Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Iran says shot down two spy planes in Gulf: report

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has shot down two unmanned western reconnaissance drone aircraft in the Gulf, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday.
"Many spy planes and ultra-modern aircrafts of our enemies have been shot down (by our forces) ... We have also shot down two spy planes in the Persian Gulf," said commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the elite forces' aerospace unit.
"But it is the first time we are announcing it."
He did not say when the aircraft had been shot down, but described them as "western drone reconnaissance" aircraft.
Iran is at odds with major powers over its nuclear activities, which the United States and its allies suspect are intended to enable Iran to produce nuclear bombs. Iran denies the allegations and says it wants only to generate electricity.
The United States and Israel, Iran's main foes, do not rule out military action if diplomacy fails to end the nuclear row.
Hajizadeh said the enemies -- a term used by Iranian authorities for the United States and its allies -- had been using the drones mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"But there has been cases of violations of our airspace by their drones," the commander said.
Iran has dismissed reports of possible U.S. or Israeli plans to strike Iran, but says it would respond by attacking U.S. interests and Israel if any such assault was made.
Analysts say Tehran could retaliate by launching hit-and-run strikes in the Gulf and by closing the Strait of Hormuz. About 40 percent of all traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic waterway.
"All their military bases are completely within Iran's missile range ... We have full control of our enemies and notice any changes taking place on our shores," Hajizadeh said.
Iran often launches military drills in the country to display its military capabilities amid persistent speculation about a possible U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Alongside the regular army, Iran has a Revolutionary Guards force viewed as guardians of the Islamic ruling system. The Guards have a separate command and their own air, sea and land units, but often work with the regular military.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Matthew Jones)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Iran hangs man convicted of spying for Mossad: IRNA

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran on Tuesday hanged an Iranian convicted of spying for the Islamic Republic's arch foe Israel, the official IRNA news agency quoted a statement from the judiciary as saying.
Ali Akbar Siadat was found guilty of relaying sensitive data to Mossad, having worked for the Israeli intelligence agency since 2004. He was arrested four years later when he tried to leave Iran with his wife.
Iran and Israel have been enemies since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and Tehran periodically announces the arrest of people suspected of spying for Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize.
"Ali Akbar Siadat, who spied for Israel's Mossad, was hanged inside the Evin prison (in Tehran) this morning," IRNA said.
"He was convicted of corruption on Earth, confronting the Islamic Republic and strengthening the Zionist regime (Israel)."
"Siadat confessed receiving $60,000 for transferring classified information to Mossad on Iran's military activities," IRNA said. The statement said he had been given "special equipment including a laptop" to contact Mossad.
IRNA said Siadat met Israeli agents in Turkey, Thailand and the Netherlands among other countries. He gave them information on Iran's military drills, military bases, military aircraft as well as missile systems operated by the Revolutionary Guards, the news agency said.
A convicted Iranian, Ali Ashtari, was hanged in Iran in 2008 for working with Mossad. Israel denied any links with the case.
Iran often accuses Israel and the United States of trying to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
Israel, believed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, sides with the United States and its allies in accusing Iran of seeking to build atomic weapons of its own.
Iran denies this, saying it wants to use nuclear power to generate electricity.
Israel has not ruled out military strikes on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the stand off over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iran has vowed to retaliate to any strikes with missile salvoes on Israel and U.S. targets in the Gulf.
IRNA also said Ali Saremi, a member of the exiled opposition group the Mujahideen Khalq Organization, was hanged for various offences, including "moharebe" or waging war against God.
Under Iran's penal code, imposed since its 1979 Islamic revolution, espionage and waging war against God can carry the death penalty.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)

UAE considered keeping Hamas hit under wraps: WikiLeaks


DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates chose to release details of a Hamas leader's assassination in Dubai nearly a year ago, after deciding silence would be seen as siding with Israel, U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks showed.
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in an hotel room -- which UAE police said was very likely the work of Israel's Mossad spy agency -- was carried out in January by a team using forged passports and disguises.
"The two options discussed were to say nothing at all, or to reveal more or less the full extent of the UAE's investigations," U.S. Ambassador Richard Olson wrote in a diplomatic cable, citing a conversation with a UAE government media adviser.
Saying nothing "would have been perceived as protecting the Israelis," the ambassador wrote. The cables released on the WikiLeaks website show the hit was discussed for nine days at the highest levels before being released to the public.
"The statement was carefully drafted not to point any fingers, but the reference ... to a gang with Western passports will be read locally as referring to the Mossad," Olson wrote.
Israel has said there was no proof that its intelligence agency was behind the murder, which eliminated a Hamas leader suspected of smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip.
Dubai officials were not immediately available for comment on the cables.
As Dubai splashed details of the hit, complete with surveillance camera footage and passport scans, a diplomatic row erupted since many of the suspected assassins were traveling on forged European passports.
The cables, written soon after the assassination, do not reveal the identities of the agents. But Dubai's police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim had said he expected they would show that Mossad was involved in the murder.
"The documents will surely prove to those who doubted us," Tamim said, Gulf News quoted him as saying in a report last Friday.
(Reporting by Martina Fuchs; editing by David Stamp)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

