran “as a last resort”. Israel has plans for a combined attack on the Natanz nuclear facility, including raids by the storied Kingfisher commando unit and bunker-busters dropped from F-15s. Ariel Sharon and his inner cabinet gave preliminary approval for a plan to strike last month in a meeting at his ranch.

• Secret FBI report (if it’s so secret why do we know what’s in it?): Al Qaeda can’t hit us spectacularly any more. Condi: don’t be so quick to write them off. Interpol: Al Qaeda still formidable. FBI chief Mueller is concerned about Al Qaeda members crossing the border with fake IDs. And what hope is there, really, to block fake IDs when authorities admit that college students are always one step ahead of them?

• Zarqawi’s thoughts on attacking the US mainland are disturbing, as he ponders hitting “soft” targets like schools and restaurants.

• This Daily Star editorial looks at Hezbollah’s poor strategizing in siding with Syria over the Lebanese it claims to represent.

• America’s still putting the heat on Syria as the first Syrian troops returned home from Lebanon. And not only America…even Russia.

Other Topics Today Include:

• Iranian nuclear games: Roulette; Fun in Palestine; Nour free at last; Legitimizing Hezbollah?; The Homeland update; Aryans hearts Islamists; The Blind Sheikh still can speak to his flock; GPSC thinks big; The Nigerian Time-bomb; JI heart MILF; China hearts hates Taiwan; Khan!!!!!!; The dangers of outsourcing, to the Indians; New sheriff in Chechnya; A variety of European failures on the policing front; Kofi hearts Hezbollah; UN Peacekeepers heart Rape; Terrorist marketing strategies; and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Aslan Maskhadov is dead. Rusy has the details, Dan has the analysis.

• Half a million people turned up to a pro-Syria rally organised by Hezbollah in Beirut. Analysis here, and a claim from a genuinely anti-Syria politician (they came this close to killing him) that many protesters were co-erced. In other Lebanon news, after the resgination of PM Omar Karami, the Lebanese parliament has chosen former-PM Omar Karami to form a new government. This article makes it clear that the problem is less Syrian soldiers, and more Syrian intelligence. One report suggests that even the Mukhabarat are leaving.

• Israeli intelligence has provided a transcript of a conversation in which an Islamic Jihad leader in Damascus authorised a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv to Sec. State Rice.

Other Topics Today Include: enrichment plants in bunkers; protests in north Iran; most young Iranians secular; P.L.O. rejects terror?; Hamas and PIJ deny Syria expulsion; IDF prepares to leave under fire; Shabak nabs lynch mob suspect; most Iraqi resistance fighters are Saudis; Kuwait bans charity boxes; IEDs improve in Iraq; KSA holds bio-terror conference (!); A-Q joining U.S. intelligence agencies?; Bloomberg for U.N.; Muslim Brothers radicalise Europe; Mullah Krekar may be kicked out; China threatens Australia; A-Q wanted to kidnap Russell Crowe; LeT attack thwarted; Bashir’s lawyers claim conspiracy; shooting at Thailand train station; Darfur rapes continue; and more.

Read the Rest…

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Austin Bay agree! Al Qaeda is losing in Iraq.

• Hezbollah backs the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and warns a civil war could break of if Syria withdraws.

• Signs of insecurity: Syrian President Bashar Assad appoints his brother in law as chief of military intelligence.

• A Kuwaiti newspaper reports Syrian and Lebanese officials plotted the murder of former Prime Minister Hariri. Six suspects are thought to have left Beirut and headed to Australia. Liberating Iraq takes a look at the impact of Hariri’s murder.

Other Topics Today Include:

Russia plans to continue aiding Iran’s nuke program; UFO/IFOs in Iran; Leaving Gaza; Tunnel war tech; Iraqi irregulars; CIA/FBI terror briefs; The PDB’s future; another Saudi “charity” indicted; Pakistani insecurity; India’s Patriot [missile] games; Deconstructing Theo’s murder; Projecting power; More claims against SEALs; and more!

Read the Rest…

Fox News just reported that the U.S. Ambassador to Syria has been removed by the U.S. in response to the car bombing in Beirut.

