At Least 75 Killed, Many More Trapped and Injured After Magnitude 7.2 Quake Rocks Eastern Turkey

AFP Photo

At least 75 people were reported killed and many more feared trapped in collapsed buildings after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolted the mountainous province of Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday.

Up to 30 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10 buildings collapsed in Van, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said.

Rescuers in Ercis scrambled to find survivors in a flattened eight-story building that had shops on the ground floor, television footage showed. Residents sobbed outside the ruins, hoping that missing relatives would be rescued.

"My wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!" CNN-Turk television showed one young man crying.

Witnesses said eight people were rescued from the rubble, but frequent aftershocks were hampering search efforts, CNN-Turk reported.

"There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed. There is too much destruction," Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis, told NTV television. "We need urgent aid. We need medics."

The quake's epicenter was in the village of Tabanli, 10 miles from Van.

Between the aftershocks and the number of people feared trapped in some of the collapsed buildings, the death toll is expected to rise. Authorities had no word on damages or casualties from the remote villages in the region, but local officials beginning to assess damage via helicopter.

Libya's Interim Prime Minister: Ghdaffi is Dead

The Prime minister for Libya's interim government announced today that Libyan strongman Mummar Ghdaffi has been killed by rebel fighters in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.

Qaddafi died of wounds suffered during his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, according to a spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).

"Qaddafi is dead. He is absolutely dead ... he was shot in both legs and in the head. The body will be arriving in Misrata soon," media spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News.

Earlier, a man who claimed to have witnessed the attack told the Associated Press Television News that he struck Qaddafi with his shoes after he was shot.

Footage aired on Arabian TV showed a captured and wounded Ghdaffi bleeding as he was pinned against a truck's hood before being jostled and shoved by rebel fighters who were firing into the air and shouting "Allahu Akhbar! [God is Great]".

Now, before we get all warm and fuzzy [dare I say hopey-changey? NANESB!] lets not forget that an exiled Libyan Jew who was working to restore a Tripoli synagogue was threatened by masked men brandishing rifles earlier this month. There is also the matter of Libyan rebels arbitrarily rounding up and detaining black men and as many as 20,000 Russian-made shoulder-launched missiles in Ghdaffi's military arsenal that are now unaccounted for.

Still, the Libyan dictator's demise comes as not only good news to a number of Libyans, but also the family members of those killed in Lockerbie, Scotland when Libyan agents blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. Five Bulgarian nurses who were working in Libya before being detained by the Ghdaffy regime in 1999 and accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV in a show trial also welcomed the news of Ghdaffi's demise. In 2007 Mummar Ghdaffi's son admitted that the nurses were tortured in order to obtain a confession.


Exit question- what exactly is the status of Ghdaffi's all 'Grrrl' bodyguard squad? Were they captured or die with their leader in Sirte? I get the feeling the smarter of the Ghdaffi 'Grrl Power' squad are currently referred to as 'Rebel/Interim Government spokeswoman'.

UPDATE: This slideshow from Al-Bawaba offers some insight into the women of Ghdaffi's inner circle- both Arab and European- leading up to the civil war, including the bodyguard squad.

Libya Endgame? Reports of Ghdaffi's Death Circulate As Rebles Encircle Tripoli

Rebels seeking to oust Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffi have advanced to the outskirts of the capitol city of Tripoli while managing to cut off fuel and supplies not even a week after seizing the Western coastal city of Zawiyah.



Aided by NATO airstrikes and ferrying in weapons and supplies by tugboat, rebels surrounded the capital and began an assault on Ghdaffi's remaining stronghold on Sunday. Amid reports circulating that he had been killed, the defiant Libyan leader made a brief audio statement in state-run TV claiming that the rebel 'rats and vermin' in Tripoli 'have been eliminated'.



Rebel forces announced that they had captured one of Ghdaffi's sons, Seif al Islam Ghdaffi, in a raid that thrust into downtown Tripoli. The rebels had also been arming themselves after forces loyal to Ghdaffi abandoned checkpoints and arms depots in the suburbs around the city.



