Israeli Air Force Carries Out Seven Airstrikes Against Gaza

Source : http://www.qassam.ps/news-7726-Israeli_Air_Force_Carries_Out_Seven_Airstrikes_Against_Gaza.html

Israeli war jets carried out seven air strikes targeting different areas in the northern and the southern parts of the Gaza Strip.Local sources in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, have reported that the army fired missiles targeting two chicken farms that belong to the Esleih family in the Al-Manara neighborhood in Khan Younis. The chicken farms were completely destroyed, and around 4000 chicks and some sheep were killed. No human casualties have been reported. The Israeli Air Force also fired a missile into an area, nearly 250 meters from the border fence, east of Khan Younis. The attacked area is where three members of the Al-Qassam Brigades martyred and four Israeli soldiers were injured, during a recent Israeli invasion into the area. Another Air Strike targeted a vacant chicken farm in the Az-Zanna area, in Bani Soheila, east of Khan Younis; damage was reported but no injuries. Furthermore, at least one missile was fired into a training center used by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, north of Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Facebook closes some Hamas-affiliated page

Source : http://www.qassam.ps/news-7711-Facebook_closes_some_Hamas_affiliated_page.html

Al Qassam website- Gaza- The facebook administration arbitrarily closed on Friday a number of pages linked to the Hamas Movement, including the page of Ajnad news agency.The facebook pages of senior Hamas official Husam Badran and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as well as the page of the Islamic bloc at Al-Khalil university were also shut down.For his part, Badran strongly denounced on his new facebook page such a measure and described it as arbitrary and unethical.He added that the facebook behavior reflected its double standard policy, unprofessionalism and its bias against Palestine and the legitimate rights of its occupied people.The Hamas official affirmed that the closure of his facebook account would never muzzle his voice and prevent him from communicating with others.Ajnad news agency also deplored the measure and said that the facebook administration unveiled its double face and its suppression of the Palestinian people's right to use the cyberspace to express their views.

NATO allies back keeping Patriot missiles in Turkey

Source : http://en.trend.az/regions/met/turkey/2210975.html

NATO allies backed keeping Patriot missiles in Turkey on Wednesday, agreeing that threats to the NATO member remained serious, a NATO official said, Reuters reported.Turkey earlier asked NATO to extend the deployment of Patriot missile batteries sent early this year to defend the country from a possible attack from neighboring Syria. The missile batteries had been expected to stay there for a year.NATO ambassadors concluded at a meeting on Wednesday that instability on Turkey's border "requires ... the extension of the deployment of the Patriot missiles," the NATO official said.

Army Kidnaps 25 Social Media Activists In Jerusalem

Source : http://imemc.org/article/66371

Israeli soldiers and police officers kidnapped on Wednesday evening [November 6 2013] 25 young Palestinian men and women, active in social network sites, exposing Israeli violations.Israeli Soldiers - File Milad NewsHead of the Jerusalem office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society Nasser Qous said that the soldiers invaded a large number of internet coffee shops, and computer stores in the occupied city, searched them and kidnapped the 25 Palestinians. Abu Qous added that seven young women were among the kidnapped, and that the soldiers released 15 of the kidnapped later on. The Police in the occupied city claims the kidnapped Palestinians conducted “incitement” against the army.The remaining ten Palestinians will be sent to the District Court in Jerusalem

Turkey seizes 1,200 rocket warheads near Syrian border

Source : http://news.xinhuanet.com

English.news.cn   2013-11-07 19:36:22             ISTANBUL/ANKARA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkey seized a total of 1, 200 rocket warheads near the Syrian border, private Dogan news agency reported on Thursday.Dogan quoted Gov. Huseyin Avni Cos as saying that a cargo truck filled with rocket heads, bazookas, missiles, bombs and guns was seized in Turkey's southern province of Adana near the Syrian border.The report said that Adana police teams discovered the weapons after pursuing the truck initially on the suspicion that it was carrying drugs.Police used detection dogs to search for narcotics in the truck, said the report, adding that when the police opened the doors of the vehicle, they found the truck filled with weapons and explosives.Escorted by bomb disposal specialists, anti-terror teams brought the truck to a police station in the city. The truck was confiscated.The driver of the truck has been detained, and an investigation has been launched.