AP

UPI

Reuters

CNN

Fox News

NYT

WaPo

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• This analysis argues that Syria is building a potent nuclear program with Iran’s assistance and help.

• Was the Western ban on missile technology export to India counterproductive? India’s indigenous precision and nuclear-warhead armable missiles are now of sufficient quality that they can be proliferated to other states.

• Israel has asked Moscow to call off its reported deal to sell Syria Igla surface to air missiles. So has the US-in fact, the US is threatening Russia with sanctions if the sale goes through. Cum grano salis: DEBKA says it all starts with Putin’s resentment that Sharon won’t move against Russian oligarchs plotting against him in Israel.

• Russia and China continue to edge closer to strategic partnership as Russia offers to sell China strategic bombers.

• A surprisingly sophisticated Al Qaeda strategy and policy document from September 2003 advocated bombing Spain as the weakest link in the Coalition.

Other Topics Today Include:
Iran soon to enrich uranium;Iranian agent arrested in Kuwait;IAEA finally to inspect Parchin;Nobelist Shirin Ebadi summonsed to Revolutionary Court;overview of Iranian terror sponsorship;IDF resumes operations in PA;US makes cross eyes at Syria;Israel to build an antitunneling moat;diminishing returns for Al Qaeda in Saudi;Israeli contacts with Abu Mazen suspended;GIA, GSPC and ETA dying;GIA’s lessons for the Iraq situation;EU prepares to resume arms sales to China;Azerbaijan soon to war with Armenia?;US forces redeploying very soon in Eastern Europe;Bali style bombing threatened in London;USA-Russia MANPAD control accord and more…

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

Apologies for missing the last two weeks - work and exam pressures got in the way of blogging. I got evariste for you though, and he did a great job. Many thanks to him.

Anyways, on with the news.

Top Topics

• The U.S. is set to attack Syria, said Debka. Yes, I was skeptical, too. But then UPI reported something not too different at all. Add to that the warning I noted back in December. Now Syria has ruled out a confrontation with the U.S. I‘m told that Deputy Secretary of State Armitage set a deadline of January 20th for Syria to shut down terrorist training camps.

• Syria again, this time buying various missiles from Russia. Naturally, the Israelis are concerned. The deal includes the SA-10, the SA-18 and the replacement for the Scud, the Iskander-E surface-to-surface missile. While the Iskander could tip the balance in the region, the prospect of advanced SAMs falling in to terrorist hands is what’s keeping the Israeli generals awake at night. The U.S. is warning Russia against the deal. The Russians are denying that any such deal exists, which might be easier to believe if Russian arms experts weren’t defending the sale.

• The search is over. The weapons inspectors are coming home from Iraq. The Debka ticker says the Washington Post will report that the search ended two months ago. The U.S. stands by its claims that Iraq was planning to build WMD.

Other topics today include: Iran to enrich uranium again; Israeli MI - Iranian nukes by 2008; Karni checkpoint attack; Hamas wants suicide bombers and two-state solution {snicker}; Navy diverts supply ships away from Suez; shootout in Kuwait; Saudis jail, lash opponents; EU makes progress wooing Syria; mole in AIVD helped Theo killers; Germans capture 22; Kosovo car bomb; Al-Muhajiroon calls for jihad in Britain; LeT romantic meets his end; Pakistan considers operation in Baluchistan.

Read the Rest…

HAARETZ: Syria accuses Israel of attempted assassination of Hamas man

Syria on Monday accused Israel of being behind a car bomb that targeted a Palestinian member of Hamas in the Mazzah neighborhood of the Syrian capital.

A passer-by was wounded in the explosion, but the Hamas member and his wife, who left the car minutes before the blast, were unhurt.

Speaking to Syrian state-run television, Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan said a bomb placed under the seat of the vehicle exploded minutes after the Palestinian man and his wife stepped out for a dentist’s appointment.

An Interior Ministry official said that the explosion was aimed at Palestinians living in Syria.

“The vehicle is owned by a Palestinian. This points to a subversive action against Palestinian brothers in Syria,” the unnamed official told the state-run news agency SANA.