The rebel assault on the capital began on Saturday night at the Ben Nabi mosque near the heart of the city. As worshippers inside the mosque barricaded themselves and used the loudspeaker system to chant antigovernment slogans, loyalist troops converged and opened fire on the building. Rebels and local residents then moved in and attacked the Ghdaffi loyalists with machine guns and molotov cocktails, driving them back. From there, the rebels moved into Green Square and in a largely symbolic maneuver, raised the pre-Ghdaffi royal flag of Libya (below) that the rebels have adopted during the months-long uprising.



Green Square is where Ghdaffi held military parades and state-sponsored rallies throughout his rule.



From there, the rebels reportedly withdrew- but not before sending text messages and using mosque loudspeakers to call for a general uprising against the Ghdaffi regime. One rebel spokesman said that a small number of fighters and several caches of arms on the roads into and out of Tripoli were smuggled into the city in the days and weeks before the uprising.



Both the rebels and many international observes note that the rebel encirlcement of Libya represents an unprecedented challenge to Ghdaffi's 41 year rule, and that the collapse of his regime is only a matter of days if not hours.

Al Gore: USA Needs Its Own 'Arab Spring'

Appearing on Countdown With Keith Olberman for the second night in a row, which airs on his own Current TV, former vice president Al Gore declared in an interview with the host that the USA needed it's own "Arab spring", referring to the popular uprisings that toppled long-ruling autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

The comments came in response to the debt ceiling legislation that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Monday.

Gore said the new law demands the “reinvigoration of democracy” or an “American spring,” to get the country back on what he thinks is the right course

“[I] want to focus on one particular suggestion you had about using the wonderful digital tools that are newly available for the reinvigoration of democracy,” Gore said. “Now, they have been around for a while, but they are spreading far and wide and more people are getting involved. We need to have an American spring — you know, the Arab spring. The non-violent part of it isn’t finished yet, but we need to have an American spring, a kind of an American non-violent change where people on the grassroots get involved again. Not the, you know, not in the Tea Party-style.”

Gore took his attack to favorite left-wing targets: the Fox News Channel, and David and Charles Koch.

“There are people who are genuinely upset in the Tea Party,” Gore continued. “I understand that, but that movement was funded with seed money from right-wing billionaires, the Koch Brothers, and promoted on Fox News and turned into a stalking horse for this right-wing agenda that a lot of people have been trying to push on this country for a long time.”

According to the former vice president, this movement was instituted behind the scenes to clear the government out of the way of special interests.

“What’s sacrosanct for them is to have absolutely no tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. They are at a low level now. And to try to shrink down government so they can get it out of the way of powerful corporations and special interests so they can have free rein,” Gore said. “And the Supreme Court, of course, has now declared that they are persons and to make these secret contributions

[Is it just me, or does Gore seem particularly bitter when the words 'Supreme Court' come up?- NANESB!]

So to sum up what Al Gore has to say, if you don't like a costly, ever-expanding and increasingly invasive and unaccountable government, then you are on on the payroll of the Koch brothers or Rupert Murdoch.

In other words, Gore is basically arguing that the ruling party in America be given more power and less people should question or protest their activities, lest they be considered dupes of the Koch Brothers or- according to Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania congressman Mide Doyle (D-PA14)- terrorists. It's Gore's own network, so he cen be as wrong as he wants on it while an adoring Keith Olberman puts on his best 'Look at me, aren't I a serious journalist like Edward R Murrow?' face, but last time I checked I'm well within my rights to point out Gore's flawed comparisons and his just plain being wrong.

Gore's call for an 'Arab spring' style uprising (not all of them are peaceful, as we can see) is based on the supremely flawed premise that the protesters would turn up en masse to support the ruling party. Were all those demonstrators in Tunisia or Cairo's Tahrir Square this spring calling for MORE of Ben Ali or Hosni Mubarak? And that's to say nothing of some of the more disturbing developments that have been taking places in Egypt since Mubarak's ouster.

One has to wonder if the 2000 Presidential campaign changed Al Gore somehow or if this was the real Al Gore all along, successfully able to pass himself off as a moderate if bland official during his time as Senator, Vice President and Presidential candidate. I had my misgivings about Bush in 2000, but seemingly every utterance from Gore in recent years tends to vindicate W.

