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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Nasrallah sez Hezbollah has Legitimate Right™ to possess air defenses

2009-02-17

The leader of Hezbollah said Monday that his militant group has the Legitimate Right™ to possess air-defense weapons to face the Israeli warplanes that regularly fly over Lebanon. Nasrallah spoke from under his bed via a video link to a rally commemorating last year's assassination of Hezbollah's top military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed by a car bomb in Syria. Nasrallah said Israeli media report occasionally that Hezbollah has acquired sophisticated air defense missiles. "I will not deny or confirm" the reports, Nasrallah said, but added that such weapons would weaken Israeli air power and change the region's power equation. "What I want to confirm today is that we have the full Legitimate Right™ to possess any weapons, including air defense weapons. Also, we have the full Legitimate Right™ to use this weapon if we want," he said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Mughniyeh assassination 'severe blow' to Hizbullah

2008-02-14

Iran, Syria and Hizbullah on Wednesday accused Israel of being behind the assassination of top Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus and vowed to avenge his death. The assassination came as a shock to many Arabs who said they could not understand how the assassins managed to catch up with such a prominent figure, considering the tough security measures taken by Hizbullah and Syrian intelligence services. Good. Let the conspiracy theories begin. The consensus among most Arab political analysts was that the assassination was a "severe blow" to Hizbullah and its patrons in Teheran and Damascus. One of them said it would take years for Hizbullah to recover from the assassination and its repercussions. "The fact that the killers managed to reach such an important figure should sound an alarm bell in Hizbullah," he said. "This means that Hizbullah's top brass has been infiltrated by the Israelis and Americans." You know Nasrallah's toilet paper consumption's spiked. Another Arab analyst revealed that Mughniyeh had never slept in the same place for more than two nights. And each time he entered a certain house, he would leave it through a back window, the analyst said. "This is a black day for Hizbullah and its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah," he added. "This is a moral victory for Israel and the US." I've been feeling morally victorious all day. The assassination was announced by Hizbullah about 12 hours after the explosion in his jeep shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Al-Manar TV, the Hizbullah television station, interrupted its regular programs to break the news of Mughniyeh's death. The announcement was followed by the broadcasting of recitations from the Koran - a practice normally reserved for heads of state and high-level officials in the Arab and Islamic world. That's because Muggsy was actually a high-ranking functionary in the Iranian government. A prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric close to Hizbullah called for the group's military wing to retaliate. I'm sure they will retaliate, since they do when somebody farts. Dire Revenge™ is essential to maintail their Honor and Dignity™. "Every attack against the resistance will be met with a response," the head of south Lebanon's religious scholars, Sheikh Afif al-Naboulsi, said. "An eye for an eye, a man for a man, a leader for a leader." I hear the passing of Zionist gas in their general direction. Hizbullah legislator Ismail Sukeyir said the organization's leadership would meet in Beirut to discuss its response to the assassination. "Hizbullah has the right to retaliate anywhere in the world and in any way it sees fit," he said. "Dat's right! An' it's a Legitimate Right™!" Syria's Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Bassam Abdul-Majid confirmed Mughniyeh's death Wednesday, the state-run news agency SANA reported. It was the first official comment from Syria since Tuesday night's explosion in the Damascus neighborhood of Kfar Sousse. The agency quoted Abdul-Majid as saying an investigation into the blast was under way. "The ongoing investigation over the car bomb in the residential Kfar Sousse neighborhood last night has proven that it targeted Lebanese combatant Imad Mughniyeh," SANA said, quoting Abdul-Majid. "Syria condemns this cowardly terrorist act," SANA quoted Abdul-Majid as saying. Also in Damascus, parliament member Muhammad Habash said that "Israel and its Zionist agents" were behind the assassination. "It's natural that if a prize was offered for Mughniyeh's head, Israel and the US would try to harm him," Habash said. "Of all possible suspects, Israel would have the most to gain," Habash told BBC Arabic. Habash said the assassins knew that Thursday marked the anniversary of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, expressing hope that commemorative events in Beirut would not spiral out of control in the wake of Mughniyeh's death. Iran's official news agency, IRNA, said the assassination was an "evident example of US and Israeli state terrorism and the role their intelligence agents play in terrorism in the Middle East." The agency said that Mughniyeh had played an "effective role in repulsing Israeli aggression on Lebanon in both 1982 and 2006, and it was apparent that the occupying regime would spare no effort to target him in the category of its state terrorism." The agency pointed out that "it is possible for Israeli agents to come to Damascus in the guise of US nationals and conduct terrorist attacks. A US military delegation, which included the undersecretary of defense, was on a visit to Lebanon and it is likely that the US directly helped Israeli agents assassinate Mughniyeh." The Iranian agency went on to say that "the car-bomb attack showed that the terrorist attack was calculated with great precision and that Israel uses strong terror networks in carrying out similar attacks in both Lebanon and Palestine. In addition, the US Embassy in Beirut had called on American nationals living in Lebanon to keep a low profile from February 13-14. The call was an indication that preparation was afoot for the terrorist attack on Mughniyeh." Of course it didn't have anything to do with the Hariri demonstrations. To even suggest such a thing is ridiculous! Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Hosseini issued an official condemnation of the killing. "This action is yet another brazen example of organized state terrorism by the Zionist regime," he said, according to IRNA. He called on the world to "prevent the Zionist regime from taking these actions that are a clear violation of international law." Hosseini praised Mughniyeh, saying "undoubtedly, the record of struggles by the martyred fighter Imad Mughniyeh is considered a shining page in the history of popular resistance against the aggressive Zionists and occupiers." Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent his condolences to Mughniyeh's family as well as to the Hizbullah leadership. Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions also condemned the assassination, holding Israel and the US responsible. "We condemn this crime, and stress that the Muslim nation must rise and confront the Zionist Satan that is backed by the Americans," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