“This is the second incident in which an explosion targets a Hamas member,” a Palestinian source said. He said the bomb, placed under the driver’s seat, blew up shortly after the unnamed Hamas member and his daughter had parked the car and left it.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• Abiola (at his new digs) wonders what to do with former dictators. Heck, I’d be happy if we knew what to do with current dictators.

• Ethan Zuckerman notes the story that Sudan is cooperating with Syria in the use of chemical weapons in Darfur.

• In war on terror news, U.S. Marines are training Nigerien soldiers to help in the fight against terrorists in West Africa. [N.B. — A Nigerien is from Niger; a Nigerian is from Nigeria. Easily confused.] (Thanks Colt!)

Other Topics Today Include: Continuing crisis in Zimbabwe; Nigerian news; Sudan/Darfur update; Sudan & U.S. security; Gun control in South Africa.

Read The Rest…

AP: Car Bomb Kills Top Hamas Leader in Syria

Israeli security sources confirmed on Sunday that Israel was involved in a car bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus that killed a senior Hamas official.

“Some people lead dangerous lives,” an Israeli official said in response to the assassination of Izz El-Deen Al-Sheikh Khalil.

Minutes after the assassination, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza immediately laid the blame at Israel’s door, saying the assassination was “a cowardly crime by the Zionist Mossad.”

The militant Palestinian group vowed to strike back with terror attacks inside Israel. “There will be a response that would be decided by the movement’s leaders inside the occupied territories,” a Hamas spokesman in Damascus said.

In a statement, the group said that it “stresses that these crimes which unify the Palestinian blood inside and outside Palestine would not terrorize us or stop us from pursuing the path of jihad and resistance.”

The blast happened around 11 A.M. in the al-Zahraa area of Damascus. A member of the Hamas political bureau, Mohammed Nazzal, told the Associated Press in Cairo that a bomb had been planted in Khalil’s car and it exploded as he tried to start it.

Israel Radio reported that the Khalil, 42, helped train Hamas’ chief bomb-maker Yehiya Ayash, who Israel assassinated in January 1996. Khalil is believed to be in charge of Hamas’s military wing outside the Palestinian territories.

Israel expelled Khalil from Gaza to Syria in 1992 along with a large group of Palestinians.

German newspaper Die Welt, “citing unnamed western security sources,” charges that Syria tested chemical weapons on civilians in Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region in June and killed dozens of people:

It said that witnesses quoted by an Arabic news website called ILAF in an article on August 2 had said that several frozen bodies arrived suddenly at the “Al-Fashr Hospital” in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in June.

Die Welt said the sources had indicated that the weapons tests were undertaken following a military exercise between Syria and Sudan.

Syrian officers were reported to have met in May with Sudanese military leaders in a Khartoum suburb to discuss the possibility of improving cooperation between their armies.

Read the whole thing. (Link via The Corner).

HAARETZ: U.S.: Syria partly responsible for Be’er Sheva bombing

Syria bears some responsibility for the Be’er Sheva double bus bombing, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Friday.

The connection is not unreasonable given Syria’s ties with Hamas and Hezbollah, Armitage said during an interview with Egyptian television.

“Syria holds and houses Hamas. Syria is a conduit of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. It seems to me that Syria does bear some responsibility,” Armitage told the interviewer, according to a U.S. Department of State transcript.

When asked to clarify, Armitage said: “President [Bashar] Assad should take a careful look at what his nation is doing and what his government is doing in supporting territory - in supporting violence in the territories and decide whether this is in the long-term interest of Syria.”

Syria’s decision to expel Al-Qaida from Damascus does not compensate for a lack of action against other terrorist groups, Armitage said.

“It doesn’t work like that. If you oppose terrorism, you oppose all terrorism,” he said.

HAARETZ: Mofaz warns Syria over its involvement in terror

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a warning to Syria in comments he made to the cabinet Sunday, in which he referred to intelligence information about the growing involvement of the Damascus “terror headquarters” in terror attacks against Israel.
Mofaz added that Damascus is providing terror organizations with guidance and financial support. Mofaz said, however, that there is not enough evidence to prove that Syria was involved in planning the double bombing in Be’er Sheva last week, in which 16 people were killed.