US, French Embassies in Damascus Stormed By Assad Loyalists

Nancy Pelosi visiting Bashr Al-Assad in 2007. Know them by the company they keep

An angry mob of Syrians loyal to president Bashr Al-Assad attacked the US Embassy on Monday, breaking windows, spray painting graffiti and raising a Syrian flag on US grounds. No embassy personnel were injured in the incident.

The State Department criticized Syrian authorities for their slow response to the incident and accused a Syrian TV station influenced by senior Ba'ath party officials of inciting the attack.

A French Foreign ministry reported that the France's Embassy in Damascus was attacked by a mob of Assad loyalists that forced their way onto the compound using a battering ram as Syrian security forces looked on. The crowd smashed windows on one of diplomatic vehicles and only dispersed after French guards fired warning shots in the air. Three embassy workers were reportedly injured in that assault.

AFP Photo

The attacks against the US and French embassies come a week after US Ambassador Robert Ford and French Ambassador Eric Chevallier visited Syrian opposition leaders in the restive city of Hama.

Assad Regime Crackdown Continues Amid Reports of Syrian Troops Defecting; Syrian Army Masses at Turkish Border

As troops loyal to the Bashr al-Assad regime continued their crackdown of anti government protesters, media reports claim that defecting soldiers and policemen are among the thousands of Syrian refugees streaming into southwestern Turkey.

Unwilling to open fire on demonstrators who have taken to the streets chanting the revolutionary slogans of uprisings across the Arab world, some Syrian troops have chosen to lay down their arms and flee to neighboring countries like Turkey.

It is difficult to estimate how many have done so, partly because they are afraid to speak out and partly due to severe restrictions on foreign media reporting in Syria, which makes it hard to corroborate accounts inside the country.

But Internet videos have begun increasingly to surface in recent weeks of men displaying military insignia and identification cards who say they have left an army that has used tanks and guns to suppress protesters calling for freedom.

Assad has relied on the armed forces, whose commanders are mostly from his minority Alawite sect, to crack down on protesters, who are mostly from the majority Sunni population.

Syrian troops have been massing along the Turkish border, occupying positions in border villages and attempting to block the flow of refugees to Turkey during the Assad regime's crackdown. The deteriorating situation within Syria has caused Turkish forces to be on aert and raised tensions across tge region.

ExxonMobil Announces Significant Oil Find in Gulf of Mexico After Chaotic OPEC Meeting in Vienna

Oil giant ExxonMobil [NYSE- XOM] announced on Wednesday a major discovery in the Gulf of Mexico that could yield as much as 700 million barrels of oil.

Exxon began exploratory drilling at the Hadrian prospect in 2009. The company had finished two wells at the site, located about 250 miles off the Louisiana coast in 7,000 feet of water, and had a rig on location and an approved permit to drill a new well when operations were halted due to the temporary moratorium after the BP oil spill last year.

In March, federal regulators signed off on Exxon's revised permit to drill the new well in the Keathley Canyon area of the Gulf, the company's first approved under the new regulatory regime put in place after last year's spill. The new well extends about 23,000 feet below the sea surface, and the rig is continuing to drill deeper, said company spokesman Patrick McGinn.

"We estimate a recoverable resource of more than 700 million barrels of oil equivalent combined in our Keathley Canyon blocks," Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, said in a statement. "This is one of the largest discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade. More than 85 percent of the resource is oil with additional upside potential."

The announcement came on the same day as a surprise announcement from the OPEC meetings in Vienna that the member states would leave production levels unchanged, causing a jump in oil prices.

OPEC officials said that because of a policy deadlock, the group will maintain present output ceilings with the option of meeting within the next three months to consider a hike.

"We are unable to reach consensus to ... raise our production," OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri told reporters, in comments reflecting unusual tensions in the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi called it "one of the worst meetings, we've ever had," while analysts covering OPEC for more than 20 years said they could not remember any other time that the normally closed group had admitted to such divisions in its ranks.

Some even saw the abortive meeting as a harbinger of demise for the organization, which produces more than a third of the world's petroleum.

"OPEC is ... on the point of break-up," said Marc Ostwald of Monument Securities. "A broader perspective is that the post World War II world order is fracturing in a spectacular fashion, be it the EU/Eurozone, the World Bank/IMF, (or) OPEC."