On the New Year's Eve, 8 Palestinians killed in renewed Hamas-Fatah clashes

2008-01-02

Ma'an –The residents of Gaza Strip, namely, As-Sabra and Ash-Shuja'iyy neighborhoods in Gaza city were not able to sleep on the New Year's Eve as clashes did not stop between the Hamas-affiliated police, the Dugmush family and Fatah supporters, Ma'an's reporter said. Damn those Dogmushes, anyway! Palestinian medical sources at Ash-Shifa hospital in Gaza city announced the death of Muhmoud Dugmush and Sulaiman Ad-Diry in the clashes. According to eyewitnesses in As-Sabra neighborhood, clashes erupted as a group of policemen attempted to a prevent public gun sex shooting into the air from a house belonging to Dughmush family and to remove flags from the top of that house. "Here, you Dogmushes! Knock it off! That's indecent! And get those flags down!" "Piss off, coppers! We got a Legitimate Right™ to shoot off!"" As the police left, they came under fire which left three of them injured. [KAPOW!] "Take that, coppers!" Immediately, back-up police forces arrived, besieged the area and set fire to the house. "SWAT team, reporting for duty, sir!" "Burn 'em out!" Clashes lasted from 2 to 5:00 am. "What time is it, Ahmed?" "4:45, sir!" "Okay. You can call the fire department." Fierce clashes erupted also at Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood between the de facto government's police and gun men from Hillis family near the home of Fatah's leader Ahmad Hillis. As a result, a member of Hillis family was killed and several others were injured including policemen. The deceased is believed to be Ahmad Hillis's nephew. "They bumped off little Mustafa!" "He was just a lad!" "Aye! A dangerous lad, too!" "We must have Dire Revenge™!" Earlier on Monday evening, Gaza Strip witnessed bloody clashes in different areas between Fatah' supporters and the Hamas-affiliated police leaving behind 6 people dead and many injured. [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!] "Hot damn! These clashes are really bloody!" "Call for more ammunition!" "Yes sir, I'll get the ambulance here right away!" Palestinian medical sources named the deceased as Thabit Hillis from Ash-Shuja'iyya, Hussain Mushtahi aged 25, Mahmoud Taha 35, and Umar Asfur 20 (police officer), in addition to a child named Muhammad Abu Al-Wafa and an elderly man Muhammad Abu Dalkh aged 61. "They banged Muhammad Abu Dalkh!" "Dead, is he?" "Yar. Deader'n a rock!" "That's the way he'da wanted to go!" "He wuz a dangerous old man!" Fatah and Hamas traded accusations and each side blamed the other holding him responsible for the bloody clashes. "They started it!" "Did not!" "Did, too!"