Mofaz said that on the night before the Be’er Sheva attack, the Israel Defense Forces arrested about 30 terror activists as part of a comprehensive raid in the West Bank city of Hebron, where the suicide bombers lived. In retrospect, Mofaz said, some of those arrested were found to be connected to the bombings.

Diplomatic sources in Amman say senior Hamas members - including the chief of its political bureau, Khaled Mashal - have left Damascus in recent days due to fear that Israel intends to target them, the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Sunday.

A couple weeks ago, news broke that Hezbollah had approached distributors of Fahrenheit 9/11, asking how they could help support the movie:

In terms of marketing the film, Front Row is getting a boost from organisations related to Hezbollah which have rung up from Lebanon to ask if there is anything they can do to support the film. And although Chacra says he and his company feel strongly that Fahrenheit is not anti-American, but anti-Bush, “we can’t go against these organisations as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria.” [Originally published in ScreenDaily, 6/9/2004]

News of this connection has been decried by many as right-wing conspiracy-fostering, but those complaints miss the point. The fact that terrorist groups would approach the distributor is not scary; those groups are rational, and they see that this film is the better propaganda than they could ever make (after all, it’s not like American movie theatres would ever show al Qaeda training tapes).

What is scary is that the distributor is so nonchalant about accepting help from these terrorists:

Gianluca Chacra, the managing director of Front Row Entertainment, the movie’s distributor in the United Arab Emirates, confirms that Lebanese student members of Hezbollah “have asked us if there’s any way they could support the film.” While Hezbollah is considered a legitimate political party in many parts of the world, the U.S. State Department classifies the group as a terrorist organization. Chacra was unfazed, even excited, about their offer. “Having the support of such an entity in Lebanon is quite significant for that market and not at all controversial. I think it’s quite natural.”

The right can’t make up stuff as absurd as this. (Hat Tip: Blogs for Bush)

ARAB NEWS: Syria Blames ‘Isolated’ Group for Attack

Syria blamed yesterday an “isolated” group of Syrian extremists for an attack and gunbattle in Damascus late in April in which four people were killed. Syria’s state-run news agency quoted an Interior Ministry official as identifying the assailants as Ayman Shlash and Mohammed Al-Nahhar, who died in the April 27 clash with security forces in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus, and Ahmed Shlash and Ezzo Al-Hussein, who were arrested.

The unidentified official did not say whether the men were related or what their motive was. But a Syrian close to the government told The Associated Press last week that among the men were two brothers, the Shlashes, and a cousin, and that they were among Arab volunteers who went to Iraq in the early stages of the US-led war on Saddam Hussein’s regime.

HAARETZ: Syrian president refuses to expel Palestinian militants

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Thursday the United States had provided no proof to warrant imposing sanctions on his country and added he would not bow to U.S. demands to expel Palestinian militants.

Assad disputed the case that the Bush administration had made to impose the embargo, saying Syria does not have weapons of mass destruction and there is no evidence of foreign fighters crossing the border from Syria to Iraq.

He said Syria had asked Washington for evidence of infiltration from Syria into Iraq.

“We have no response to the request to give us one passport, one name, one evidence of that. So far, we haven’t received anything,” Assad told a group of American editors.

President Bush yesterday used particularly pointed language in announcing the findings necessary to trigger economic sanctions on Syria (a development noted by Laurence here on Monday), following up on the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003:

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby determine that the actions of the Government of Syria in supporting terrorism, continuing its occupation of Lebanon, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining United States and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.

(Emphasis added; the rest of the Executive Order, detailing the sanctions, can be found here).

AP: U.S. to impose sanctions on Syria this week

President George W. Bush this week will levy economic sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism and not doing enough to prevent militant fighters from entering neighboring Iraq, congressional and administration sources said Monday.

The sanctions, which the White House will impose as early as Tuesday, are being ordered because the administration believes Syria has aggravated tensions in the Middle East by supporting militant groups.