Other experts were less outspoken but agreed Wednesday's outcome would weaken the image of OPEC as a major regulator of oil markets.

The news caught markets by surprise, sending oil prices sharply higher. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up $1.25 to $100.34 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading lower ahead of the OPEC meeting.

Saudi Arabia and other influential Gulf nations had pushed to increase production ceilings to calm markets and ease concerns that crude was overpriced for consumer nations struggling with their economies. Those opposed were led by Iran, the second-strongest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil minister Rafael Ramirez of Venezuela- like Iran, a price hawk - said there was a "very tight" discussion in OPEC, in comments to his nation's state media. Any production increase "could cause a collapse of our price," he added.

While the Saudis and the Iranians are frequently at loggerheads over pricing, past meetings normally fell in behind Saudi Arabia, which produces the lion's share of OPEC output. But this time, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry combined with major political and economic uncertainties to lead to deadlock.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria and Qatar were reportedly in favor of production increases while Iran, Venezuela, Angola, Ecuador and Iraq were opposed.

CNN Talking Head And Self Proclaimed Obama Foreign Policy Advisor: Founding Fathers, Constitution & American Exceptionalism Overrated

Last month, former Newsweek editor and current CNN talking head Fareed Zakaria had boasted that he had been advising President Obama on foreign policy matters concerning the Middle East.

One could be forgiven if one thought Zakaria's claims were mere bluster or hot air in an attempt to establish some credibility among peers in the media.

However, one look at this interview and I'm wholly convinced.

Note the derision and condescension directed at America's founding in Zakaria's smug monotone. After viewing that brief clip, I'm almost certain that not only is Zakaria advising President Obama on a number of domestic policy issues.

Although I'm just a lowly blogger and Zakaria is a highly-respected intellectual (who served as editor of a magazine that sold for $1), I would like to challenge Zakaria to find me what countries out there we're supposed to be learning from.

The European Union is an even bigger basketcase than the USA as far as finances and sovereign debt is concerned, with more productive countries like Germany and Holland having to bail out pseudo-welfare states like Spain or Greece.

While economic forces to be reckoned with, half the countries in the BRIC (Brazil/Russia/India/China) axis have an inglorious history of citizens being murdered by the millions in the last century- by their own governments, no less. While post-Apartheid South Africa didn't bring the full-fledged race war that so many had feared, high crime and the staggering murder rate has led to a massive 'brain drain' as sought-after professionals both black and white leave for more secure locales.

But like I said, as an intellectual Zakaria probably has an answer all lined up...perhaps even one of the aforementioned countries that he might view as a flawed gem. But I have one question for the naturalized citizen of America- and to be fair, it's the same question I ask of other American who hold similar views as he does: Why stay in America if you want it so badly to be like other countries?

President Obama calls for Palestinian State Along pre-1967 Borders

In a display that clearly indicated there was no American ally he wouldn't be willing to stab in the back, President Obama has endorsed long-standing Palestinian demands that a Palestinian state be set up along pre 1967 borders in a wide ranging speech regarding Middle East policy earlier today.

He also warned Palestinians that “efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure” and that they would “never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.”

He also chastised both sides for taking steps that don’t help the peace process.

“Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks,” he said. “The world looks at a conflict that has grinded on and on and on, and sees nothing but stalemate.”

[Umm....earth to Barry, the Palestinians have done MUCH worse than walking away from peace talks (or even building new apartments) in the past few weeks- NANESB!]

Should Israel go back to their pre-1967 borders, that would leave the Jewish state only 8 miles wide in some places, bordered by a belligerent Palestinian government seeking to unify with terrorist group Hamas (the same Hamas which condemned the killing of the islamic 'Holy Warrior' Osama Bin Laden) and replete with terrorists acquiring longer-range weapons with the Israelis holding less territory.

The only reason I'm not saying President Obama is throwing Israel under the bus is because the Palestinians have this tendency to blow up buses.

Not surprisingly, Israeli leaders are lukewarm on the President's suggestion. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Obama's proposal, saying that the boundaries would make Israel 'militarily indefensable'.