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Google Earth used to target Israel

2007-10-25

(Al-Aksa's Gaza commander) Abu Walid insists there is no contradiction between his group's actions and talk of peace by Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader Palestinian militants are using Google Earth to help plan their attacks on the Israeli military and other targets, the Guardian has learned. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group aligned with the Fatah political party, say they use the popular internet mapping tool to help determine their targets for rocket strikes. "We obtain the details from Google Earth and check them against our maps of the city centre and sensitive areas," Khaled Jaabari, the group's commander in Gaza who is known as Abu Walid, told the Guardian. Bringing up archive footage of rocket launches on his computer, he said that the group had modified the homemade rockets to travel longer distances by cultivating salt from the sea. "It's a secret process, but we're very excited by the results." Abu Walid showed the Guardian an aerial image of the Israeli town of Sderot on his computer to demonstrate how his group searches for targets. The Guardian filmed an al-Aqsa test rocket launch, fired into an uninhabited area of the Negev desert, last month. Despite the crudeness of the weapons, many have landed in Sderot, killing around a dozen people in the last three years and wounding scores more. Al-Aqsa is one of several militant groups firing rockets, known as Qassams, from Gaza into Israel. A rocket attack by Islamic Jihad on a military base last month wounded more than 50 soldiers. Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine Qassam Brigades, is not believed to be firing rockets. Abu Walid insists there is no contradiction between his group's actions and talk of peace by Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader. No quote here, he just "insists". Presumably the Grauniad chose not to report the Legitimate Right(tm) to Resist(tm) by Israel's partner in peace. Bringing up archive footage of rocket launches on his computer, he said that the group had modified the homemade rockets to travel longer distances by cultivating salt from the sea. "It's a secret process, but we're very excited by the results." The Google Earth mapping program includes satellite maps and detailed 3D models of some areas. Although the satellite images are only updated on an irregular basis - meaning that pictures of mobile targets would be unusable - some defence experts have said the easy availability of information can increase the risks for military organisations. "There is a constant threat of reconnaissance missions to access our bases and using these internet images is just another method of how this is conducted," said British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge earlier this year. It is not the first time that Google has been accused of unwittingly abetting the activities of militant groups or terrorist organisations. In January, British officials claimed that insurgents sympathetic to al-Qaida were using aerial photography in Google Earth to locate potential targets inside British bases around the southern Iraqi city of Basra. When asked about the use of Google Earth by al-Aqsa militants, Google said it was aware of potential problems, but would not comment specifically on the case. "We have paid close attention to concerns that Google Earth creates new security risks," said the company in a statement. "The imagery visible on Google Earth and Google Maps is not unique: commercial high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world is widely available from numerous sources. Indeed, anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain similar information." The company would not confirm whether it had received requests from the Israeli government to block certain images or areas inside Google Earth, but said it was committed to working with officials to take public safety into account. "Google has engaged, and will continue to engage, in substantive dialogue with recognised security experts and relevant agencies worldwide," it said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Arab skepticism about "peace" conference rising