The United States is ordering the sanctions “because they will not fight terror and they won’t join us in fighting terror,” Bush said in an interview last week with the Cairo-based newspaper Al-Ahram International.

“We’ve asked them to do some things and they haven’t responded,” Bush said. “And Congress passed a law saying that if Syria will not join - for example, booting out a Hezbollah office out of Damascus - that the president has the right to put sanctions on.”

REUTERS: Bush to Impose Syria Sanctions Soon, WHouse Says

The White House said on Friday it would soon impose sanctions on Syria for allegedly supporting terrorism and for failing to stop guerrillas entering Iraq.

“Those concerns need to be addressed. Syria needs to take them seriously and work to address those concerns. But we’re going to continue to move forward on these sanctions,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

“We’ll have more to say on that very soon,” McClellan added.

JERUSALEM POST: Syria attack fabricated?

The still unexplained attacks in Damascus Tuesday night were a fabrication of Syria’s Baath Party hoping for a carte blanche for a crackdown on the regime’s opponents, claimed the dissident Reform Party of Syria (RPS) Wednesday.

Syria blamed Al-Qaida for the attacks, which according to reports left a police officer and at least two militants dead in the Mazza district of the capital, home to several embassies and international organizations.

RPS noted that the attack had little of the telltale markers of an Al-Qaida strike, usually a well coordinated, high-potent attack using a combination of suicide bombers and gunmen. Given Al-Qaida’s predilection for larger attacks, and its use of Syria as a base for operations casts doubt that the Wahabi group was involved, said RPS.

The attackers used small arms and RPGs in attacks on what reportedly were vacant buildings. Earlier this week Jordan unveiled what might have been a massive chemical attack in the kingdom, which security officials there estimate might have killed 80,000 people.

The explosive and chemical laden vehicles stopped by Jordanian Special Forces set out for Amman via Damascus, said Jordan.

Former Ambassador Dori Gold, an expert on Wahabism and its terrorist tentacles also doubted the veracity of the Syrian regime’s claims. He also discounted Kurdish militant’s responsibility arguing that the now hounded Kurds would likely have preferred government symbols to raise consciousness about their plight in the west, rather than western or international targets.

“Anyway, why would Al Qaida, which uses Syria as a conduit to send Mujahideen to Iraq, risk its standing with such an attack,” he added.

An Israeli intelligence source said the nature of the attack and the assailants remain unclear, although Syria, a totalitarian police state, has in the past covered up terrorist attacks. Staging them, he said, is not so different, perhaps even easier.

The purpose of such a fabrication, claims RPS, is that it could offset mounting pressure on the regime to fight terror. It also gives Bashar Al Assad a free hand to wipe out his opponents all while showing that “his ruthless and autocratic regime serves to protect western interests,” said the RPS statement.

(Fifteen linked car bombs with single-digit fatalities and mostly vacant buildings as targets does lead to suspicion that this was not the otherwise maximum-effect-seeking Al-Qaida.)

Via Haaretz ticker, Reuters is reporting at least one dead at the United Nations compound in Damascus.

Keep an eye on UN-SG Statements or the link to the off-the-cuff remarks.

UPDATE:
Bloomberg reports UN building on fire in Damascus, via Al-Arabiya and SANA.

SANA: Security Resource / Statement

A Security Resource on Tuesday evening told SANA that a terrorist and sabotage group opened fire randomly in al-Mezza Street .

“The competent security authorities confronted the terrorist group and the situation was completely controlled”, the Resource added.

The British have confirmed an explosion and the sight of smoke.

…developing…

UPDATE: Syrian state television reports that ‘security forces’ have clashed with [a] ‘terrorist band.’

Arab TV reports 15 blasts in the diplomatic section of Damascus.

Fox News reports blasts at British and Saudi embassy. “The Mazza area houses the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and others. The British and Iranian ambassadors have their residences in the area.

UPDATE via Reuters:

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Armed assailants set off an explosive device at a U.N. office in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Tuesday, killing one of the militants, wounding another and setting the building ablaze.