American tourist stabbed to death in Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An American tourist was stabbed to death and another woman wounded while hiking in foothills outside Jerusalem, Israeli police said on Sunday.
"We are examining whether this is a nationalistic stabbing, but other leads are being examined as well," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, using Israel's term for an attack by Palestinian militants.
Kaye Wilson, a Briton who immigrated to Israel, said she and Christine Logan, a visitor from the United States, were attacked by two Arab men while hiking on Saturday south of Jerusalem in an area near Israel's border with the occupied West Bank.
"All of a sudden two Arabs walked by and they asked me in Hebrew if I had any water. So I said, dismissively, 'see ya'. But I immediately felt that something was wrong," Wilson told Israel's Channel Two TV from her hospital bed.
"I was scared, but my friend became a bit hysterical, so I told her in English -- they spoke in Arabic -- 'be quiet, don't make any noise, it'll make them attack us,'" she said.
"Suddenly, they came, it happened so quickly. They attacked us. One of them took out a very long knife, not a bread knife, but one that was serrated," Wilson said.
"I played dead. I saw (the knife) hadn't gone into my heart. My friend was dying, I heard her making gurgling sounds."
Wilson, who was stabbed several times, managed to reach a parking area where people called the police, who mounted an overnight search for Logan. Her bound body was found early on Sunday.
Police identified Logan as an American but gave no hometown.
(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Huge Israel forest fire kills dozens: rescue services


HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – A huge fire swept through a forest in northern Israel on Thursday, killing up to 40 people, many of them prison guards who were trapped in a bus trying to flee the flames, security services said.
Israel called on Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Russia to send aircraft to help them battle the blaze, which was raging out of control on hills approaching the city of Haifa more than seven hours after it first took hold.
Local fire services mobilized emergency crews from across the country, and fire trucks tried desperately to reach the scene, weaving through heavy rush hour traffic as night fell.
"It's a disaster on a scale that we have never seen before," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"We are harnessing all the forces of the state to deal with this disaster and rescue those who are injured and to stop the fire," he added.
At least 2,000 people were evacuated from local towns and villages as the flames leapt through the dense, pine woodland, fanned by strong winds off the Mediterranean sea.
A collective farm, Kibbutz Beit Oren, was razed to the ground and television showed pictures of a bus and car, which had been carrying prison guards and rescuers when they were engulfed by the flames. Both vehicles were gutted.
Click image to see photos of the forest fire

AFP/Moran Mayan
"ENORMOUS DISASTER"
"There are a lot of casualties. We are talking of about 40 people," said Police Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, adding that a handful of people were still missing.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for national police, said two of those missing were police officers and that a senior commander of the Haifa force had been critically injured.
The Magen David Adom paramedics confirmed just 22 deaths.
"What is happening here behind us is there's a fire that is blazing out of control, moving toward the west ... It is an enormous disaster," Aharonovitch added.
Israeli media said it was the biggest forest fire in the country's history, with some 7,000 acres of land destroyed.
Some 500 inmates from the local Damon prison were moved to safety in the early afternoon as the blaze spread.
A jail official said guards from around Israel had been attending a course at the penitentiary and had been driven straight into the flames in their doomed bid to escape danger.
Some Israeli news sites said the prison guards had been heading toward to the prison trying to help with the general evacuation when they were surprised by the fast-moving blaze.
Israeli media said the fire started around midday, possibly in an illegal dumping ground in the Carmel Hills.
Israel has experienced unseasonably hot weather for months and it was the driest November in 60 years, meaning the flames were able to spread quickly through the tinder-dry countryside.
"We've lost control. I am asking all firefighters throughout Israel to phone in and report for duty," said Reshef Hezi Levi, spokesman for the Haifa area firefighters.
(Additional reporting by Douglas Hamilton)
(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Myra MacDonald)