Turkey intercepts chemical shipment from Syria

Source : All akhbar.com

Turkish authorities have seized a large quantity of chemicals from a convoy trying to illegally enter the country from Syria, which "could be transformed into weapons," the army said Sunday.The convoy of three vehicles refused to stop as it attempted to illegally cross the border on Saturday near the southeastern town Turkish town of Reyhanli, the army said in a statement.Para-military police were forced to shoot out the tires of the vehicles to stop them, and three drivers jumped out and fled in the direction of Syria.One of them was arrested, the army said without specifying his nationality.The haul of sulfur and another unidentified substance will be examined by a team of army specialists, the statement said.The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reported on Thursday that Syria's entire declared stock of chemical weapons has been placed under seal.This included 1,000 tons of chemical agents, which can be used to make weapons, and 290 tons of chemical weapons.A UN Security Council resolution stating that the arsenal must be destroyed by mid-2014, was agreed by the United States and Russia to avert military strikes on Syria after deadly chemical weapons attacks near Damascus in August.The West blamed those attacks, which killed hundreds of people, on the Syrian government, which denied all responsibility, instead blaming the attack on rebels.(AFP)

‘Sponsors’ of Syrian Rebels Sabotage Geneva-2 – Russian MP

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian lawmaker said Sunday that the recent refusal of 19 Syrian opposition groups to attend a peace conference in Geneva was instigated by their foreign backers.

“Nineteen groups in the Syrian opposition, which is incapable of acting without outside support, ‘rejected’ Geneva-2. It means their sponsors want it to fall through,” Alexei Pushkov, the head of State Duma’s foreign policy committee, said on Twitter.

The militant groups, most of them moderate Islamists, announced their decision in a joint statement on late Saturday.

Geneva-2, tentatively set for November 23, is meant to bring the Syrian government and the rebels to the negotiation table in hopes of ending the 2 1/2-year-long civil strife in the Middle Eastern country.

Pushkov, a former TV host and a foreign policy hawk, did not name the alleged sponsors.

But he has previously criticized Western countries, particularly t United States, for their support of the Syrian opposition in their battle against the Moscow-backed government in Damascus.

A number of groups in the fractured Syrian opposition have already voiced reluctance to participate in Geneva-2, which is set up jointly by Moscow and Washington.

(Abbreviature in the headline was corrected from "PM.")

Report: Syrian al-Qaeda planning car bombings in Turkey

Source : Trend.Az

Turkey's Gendarmerie General Command, the military police responsible for security in rural areas, has reportedly notified the country's Interior Ministry about preparation by al-Qaeda- affiliate fighters in Syria to stage car bomb attacks in Turkey Today`s Zaman reported.

Turkish daily Milliyet reported on Friday that the gendarmerie sent a letter to the intelligence department of the Interior Ministry before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha notifying them about 10 car bombs that are being prepared to be detonated across Turkey.

A secret cable the gendarmerie sent to the police said the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is planning terrorist attacks in Turkey and has prepared 10 cars with fake Turkish plates and loaded with bombs to be detonated in Turkey.

The terrorists were planning to cut the wired border fence with Turkey to bring in the cars. The cable said the final decision as to whether or not to carry out the terrorist attacks would have been given based on Turkey's position during the Friends of Syria meeting in London last week.

The letter explained that the ISIS plan would have been called off if Turkey had considered the terrorist group among the legitimate moderate opposition. Milliyet said Turkish authorities issued warnings to all police and gendarmerie forces in all cities across the country.

Turkey, which has been a staunch supporter of the Syrian opposition fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, is accused of providing logistical support to two al-Qaeda-linked groups -- the al-Nusra Front and ISIS.

Ankara has said several times that its stance towards the developments in Syria is clear and that it will not take part in the ongoing fighting, denying claims that it supports radical Islamist groups operating in Syria.

Walls of Europe: Bulgarian army is building 30-km-long wall on Turkish border

Source : Vesti Kavkaza

Today, Bulgaria began the construction of a 30- km-long wall at the Turkish border to strengthen control over the flow of refugees coming to Bulgaria from the Middle East."In accordance with the measures proposed by the Minister of Defence, Angel Naydenov, we are working on renovating roads in the area between the villages of Lesovo and Kraynovo on the border with Turkey. These measures are related to the construction of engineering structures," the press service of the Defense Ministry announced, ITAR TASS reports. According to recent reports, today there are eight thousand refugees in Bulgaria, mostly from Syria.

German extremist teenagers fighting in Syria: TV

Source : http://en.alalam.ir

Male and female European extremist teenagers who adhere to ideology have departed from Germany and Norway for Syria against President Bashar Assad’s government.

Second German Television (ZDF) broadcast a report that adolescents – including a German Muslim as young as 15 – traveled to Syria to fight against Assad’s government.