“There were at least two terrorists. One was killed and another one injured after they detonated an explosive device that set the U.N. building on fire and destroyed at least three vehicles,” a diplomatic source told Reuters.

instapundit shares a troubling report from Middle East Newsline (full report requires subscription):

LONDON [MENL] — Sudan has ordered the removal of Syrian missiles and weapons of mass destruction out of the African country.

Arab diplomatic and Sudanese government sources said the regime of Sudanese President Omar Bashir has ordered that Syria remove its Scud C and Scud D medium-range ballistic missiles as well as components for chemical weapons stored in warehouses in Khartoum. The sources said the Sudanese demand was issued after the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry confirmed a report published earlier this month that Syria has been secretly flying Scud-class missiles and WMD components to Khartoum.

The sources said the Bashir regime has been alarmed over the prospect that the United States would discover the Syrian arsenal and conclude that Damascus and Khartoum were cooperating in the area of missiles and WMD. They said this would have delayed or dashed U.S. plans to lift sanctions from Sudan.

A U.S. official confirmed the Syrian missile shipments to Sudan, saying they were meant for use against rebels in the south. But the official said the U.S. intelligence community has not determined that Syria sent WMD systems to Khartoum.

JERUSALEM POST: Lahoud warns Israel against Hamas hits inside Lebanon

Lebanese President General Emile Lahoud on Wednesday warned Israel against attempting targeted killings of Hamas leaders in Lebanon, AFP reported.

“Israel should know that any violence on its part inside Lebanese territory would mean a violation of the Blue Line (border). In a case of this sort of violation, Israel will be responsible for the consequences,” Lahoud said.

(He then repeated his statement while Bashar Assad drank a glass of water.)

ARABIC NEWS: al-Sharq al-Awsat: Information Minister Statement on Israel’s threats to kill Mashaal

Syria’s Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan described as “stupid” the Israeli accusations to assassinate Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau in Damascus, excluding such an Israeli idiocy due to its repercussions.

“The United States will prevent such an action because it will escalate tension in the region at a time the US suffers a real plight in Iraq” Hassan said in an interview given to London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.

He also asserted that the Israeli policy and irresponsible statements increase violence and block the peace process, pointing out that the Israeli assassinations confirm the state terrorism.

He stressed that Hamas and al-Jihad al-Islami bureaus in Damascus were mere information bureaus, asserting that they were closed months ago.

UPDATE:
Eros: “Stronger.” You see? You see? Your stupid minds. Stupid. Stupid.

Solarans = Syrians?

HAARETZ: Israel: Hamas leadership in Syria could be targeted

Israel will consider attacking Hamas’ compound in Damascus should the organization move its main power base to Syria following the assassinations of its former leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in Gaza.

There is no proof at this stage that orders to carry out terror attacks are being delivered by Hamas leaders in Damascus to members of the organization in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. However, during meetings recently held by Israeli political and security officials, participants agreed that should intelligence information point to Damascus as Hamas’ nerve center, the option of targeting the organization in Syria could be considered.

Given Hezbollah’s increasing support for Palestinian terror, Israel also will consider attacking the organization’s targets in Lebanon, according to Israeli sources.

MAARIV: US set to impose sanctions against Syria - Due to Damascus’s ongoing support of terrorism.

The U.S. intends to impose sanctions against Syria shortly, Secretary of State Collin Powell told Congress on Wednesday.

The law called the Syrian Accountability Act allows the U.S. to impose sanctions against Syria because of terrorist activities that originate in it. Now Washington has decided to change gears and begin the background work to enforce the bill. Powell revealed the intention to enforce the bill in answer to a question by New York Congressman Engel. The Secretary of State said his office was examining “all of the possibilities and implications of enforcing the bill”. Powell thought the bill would come into force within weeks.

HA‘ARETZ: Lebanon rejects U.S. demand to rein in Hezbollah

ebanon’s government on Friday said a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed an Israeli soldier along the border was an act of self-defense, brushing aside demands by the U.S. ambassador that the government clamp down on the guerrillas.