Israel has attempted 'Land for Peace' before, unilaterally withdrawing from the Gaza strip in 2005, only to be rewarded with a near-constant bombardment of southern Israeli border towns by Katusha rockets fired from the Gaza strip since then.

Exit question- What on God's green earth would make anybody who has been paying attention for the last 6 decades think that Israel should expect any semblance of peace from the Palestinians after giving up even MORE land?

Happy 63rd Birthday, Israel!

This week marks the 63rd anniversary of Israel's independence. What can I say about Israel that far more swift, competent and knowledgeable bloggers haven't already said about the Holy Land?

Israel being surrounded by hostile nations and the sea has meant that she has had to be on guard for constantly changing and evolving threats throughout her existence.

But even with the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over it's head, Israel has managed to develop a robust economy centering for the most part around the defense technology, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and tourism sectors.

The discovery of considerable natural gas deposits in the offshore Leviathan and Tamar basins earlier this year also is poised to put Israel at an advantage as far as energy is concerned, possibly making her a net exporter of energy for the first time in its history.

But there is so much more to Israel than thousands of years of history and a robust military industrial complex, there's also attractive young women in peak physical condition in snug olive-drab uniforms.

The Israeli military, known as the IDF, is the 11th largest in the world according to some sources. While some of the women depicted above would be ideal for IDF recruiting posters, it would actually be a wasted effort as the IDF has near-universal conscription for both men and women.

Yet the camera seems to love them nonetheless, and from the looks of it this is a relationship that so many of us can enjoy the fringe benefits from.

Days of Rage- Clashes, Assad Regime Crackdown Continues in Syria

Image from amateur video aired on Shaam News Network

Syrian tanks and infantry moved into the restive southern city of Daraa this week in a bid to quell continuing anti-government protests.

Water, electricity and lines of communication out of Daraa were cut as tanks and armoured vehicles opened fire on residential buildings. Prior to the Assad regime deploying soldiers and secret police to Daraa, the border with Jordan was shut down both south of Daraa and the border town of Naseeb. Bodies of residents were said to have remained in the streets or in vehicles after clashes with soldiers and secret policemen in plainclothes. Rights groups say that at least 60 of those took place on Friday's 'Day of Rage' protest

In the western part of Syria, Syrian troops have managed to wrest control of the city of Homs back from the protesters.

An exact body count was difficult to determine due to the ruling Ba'ath party's ban on foreign media, but observers and human rights groups have claimed that at least 450 civilians were killed nationwide in clashes with the military and police loyal to the Assad regime- and at least 60 of those in 'Day of Rage' protests after Friday prayers this week.

In Damascus, some 200 members of the ruling Ba'ath party have reportedly resigned en masse to protest the regime's handling of the current crisis [although this could be a self-serving move to distance themselves from the Assad regime should it eventually fall- NANESB!]

Here is Bashr al-Assad in happier and more serene days, meeting with then speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, not even two years after the Syrian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group assassinated outspoken anti-Syrian Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri with a car bomb in Beirut.

Palestinian Policeman Opens Fire on Jewish Pilgrims at Joseph's Tomb, Israeli Teen From Missile Attack on School Bus Dies From Wounds

One Israeli worshipper was killed and four others were wounded over the weekend when a uniformed policeman from the Palestinian Authority opened fire on them as they were leaving the West Bank town of Nablus after prayer services at Joseph's Tomb.

According to an IDF initial investigation, three vehicles containing Braslev worshipers entered the tomb in violation of a decree by the IDF's Central Command prohibiting entry of Israelis into Area A without prior coordination. A verbal confrontation ensued between the worshipers and the Palestinian policemen, who called on them to leave the area. The Breslev vehicles failed to stop at a checkpoint outside of the religious site, the investigation found. The policemen then fired shots in the air. The worshipers tried to flee the area, and their vehicles came under fire, killing Ben Yosef Livnat, 24, father of four, and wounding four others.

Following its own initial investigation, The IDF believes the PA policemen were fully aware that the men they fired on were Israeli worshipers who were unarmed and posed no threat despite entering the area without proper security coordination.