A "German camp” was created in Syria to recruit extremists, with an estimated 200 German militants involved, some of whom are in Syria or on their way to the Middle Eastern country, according to German intelligence.

Der Spiegel news magazine also reported that around 200 are now in the “German Camp” or on their way there, taking a now well-worn route from Germany to Istanbul and through to the Syrian border.

The Welt newspaper also said that German security services are increasingly concerned about the number of militants heading to Syria from Europe.

They fear that the extremist figures will return to Germany more radicalized after potentially receiving terror training from Al-Qaeda and other foreign backed militant groups in the country.

In September, Germany's domestic spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen estimated the number of German extremists in the country at 170 and said 50 had travelled in recent months.

NJF/NJF

UK spies to run $100bn Afghan drug industry

Source : Strategic-Culture.org

Britain's foreign intelligence agency is planning to send more spies to Afghanistan to manage a $100-billion drug industry, a US political commentator says.

Gordon Duff, a senior editor at Veterans Today, made the remarks during an interview with Press TV on Tuesday, two days after The Telegraph revealed in a report that the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, appealed for extra staff from other intelligence agencies for Afghanistan after British troops leave in 2014.

“I think they are going to Afghanistan to help manage the 100-billion-dollar-a year drug industry, moving heroin through Afghanistan, managing the banking for the heroin industry through London banks. I cannot think of anything else they would do there,” Duff said.

“There is no history of terrorism involving Afghanistan and Britain or Afghanistan and the United States, that was long disproven, this debunked over a decade ago,” he added.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but after more than 12 years, the foreign troops have still not been able to establish security in the country.

There are currently over 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. The US has announced plans to pull out all foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the US-led war began, with the Central Asian country producing about 90 percent of the world's opium.

Several reports by the United Nations affirm that Afghan opium is having a devastating impact on the world, killing thousands in consumer countries.

Commenting on the long involvement of US and UK intelligence agencies in drug trade, Duff said, “The CIA, MI6 and other intelligence agencies have been running drug trafficking in the world, certainly, since [the] Vietnam” war.

“The British intelligence services were running world drug trafficking in the 1840s at the time of the Opium Wars,” he said, referring to the Anglo-Chinese Wars (1839-1860) over opium trade between China and Great Britain.

“They have always managed the world’s opium and heroin trafficking. It is something the British Empire is known for. The British began heroin, certainly opium production, in Afghanistan. It is their industry. They have been doing it for well over a hundred years and it is extremely profitable. It funds all of their other activities and there is no reason for them to want to leave it.”

Afghan Loya Jirga to decide presence of US troops after 2014

Source : KUNA

ISLAMABAD, Oct 20 (KUNA) -- A national meeting of tribal elders (Loya Jirga) is to discuss the fate of a future security deal with the US for keeping troops in Afghanistan after 2014, said Afghan officials on Sunday. A member of the convening commission, Sadeq Mudaber said that the consultative assembly of tribal elders (Loya Jirga), will kick off in the third week of November and could last a week. He expected up to 3,000 people might attend the meeting. The US State Secretary, John Kerry and President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai met last week to reach an agreement on the major elements of a deal that would allow the US to keep its troops in Afghanistan after 2014, the set period for foreign forces to depart Afghanistan. The Afghan President on Friday said, "In our recent negotiations with the US, we also discussed another important topic of immunity for US troops in Afghanistan." He said that the Loya Jirga must debate a potentially deal-breaking issue of jurisdiction over those forces before he makes a decision. President Karzai added, "The decision in this respect is beyond the capacity of the Afghan government, and only the Afghan people maintain the authority to decide on it, the Loya Jirga reflects the will of the Afghan people." The United States wants to keep as many as 10,000 troops in the country to train Afghan national security forces, but if no agreement is signed all US troops would have to leave by the end of next year. The former Afghan president Sebghatullah Mujadidi will be heading the Loya Jirga, who was initially opposing the idea of calling the meeting as the basic points had already been covered by a Strategic Partnership Agreement that Karzai signed with US President, Barack Obama last year. Most foreign troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, amid Afghan security increasing worries about the country's prospects after western forces depart. If the Loya Jirga decides not to keep the US troops in Afghanistan after 2014 then failure to reach an agreement could prompt the US to pull out all its forces at the end of 2014, an outcome known as "zero option". (end) sbk.aa KUNA 201323 Oct 13NNNN

Syrian Envoy: Saudi Prince Real Leader of Al- Qaeda

Source : Farsnews

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian Ambassador to Jordan Bahjat Suleiman called Saudi Prince "the real gang leader of terrorists fighting in Syria".

Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the head of Al-Qaeda terrorist group and the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria, Suleiman said, according to an article in Arabic language Ray al-Youm website, Al-Alam reported.

Suleiman said, Osama Bin Laden was the founder of Al-Qaeda, Aymen Zahiri is their apparent leader, and Bandar bin Sultan is the real leader of Al-Qaeda.

He added that the Saudi Prince dwells in a residence near a militant-held area on Syria-Jordan border and leads the terrorists fighting in Syria from there.

The Syrian ambassador also noted that the Syria-Jordan borders have been kept under the control of the so-called Free Syrian Army that enjoys Saudi Arabia’s support.

Pointing out the Saudi regime's crack-down on its own citizens Suleiman added, "Saudi Arabia is not in a stance to give lessons of democracy and freedom to the Syrian nation."

Saudi officials have denied being directly involved in the crisis in Syria, but there are many reports on Saudi regime’s huge financial supports to the Syria militants.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent hist

Syrian Envoy: Saudi Prince Real Leader of Al- Qaeda

Source : Farsnews

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian Ambassador to Jordan Bahjat Suleiman called Saudi Prince "the real gang leader of terrorists fighting in Syria".

Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the head of Al-Qaeda terrorist group and the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria, Suleiman said, according to an article in Arabic language Ray al-Youm website, Al-Alam reported.

Suleiman said, Osama Bin Laden was the founder of Al-Qaeda, Aymen Zahiri is their apparent leader, and Bandar bin Sultan is the real leader of Al-Qaeda.

He added that the Saudi Prince dwells in a residence near a militant-held area on Syria-Jordan border and leads the terrorists fighting in Syria from there.

The Syrian ambassador also noted that the Syria-Jordan borders have been kept under the control of the so-called Free Syrian Army that enjoys Saudi Arabia’s support.

Pointing out the Saudi regime's crack-down on its own citizens Suleiman added, "Saudi Arabia is not in a stance to give lessons of democracy and freedom to the Syrian nation."

Saudi officials have denied being directly involved in the crisis in Syria, but there are many reports on Saudi regime’s huge financial supports to the Syria militants.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent hist

Activists urge Korea to cancel massive tear gas shipment to Bahrain

Source : Akhbar English

Rights activists have launched a campaign urging South Korea to cancel an imminent shipment of over 1.6 million tear gas canisters allegedly ordered by Bahraini authorities battling a two-and-a-half-year-long rebellion.

An unverified document dated June 16, 2013 obtained this week by the monitoring group Bahrain Watch shows that Bahrain's Ministry of Interior has requested an order of 1.6 million tear gas shells, 145,000 stun and flash grenades, and 90,000 tear gas grenades.

The massive figure startled observers who pointed out that the quantity was larger than the entire 1.2 million population of Bahrain, half of which is comprised of foreigners and migrant workers not involved in the largely-peaceful, anti-government movement.

"I think if you look at the scale and frequency of the use of tear gas in Bahrain, it's unprecedented anywhere in the world," Alaa Shehabi, a founding member of Bahrain Watch which is behind the Stop the Shipment campaign, told Al-Akhbar.

"They (police) are using hundreds of rounds on a nightly basis, ... so they need this amount to sustain the constant state of repression."

Shehabi added that her group has received information that the order is expected to be delivered before the end of this month.

"We've had, in the last 24 hours since we launched the campaign, 11,000 e-mails sent to Korean agencies involved in shipment," Shehabi said.

Heeding activists' calls, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have condemned the tear gas deal and urged authorities to prevent the shipment, citing humanitarian concerns.

The procurement tender does not specify the supplier of the weapons, but activists say that the bulk of the tear gas that reaches the tiny Gulf island is manufactured by two South Korean companies and a joint German-South African one.

Rheinmetall Denel Munition, the German-South African company, and South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration both declined to comment on the alleged deal.

Police have killed at least 89 people since the anti-government uprising erupted in February 2011, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Of those victims, 39 died from tear-gas related attacks including suffocation and direct shots to the head, records from Physicians for Human Rights show.

Authorities have so far been unable to quell the nearly daily demonstrations that persist across Bahraini villages against the widely- detested, US-backed monarchy. Dozens of human rights activists, doctors and political opponents have been jailed since the start of the uprising.