2007-10-08

While certain Arab countries are preparing to attend the Middle East peace scheduled for November, the countries on the front line in the struggle against Israel are saying they doubt the conference will produce any positive results. Naturally, this is the Teheran Times opinion. As usual, I'm struck by the fact that Iran and its puppet states — Syria, Hezbollah, and Paleostine — never actually evince any desire for peace (the quotes around the word are in the original headline). They'll reference the peace process or peace talks or what have you, but never peace itself. Notice also that giving in to their Just Demands™ and letting them exercise their Legitimate Rights™ still won't lead to peace. Negotiations, in this mind set, are merely a method of getting things, rather like raiding. Once the things are gotten, the "peace processor" can be fed some more demands. All parties concerned are quite aware of the cynicism of the process, with one side hoping that someday the other side will see the light, and the other side hoping that someday the other side drops dead and rots... Palestine, the alleged focus of the Arab-Israeli peace talks, is experiencing very difficult times. With the Zionist army’s intensified assaults on unarmed civilians in Gaza and over 50,000 Palestinian fighters on alert to respond to Israeli attacks, the future of Palestine looks bleak. The escalation of the conflict between the Fatah movement, led by Mahmoud Abbas, and the Hamas movement, led by Ismail Haniya, has divided Palestine into two rival blocs, which is one of the goals the Zionist regime has always pursued. Israel is making efforts to intensify the conflict in order to weaken the Hamas Islamic resistance movement and to bring about the physical and political elimination of Hamas at the hands of its rival, Fatah, with the long-term goal of removing from the scene all of Palestine’s dedicated Islamic-nationalist leaders in the political and military spheres. Israel and the Fatah movement have imposed an economic embargo on Gaza, and this has divided Palestinian society into supporters and opponents of the Palestinian Authority. If it were not for the Hamas leaders’ vigilance and patience, a full-scale civil war would have already broken out in Palestine. In such an atmosphere, the participation of Palestinians in the Middle East peace conference will not lead to the desired results. History has shown that every decision that would secure the Palestinians’ inalienable rights is always rejected by Israel. In addition, there is never any mechanism to enforce decisions made at such conferences. In the 1993 Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the Palestinians, it was agreed that Palestine would become an independent state in 2005, but the Zionist regime still refused to implement this article of the accord and a few others. Clearly, Israel will never give any concessions to the Arabs as long as the momentum of events in the region is not in favor of Arab countries. Meanwhile, Syria has recently announced that it will not attend the Middle East conference if the occupation of the Golan Heights is not on the agenda. The Syrian leadership has also criticized international organizations, including the United Nations, for their silence in regard to the recent escalation of violence, saying it tacitly gives Israel a green light to continue its aggression against regional Arab countries. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has warned about Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the occupied territories, adding that lasting peace can never be established in the region as long as excavations in the environs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque continue. Other Arab countries that have announced their intention to attend the conference only have secondary roles in the Arab-Israeli conflict. When important players like Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria are skeptical about the prospects for the conference, the participation of other Arab countries will not have much effect on the Middle East peace process. In light of the fact that Israel has refused to implement over 180 UN Security Council resolutions about the situation in Palestine, it can be predicted that the Zionist regime will most likely refuse to accept the decisions made at the upcoming peace conference. Israel wants to establish diplomatic relations with Arab countries without giving them any concessions, and that is the real reason it is so keen to attend this so-called peace conference. And the U.S. neocons want to use the Middle East peace conference as a propaganda tool for the 2008 presidential election campaign. With all of the participants seeking their own interests, at the expense of the Palestinians, it seems that the front line Arab states’ skepticism about the conference is justified

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Ahmadinutjob sez: Iran safest place for investment

2007-08-22

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the Islamic Republic is the most secure country in the world for making investments. "Requests for making investments in Iran have had an upward trend. The volume of Iran's trade dealings with other countries has also been increasing," Ahmadinejad said at a meeting with Iranian nationals residing in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday. The chief executive went on to say that entrepreneurs from many countries including Malaysia, China and Spain are willing to put substantial amounts of money into Iran projects and are confident about the security of their investment. Elsewhere in his remarks, the president said, "Iran has managed to go through the arduous process of achieving industrial-scale nuclear fuel production thanks to the Resistance™ of the Iranian people and the consensus over the nuclear program. No one can stop this from moving ahead." "All those initially against Iran accessing nuclear technology for peaceful aims acknowledge the Legitimate Right™ of the Iranian nation today. But it is difficult for them to admit their mistake due to their arrogance," he stated. The President gave assurances that those with ill intentions can no longer cause troubles for Iran. He added, "The ill-disposed were concerned about Iran reaching the zenith of knowledge and success in its nuclear fuel technology because they were well aware that such achievement would change the international equations in favor of the world's nations." President Ahmadinejad arrived in Baku on Tuesday for a two-day working visit at the head of a political and economic delegation.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Bears eat man at beer festival

2007-08-20

BELGRADE, Serbia (Rooters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival. The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it. "There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters. Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans. So it was a Legitimate Right To Resistance™ from the harassed bears, after all, or this guy's drunken pals were not very good at rescue missions...