After brushing aside the demands, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud offered to repeat his statement at the same time as Bashar Assad would drink a glass of water.

UPI's Claude Salhani says a remarkable change has taken place in Syria of late:

Caught between Iraq and a hard place, Syria's young president, Bashar Assad, has been feeling the heat from Washington lately and began his own offensive -- albeit one of charm and diplomacy.

Although Syria did not make it on to President George W. Bush's initial "axis of evil," it trailed not far behind. In the eyes of some officials in the Bush administration, if Syria did not make the A-list, it certainly belonged in the "Mini-Me" version. Syria still figures prominently, along with other nations the neo-conservatives in Washington would like to see undergo regime change a la Iraq.

Highly unusual for what was once regarded as a reclusive regime -- at least when it came to international travel and high-act diplomacy -- Assad has been hitting the road, trying to improve his country's standing and to seek international support. As indeed Bouthaina Shaaban, a minister in Assad's Cabinet disclosed to United Press International last December, Syria has come to realize it is time to open up to the world.

***

The Syria Accountability Act, passed almost unanimously by both houses of Congress last month and endorsed by President Bush, is in fact aimed at placing greater pressure on Syria, unless it abides by U.S. demands to cooperate and distance itself from what the United States and Israel regard as terrorist groups.

Analysts in the region regard Assad's latest charm offensive as "a turning point in regional politics," something the Middle East could well do more with. As Bush prepares to deliver his State of the Union address Jan. 20, it will be worth watching to see if Syria, given Assad's new initiatives, has moved up or down on the American president's list.

Well, we've crossed Iraq off the list and Libya would seem to have moved down. But there's no need to ratchet up things with Syria so long as they're moving in the right direction.

Cross-post from OTB

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

TOP TOPICS

• LA Times: "After more than a decade of working behind layers of front companies and in hidden laboratories, Iran appears to be in the late stages of developing the capacity to build a nuclear bomb." They've done a special investigative report. As WATCH/ notes, the NY Times has a similar investigative report.

• Fierce Highway has a great analysis of the missing 9/11 report pages, the Saudis, and U.S. policy. See also the sequel: "More Reason, Not Less".

Other Topics Today Include: Defining our enemies, defining ourselves; Duelling WMD reports; Iraq - view from the streets; German post-occupation history 1945-49; Shredders revisited; Rebuilding the oil industry; NK and the bomb; Terrorists strike in the USA; Regime decapitation; Afghanistan; Syria; Good fences in Israel and India; Chechnya; and 50 things every guy should know.

read the rest! »

From AP/Jerusalem Post:

The Middle East peace process could be derailed if Syria and Iran do not end their support for terrorist groups, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

He also said both countries should stop developing what he called their weapons of mass destruction.

Blair told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain believed dialogue was the best way to engage with Syria.

From Jerusalem Post:

Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Syria on Friday to help stem terrorism in the Middle East. Powell telephoned the request to Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa as he widened his appeal to Arab countries.

Syria, itself, is listed by the State Department as a sponsor of terror. Spokesman Richard Boucher said Hamas and other groups had offices in Damascus.

Powell on Thursday made similar appeals to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Several Palestinian terrorist groups denied Sunday that they have been told by the Syrian authorities to close down their Damascus offices.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that Syria had
taken action in view of the US demands and had begun the closure of the
offices.

Contrary to Syrian claims that the offices were functioning only as press
bureaus, Palestinians confirmed Sunday that many of these groups are
involved in security-related matters.

At least 10 different Palestinian factions have been operating in Syria
since the early 1980s. One of them is a breakaway faction of Fatah led by
former Col. Abu Mussa, who fell out with Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat during the Lebanon War in 1982.

A senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post that some of the groups have
their own military training bases and prisons in Damascus and elsewhere in
the country.

"Of course they aren't doing any journalistic work out there," he said.