Over the past month alone, Bahrain sentenced 104 protest leaders to prison terms of up to 15 years on "terrorism" related charRedditTweet9 Send by emailPrinter-friendly version Tags Category: Top News Tags: tear gas, South Korea, Bahrain Related Articles Bahrain sentences nine activists to life in prison A Bahraini court jailed nine activists for life Monday after alleging that they made bombs for "terrorist" purposes, a judicial source said. Four of the defendants were in court for the verdict and... Bahrain police fires tear gas at opposition protests Updated at 6:50pm: Bahraini police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters on Wednesday, but there were no reports of casualties. A Reuters correspondent saw police... Advertisement Published Friday, October 18, 2013

Cyprus to help Syrias weapons inspectors

Source: LBCI

Cyprus has approved the creation of a support base for the chemical weapon working in Syria, including the use of an old airport that will allow them to tr the two countries by helicopter.

The Cypriot government said Friday its goal is to help with the inspectors' dif destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal during the country's civil war.

The base will be located at a disused Nicosia airport inside the U.N.-controlle that separates the island's Greek-speaking south and Turkish-speaking north

Inspectors also will be able to stay at hotels in Nicosia, which is about 140 m kilometers) from the Syrian port of Latakia.

The mission in Syria is being conducted by the U.N. and the Organization for of Chemical Weapons.

Turkish opposition wants to know if war crimes were committed with aid sent to Al Qaida fighters in Syria

Source : World Tribune

ANKARA — Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been questioned over Turkey’s links to Al Qaida in Syria.

The parliamentary opposition has formally submitted a request for the Erdogan government to detail alleged links with Al Qaida-aligned militias in Syria.

The opposition has sought to determine whether the purported Turkish aid facilitated war crimes by Islamist rebels, particularly the Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant.

“Do you think that the foreign policy you are pursuing in Syria is responsible for the crimes committed by Al Qaida-linked groups such as Al Nusra?” Veli Agbaba, a parliamentarian from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, asked.

The parliamentary demand came amid reports in both Ankara and Washington that Turkish intelligence was either tolerating or supporting Al Qaida recruitment and financing for operations in Syria. The reports asserted that authorities were turning a blind eye to recruitment of young Turks for Al Qaida militias.

“It is known that the Turkey-Syria border has no security,” Agbaba said. “At this point, do you think that Turkey will be accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes for providing weapons and other supplies to opposition groups — which is claimed in HRW’s report?”

Erdogan aides have several times denied any Turkish support for Nusra or the new Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. But human rights groups asserted that Turkish authorities were allowing Al Qaida rebels to transport weapons and fighters into Syria and then return for medical treatment.

Agbaba also cited the U.S. Human Rights Watch, which asserted in an Oct. 11 report that Turkey was a leading facilitator of Islamist rebel militias that routinely abduct and torture civilians. HRW urged the Erdogan government to increase patrols along the 900-kilometer Turkish border with Syria.

“According to Syrian security officials, media reports, Western diplomats, and observations by journalists and humanitarian workers, foreign fighters in these groups enter Syria from Turkey, from which they also smuggle their weapons and obtain money and other supplies, and to which they retreat for medical treatment,” HRW said in a report titled “You Can Still See Their Blood.”

Agbaba addressed his questions to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, deemed an ally of Erdogan. The opposition deputy, in remarks supported by Kurdish and Western sources, suggested that the Foreign Ministry was ignoring Al Qaida’s use of Turkey as a haven.

“Is there any work being done by the Foreign Ministry over the claims that Turkish citizens have entered Syria from Turkey’s eastern and southeastern provinces and have participated in crimes carried out by Al Qaida-linked groups in Syria?” Agbaba asked. “Is the silence of the Foreign Ministry over the crimes carried out by Al Qaida-linked groups in Syria the result of the ‘precious isolation’ policy of Turkey?”

For its part, the government has denied any Turkish link to Al Qaida. Officials dismissed allegations that Turkey was cooperating with Nusra or ISIL in arms and other smuggling.

“The Turkish republic would never open a border gate on the demand of a terrorist organization,” Interior Minister Muammer Guler said.

The Kurdish community has echoed allegations of a Turkish-Al Qaida link. The High Kurdish Council in Syria, which met the Turkish Foreign Ministry, asserted that more than 50 percent of the rebel militias supported by Turkey were attacking civilians.

“More than half of the groups which Turkey supports have come under the control of gangs,” council spokesman Ilham Ahmed said. “The situation is very dire, and if precautions are not taken these groups will create serious problems mainly for Turkey.