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Armed militias obstacle to Palestinian state

2007-08-17

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The continued existence of armed militias is an obstacle to the promised Palestinian state, Western-backed prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday. Reeeeeeeaaally? Ya think? “Building towards statehood and independence on the one hand, and continuing to tolerate armed militias on the other, are two mutually exclusive paths that will never meet,” Fayyad said in an interview with the foreign press. “We are learning that from experience. We need to deal with this. That’s the key principle that needs to be understood, and understood clearly, and that has to be implemented. Nonsense. The Paleo Bill of Right® Amendments 1 through infinity clearly states that the Right® of being necessary to keep and bear free Arms to a Militia and shall not be infringed by the regulated security people of any State. Also, death to Israel! By the way, those are Legitimate Rights™. “Today that’s what we are beginning to do in the West Bank and that is something that should be generalised. We simply cannot go back to a situation where matters are taken into the hands of the people acting outside of the... Palestinian authority. This is the key requirement,” he said in the wide-ranging interview in English at his Ramallah office. What did he say in Arabic? Saying that actions done in the name of armed resistance had hurt the Palestinian cause, Fayyad said his government was committed to “non-violent steadfastness.” “We know that practices that were engaged in under this heading of armed resistance were most detrimental to our cause,” he said. “To me, a child scaling a checkpoint trying to go to his school is a form of resistance. It’s non-violent steadfastness. That’s our programme.”

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas: Response attacks a 'right'

2007-04-26

The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said the Palestinian resistance movement has a right to attack Israeli-occupied territories. "It's a Legitimate Right™!" "We must have Dire Revenge™!" ".........and a pony!" "Israel has killed over ten Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past few days as it continues its crimes against the Palestinians," said Abu Obeidah, the spokesman for the Izzedine Qassam Brigades. Abu Obeidah supported the recent retaliatory missile attacks of the Izzedine Qassam Brigades against Israel, saying as long as there is occupation, there will be "resistance". The Izzedine Qassam Brigades officially announced on Tuesday that Israel had put an end to their five-month ceasefire agreement by killing Palestinians in its latest air raids. The announcement criticized Israel for not ending its aggression against Palestinians despite the ceasefire agreement in November 2006.

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Bangladesh

Dulu sued again over JMB

2007-04-10

Detained former deputy minister for land Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu has been sued yet again for unleashing the militants of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and his own goons for torturing scores of people to avenge his nephew's murder. Torture victim Selim Reza of Ramsa Kajipur, also the home village of Dulu, filed the case on Sunday night with Natore Sadar police station also accusing 21 others. Dulu surrendered to a Dhaka court on February 20 and now facing a total of 16 cases including six for his alleged links with militancy. Among the other accused, Abdul Quddus Mondol, an alleged militant, and Dulu's associate Ward Commissioner Sadrul Islam Dumbell were arrested a few weeks ago. "Sadrul Islam Dumbell"? I swear to Gawd, I did not make that up. Dulu's goons Dalim, Dollar, Lion, Saiful, Tutul, W, Minu, Malek, Babu, Golap, Dewan Shahin, Babul Chowdhury, Mostafizur Rahman Shahin, Sohel and alleged militants Abdur Razzak Shah, Amzad, Kawsar, Hazraat Ali, Makbul Master and Ataur Rahman were also accused in the case. The plaintiff alleged in his case that Dulu's nephew Sabbir Ahmed Gama was killed on February 7, 2004 and in retaliation Dulu let loose the militants of JMB along with his own squad of goons to torture and harass his own and his family's political and social rivals. In the morning of April 18, 2004 about 70 to 80 militants equipped with firearms and sharp weapons, and led by recently executed second in command of JMB Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai entered Natore town via Station Bazar on motorcycles, micro-buses and trucks. They gathered at Dulu's Alaipur home where the former BNP lawmaker had a meeting with Bangla Bhai. Local BNP leaders and senior police officials were also present there during the 30 to 40 minutes meeting, the plaintiff alleged. In the meeting, Bangla Bhai promised Dulu that he would avenge the murder of Gama. "Yes! We will have Dire Revenge™! It is our Legitimate Right™!" Later Dulu and Bangla Bhai openly addressed the militants in front of Dulu's home and told them that they would start from that day operations against 'outlaws', for which Dulu would provide all types of support. Then Bangla Bhai and his men went to Naldanga in Natore and started the torture operation setting up a camp for the purpose at Akkelpur Bot Tola of Ramsa Kajipur. Several hundred people including Mohidul Khan, Saiful, Shahidul, Dulal, Abdus Sattar and Abdul Mazid were abducted and tortured there with pepper mixed hot water and pins, Selim alleged. Armed goons of Dulu allegedly kidnapped Selim from the old bus stand in Natore town on April 16, 2006 and took him to a field behind the local PDB office. They beat him up and continued torturing him by shoving burning cigarettes into his nostrils. They also inquired about Selim's father Jahirul Haq Shah and his brothers Sazzad and Sohag who had been 'intentionally' accused in Gama murder case, the plaintiff alleged. At one stage of the torture, Dewan Shahin made a phone call to Dulu sitting on Selim's chest and asked for his instructions about the prisoner. After the phone call, the alleged torturers demanded Tk 1 lakh toll from Selim for training JMB militants. Selim paid Tk 32,000 to save his life. Selim was later handed over to police and implicated in Gama murder case. Selim went to his sister Sathi after being freed on bail following a 7-day stay in jail. Sathi told Selim that she had phoned Dulu after his arrest and the former deputy minister from BNP told her that his men had tortured her brother and handed him over to police.