The Palestinian police officer who opened fire told investigators in the Palestinian security forces that he identified "suspicious" individuals and fired at them, the IDF said. The shooting took place in an area of Palestinian Authority security jurisdiction. The PA policeman was being interrogated by Palestinian security officers. Several hours after the incident, dozens of Palestinians rioted near Joseph's Tomb and set tires on fire, Israel Radio reported.

The shooting in Nablus comes a few days after the critically injured 16 year old passenger on a school bus hit by an anti-tank died from his wounds.

16-year-old Daniel Viflic died in the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva after his condition seriously deteriorated last week.

The missile hit the bus traveling near Kibbutz Sa'ad just moments after it had dropped off the rest of the school children, wounding Viflic and the bus driver, who was moderately wounded by shrapnel wounds in his leg.

Yitzhak Viflic, Daniel's father, thanked the doctors and the supporters of his family. "Daniel fought but passed away calmly. I am positive he is in a good place now."

Viflic was a resident of Beit Shemesh and studied in a yeshiva there. When he was wounded, he was on his way to the western Negev to visit his grandmother.

About a month before the attack on the Israeli school bus, five Israelis from the same family in the settlement of Itamar, including children aged11, 3 and a baby, were murdered by two Palestinians who broke into the home in the middle of the night. The Palestinian residents in the nearby Gaza strip town of Rafah reacted to news of the murders by celebrating and passing out sweets.

New Israeli Missile Defense System Combat Tested; Anti-Tank Weapon Fired at School Bus; Western Activist Kidnapped, Killed

Israel's new 'Iron Dome' short-range missile defense system enjoyed some early success last week after a battery in Ashkelon intercepted a Grad rocket that fired from the Gaza strip.

The system has three main components - a tracking radar to detect the incoming projectile, a battle management and control system, and the missile launchers themselves. The manufacturers (Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems) claim to be able to hit anything from a missile to a 155mm artillery shell in any weather condition. The system underwent comprehensive testing in late 2010 and was deemed operational by Defense Minister Ehud Barak last month.

Southern Israel has been bombarded by rockets and short range missiles from the Hamas controlled Gaza strip for the better part of the last decade, with the accuracy and payloads gradually increasing.
ELSEWHERE IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL: Shortly after the Iron Dome system's early success an anti-tank rocket was fired at an Israeli school bus in the Negev region along the Gaza border, wounding the driver and a 16 year old student on board. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack and the Israeli Defence Forces responded with artillery and helicopter gunships firing on targets inside the Gaza strip. The missile is thought to be a Russian-made Koronet- manufacture of the Koronet reportedly is only permitted inside Russia. The missile was reportedly sold to Syria and likely smuggled to the Gaza strip from there.

GAZA: The body of an Italian pro-Palestinian activist was found hanging in a Gaza apartment a few hours after he was abducted on Thursday. An al-Qaeda inspired Islamic group calling itself Monotheism and Holy War abducted 38 year old Vittori Arrigoni. He then appeared blindfolded and with cuts on his face in a video circulated online in which the group demanded Hamas released one of their jailed leaders hours before the International Solidarity Movement's activist body was found in the otherwise vacant apartment. Hamas claims it arrested two of the suspected kidnappers not far from where the body was found and were reportedly seeking a 3rd suspect.

Crackdown on Anti-Government Protests in Syria Intensify, Syrian Army Surrounds Mediterranean Port City

While the unrest and antigovernment demonstrations in North Africa, Bahrain and Yemen have been getting a good deal of attention in the media, it appears as though that the situation Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian Syria is escalating.

After clashes in the Northwestern port city of Banias killed four and wounded at least 17 on Sunday, units from the Syrian Army cut off electricity and ringed the city with troops and armor.

Map of protests and clashes in Syria over the last month- Wikimedia

Human rights groups have also alleged that Syrian troops fired live ammunition into a crowd of protesters at a funeral procession for 17 people killed during clashes in the southwestern city of Daraa over the weekend, reportedly killing another 28 opposition demonstrators. New York-based Human Rights Watch has also claimed that Syrian military and security officers were preventing medics from treating the wounded after clashes in Daraa and suburban Damascus over the weekend.