Syrian Spokeswoman: Hizbullah Is Not A Terrorist Organization

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bouthana Shaaban told Fox News today that Hizbullah has "never targeted any civilian in Israel" and is "not a terrorist organization." However, Yonatan Peled, the spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, told Arutz-7's Eli Stutz that Shaaban was not quite accurate in her portrayal of the facts:

"Hizbullah is a terrorist organization, and has attacked Israeli civilians, both in Israel and abroad. In 1992, in Buenos Aires, it blew up the Israeli Embassy, killing 29 people. They have fired rockets over the border at Israeli [communities], and are actively involved with Palestinian terror organizations, assisting them in carrying out attacks against Israelis. Syria is not only supporting Hizbullah, but is actually harboring them."

Just 14 months ago, on March 12, 2002, two Hizbullah terrorists infiltrated northern Israel outside Kibbutz Metzubah, shot at passing cars, and murdered five Israeli civilians and a soldier.

US Congressman Tom Lantos, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday for an hour and a half, presented him with a series of demands that would enable the U.S. to "open a new page in its relations with Syria." These included closing down headquarters of terrorist organizations and withdrawing Syrian forces from Lebanon. Lantos said also that Syria must cease its support of Hizbullah, especially granting it use of the Damascus airport. Lantos said afterwards,
"I told President Assad that Syria made a terrible mistake by choosing to side with Saddam Hussein in the period that preceded the war [with Iraq]. I explained that Syria's image in the U.S. had deteriorated drastically when it became clear that military equipment was transferred from Syria to Iraq and that many Syrian fighters had joined the [flickering] Iraqi regime… It appears that Assad accepted my words as constructive criticism - though I don't expect an immediate response regarding the demands that America placed upon Syria."

Wiesenthal Center to press for Brunner's extradition from Syria

With the US pressing Damascus to cease supporting terrorism after the liberation of Iraq, officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center believe the time is ripe to seek the extradition of Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, who is believed to be living in Syria.

...."This is part of the wider Syrian picture of a country that harbors Nazi as well as Iraqi war criminals, and provides a haven and support for terrorist groups."

....Brunner, 91, was one of the henchmen of Adolf Eichmann and a leading official of the main security office that helped draft and implement the "final solution." He was responsible for the deportation to death camps of some 128,500 Jews: 47,000 from Austria, 44,000 from Greece, 23,500 from France, and 14,000 from Slovakia.

Brunner reportedly fled to Egypt after the war, but later sought and was granted refuge in Syria.

Following the capture and execution of Adolf Eichmann, Brunner has been at the top of the wanted list of Nazi war criminals and Holocaust perpetrators.

Shark Blog has a translation of a Der Spiegel interview with Syrian ambassador to Germany Mohammaed Walid Hezbor. (If the original was in English I would point there, but the Der Spiegel URL is in Shark's post, if you read German.)

It kinda tells you want you need to know about Syria.

Kuwaiti Paper Criticizes Syria: Assad's Regime More Criminal than Saddam's

Kuwaiti Paper Criticizes Syria: Assad's Regime More Criminal than Saddam's

From the Jerusalem Post:

Two US Congressmen asked Syrian President Bashar Assad during a meeting in Damascus on Sunday to shut down the offices of Palestinian factions listed as terrorist by the US administration, The Associated Press reports.

Representatives Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a California Republican, were the first US officials to meet Assad since the recent escalation of US-Syrian tensions, the AP writes.

They asked him to shut the offices of Palestinian groups based in Syria. While The AP didn't specify which groups they mentioned, one of the more dangerous groups based in Damascus is Islamic Jihad¹, a terrorist group responsible for numerous suicide bombings against Israelis. Another group that apparently came up is the Lebanese-based Hizbullah², which Syria has used as a proxy in its conflict with Israel.

Issa said Assad told them if the Mideast issue is settled, groups like Hizbullah and Palestinian groups would "by definition fade away."

Now what exactly does Assad think the real "Mideast Issue" is?

Editor's notes:

1. Islamic Jihad is the primary group responsible for the use of Jenin as a terrorist training and deployment zone, having killed scores of innocent Palestinians in the process of subverting that town.

2. Hezbollah is also responsible for the suicide bombing of the U.S. Marines in Lebanon and many other acts of terror against Israelis, Americans, and Lebanese Christians.

Both are funded and supported by Syria and Iran.