Egypt protects liberals’ homes after death threat

Source : http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/07/265027.html

Egyptian police deployed security at the homes of prominent liberal opponents of the government on Thursday after a hardline cleric called for their deaths and a secular politician was gunned down in Tunisia.

The killing on Wednesday of Chokri Belaid, an outspoken critic of Tunisia’s Islamist-led government, sent tremors through Egypt.

In both countries where “Arab Spring” uprisings swept away veteran authoritarian rulers, two years of political turmoil have exposed divisions between Islamists and their secular opponents.

On the same day, Egyptian liberal politician Mohamed el Baradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, sounded the alarm over a hardline cleric’s call for his death.

The cleric, Mahmoud Shaaban, appeared on a religious television channel and said leaders of Egypt’s main opposition coalition would get a death sentence under sharia (Islamic law).

He specifically mentioned el Baradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy.

President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which has dominated democratic elections since mass protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, condemned such comments as tantamount to “terrorism.”

But he renewed accusations that the liberal opposition was inciting unrest.

“It is strange that some (in Egypt) advocate political violence and incite it while others, who claim to speak in the name of religion, allow ‘killing’ on the basis of political differences, which is terrorism itself,” a statement from Mursi’s office said.

“The presidency affirms its complete rejection of hate speech that falsely uses religion, and of which religion is innocent, and calls on national forces, religious institutions and leading thinkers to stand in a united front to confront this unacceptable language of incitement.”

Other Islamists and leftists across the political spectrum condemned Shaaban’s statement, as did the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Muslim Brotherhood condemns calls allowing bloodshed and inciting killing, whatever their source,” it said in a statement on its website, quoting spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said on his Facebook page the cabinet was looking into legal steps it could take against “all those who issue or spread edicts or fatwas inciting violence.”

Syrian opposition chief willing to talk to VP Sharaa, 5 February 2013

Source : http://www.turkishweekly

Exiled Syrian opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has expanded on an offer to hold peace talks with the Syrian government, saying he is willing to sit down with the deputy of President Bashar al-Assad.

In interviews with Arab television networks on Monday, al-Khatib said he is extending a hand to Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa to negotiate what he called a "peaceful departure of the (Assad) regime."

The Syrian National Coalition leader first made the offer last week, saying it was conditional on the government freeing tens of thousands of prisoners and providing passports to Syrians exiled by a nearly two-year-long rebellion against Assad's authoritarian rule. The proposal angered some members of the opposition coalition, which previously had demanded that Assad leave power before negotiations could begin.

In his latest interviews, al-Khatib said he wants a dialogue with the Assad government because he has concluded that only Syrians can find a solution to the country's civil war. The international community has been divided on how to respond to the conflict, with Western powers and their Arab allies demanding Assad quit, while allies of the Syrian president such as Iran and Russia insist that no foreign power should dictate Syria's future.

Al-Khatib said his offer of talks puts the ball in the government's court. There was no immediate response from Assad, who has proposed his own national reconciliation process that offers elections and a new constitution but keeps himself in power.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that if the Assad government has any interest in peace, it should "sit down and talk now" with the opposition coalition.

In the latest fighting on Monday, rights activists said government forces bombarded rebel-held areas around Damascus including Douma with air strikes and artillery.

U.N. humanitarian agency UNICEF said it has started an operation to deliver water-treatment chemicals to Syria to provide safe water supplies to 10 million people, almost half the country's population. It said the first four trucks carrying 80 tons of chlorine crossed from Jordan into Syria on Sunday, bound for the regions of Homs, Aleppo, Hama and Idli

Israel's Amazing Iron Dome

Source : Maryland/Israel Development Center

The Maryland/Israel Development Center is pleased to present ISRAEL’S IRON DOME, featuring Rafael Advanced Systems, Iron Dome’s developer and ELTA Systems Ltd., the designers and producers of the Iron Dome’s radar system.

Israel’s amazing Iron Dome anti-missile system exceeded all expectations for success in the recent conflict with Gaza. An untold number of lives were saved by the ingenuity of Rafael Advanced Systems, the primary developer of the system, and ELTA Systems Ltd., the designers and producers of the Iron Dome’s radar system. We are thrilled that both companies maintain their U.S. headquarters here in Maryland. The North American executives will discuss the development and recent success of the system. We expect a sellout crowd, so sign up quickly.

The program is free of charge to 2013 MIDC Members. Lite Refreshments will be served. Dietary Laws Observed. Should you have any questions about your 2013 Membership, please contact Nancy Boguslaw,