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Iraq

Militants attack Iraqi, U.S. forces with chlorine bombs

2007-03-28

If the tactic is filthy, if it's dishonorable, if it's against the laws of God, man, war and preferably common sense, it becomes their Legitimate Right™. Insurgents with two chlorine truck bombs attacked a local government building in Falluja in western Iraq on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks using the poisonous gas, the U.S. military said. It said 15 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blasts and many more suffered chlorine poisoning. "Numerous Iraqi soldiers and policemen are being treated for symptoms such as labored breathing, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting that are synonymous with chlorine inhalation," a U.S. statement said. It said no Iraqi or U.S. forces were killed in what it called a "complex attack" using mortars and small arms as well as the truck bombs. Chlorine gas was widely used in World War One but its use in insurgent attacks in Iraq has particular resonance there. Saddam Hussein attacked Kurdish areas with chemical weapons in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. Earlier Iraqi police said two car bombs exploded near an Iraqi checkpoint outside a U.S. military base in Falluja, killing eight Iraqi soldiers. U.S. spokesman Lieutenant Shawn Mercer said the U.S. statement referred to the same incident but he could not confirm the deaths of the Iraqi policemen. "Iraqi police identified the first suicide attacker and fired on the truck, causing it to detonate before reaching the compound," the U.S. statement said. "Iraqi Army soldiers spotted the second suicide truck approaching the gate and engaged it with small arms fire, causing it to also detonate near the entrance of the compound." U.S. commanders and the Iraqi government have blamed al Qaeda militants for several recent attacks using chlorine gas in Anbar, a restive mainly Sunni Arab province in western Iraq. "The extent of the injuries from the inhalation is varied. It was very light to more severe. As far as we know none life-threatening at this point," Mercer said. On March 17, insurgents deployed three chlorine car bombs on one day near Falluja and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. Chlorine, which is turned from solid or liquid form to a gas by the blast, causes severe burns when inhaled and can cause death. The U.S. military said it discovered an al Qaeda car bomb factory last month near Falluja with chlorine tanks.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas denies Israeli reports of smuggling Sagger missiles into Gaza

2007-02-23

The military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Thursday denied Israeli reports that it had obtained Soviet-made anti-tank missiles in Gaza. The denial came in response to a report by the Israeli Ha'aretz daily that Hamas militants smuggled Sagger missiles into Gaza from Egypt. But Abu Obaida, spokesman for Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, insisted that the Palestinian resistance have the right to get such missiles and more advanced rockets. It's a Legitimate Right™... He said that the brigades has been developing homemade weapons to fight against "the Zionist enemy which always announces intentions to launch wide aggression against the Gaza Strip." He said that Hamas militants have made progress in this regard, terming the progress as "a tangible development in Palestinian resistance." Israel and the Palestinians agreed on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip last November. Hamas committed itself to the deal and stopped rocket attacks against southern Israel.

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