Syria has been officially under a state of emergency since 1963- even longer than Mubarak had been in power in Egypt. The state of emergency gives the Damascus government sweeping powers, including the ability to detain people for indefinite periods of time. The ruling Ba'ath party has held power in Syria since 1963 and the country has been governed by a member of the al-Assad family since 1971, with Bashar's father Hafez al-Assad ruling until his death in 2000.

Hafez al-Assad was also responsible for the 1982 Hama massacre, where the Syrian military bombarded and razed Hama's old city in retaliation for Muslim Brotherhood attacks on Syrian security forces and government workers. The lower estimates for the death toll in Hama at the time were in the neighborhood of 10,000- mostly civilians, although it was likely even higher thanks to the secretive nature of the al-Assad regime.

Kinetic Military Action Figure Update- Al Qaeda Looting Ghdaffy's Arsenals? Libyan Official Defects; Rebels, Qatar Bartering for Oil

LIBYA: NATO continued airstrikes against forced loyal to Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffi outside the eastern oil city of Brega, striking a convoy that was heading towards rebel positions as well as armour and surface to air missiles in Ghdaffi's hometown of Sitre. The city of Brega has changed hands between rebels and Ghdaffi loyalists no less than three times in the last month.

The faction of the Libyan military loyal to Ghdaffi have also adapted the rebel's tactics of mounting machine guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns on pickup or flatbed trucks. Not only does this give them a greater degree of mobility, but it also raises a problem for NATO pilots, as they would be much more difficult to distinguish from simlar rebel vehicles.

Amid reports that US and Egyptian special forces are covertly training rebel fighters in Eastern Libya [How covert is it if I'm reading about it on front the front pages of the International Business Times- I mean, really?- NANESB!] a senior Algerian security official has raised concerns that al-Qaeda has been exploiting the unrest in Libya to obtain weapons from Ghdaffy's arsenal for use elsewhere.

The senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a convoy of eight Toyota pick-up trucks left eastern Libya, crossed into Chad and then Niger, and from there into northern Mali where in the past few days it delivered a cargo of weapons.

The weapons included Russian-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and ammunition, he said.

He also said he had information that Al-Qaeda's north African wing, known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had acquired from Libya Russian-made shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles known by the NATO designation SAM-7.

"Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya) with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity" the official told Reuters "AQIM, which has maintained excellent relations with smugglers who used to cross Libya from all directions without the slightest difficulty, will probably give them the task of bringing it the weapons," said the official.

On top of that, a 2007 US raid against al Qaeda in Iraq yielded records on at least 600 foreign al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. Of those, an estimated 20% came from Libya- almost all of them from cities in the east that are now in rebel hands.

BBC Map showing first few days of NATO airstrikes

QATAR: The Liberian-flagged Suezmax tanker Equator arrived in the rebel-held eastern Libyan port of Marsa al Hariga on Tuesday, the first traffic since anti-Ghdaffy demonstrations began a few weeks ago.

The tanker's arrival comes shortly after the rebels announced a deal with the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar where the oil would be marketed by Qatar in exchange for food, medicine (and the rebels hope weapons and ammunition as well). The 'barter' arrangement means that Qatar is able to circumvent international sanctions against Libya.

UNITED KINGDOM: Former Libyan Foreign minister Moussa Koussa flew to England from Tunisia last Thursday and announced his defection from the Ghdaffi regime.

As head of Libya external intelligence, Mr Koussa was an MI6 [British intelligence]asset for almost two decades. He was charged with conducting negotiations over Libya's giving up its weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

He was notably uncomfortable in making public statements on behalf of the regime in recent weeks. One Libyan official said that Mr Koussa had deliberated timed his statements to present a "rational" argument in the immediate aftermath of Col Muammar Gaddafi's rambling statements on national television.

With his arrival in the UK, Scottish prosecutors have sought to interview Koussa regarding the Libyan regime's role in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people. At the time, Khoussa was head of Libya's Bureau for External Security (the Mathaba) which was implicated in the Lockerbie bombing as well as a 1986 bombing attack on a Berlin disco that killed 3 (including two American soldiers) and injured more than 200. Aside from the terrorist attacks against foreign interests, operatives from the Mathaba (often with Libyan diplomatic credentials) would also harass and threaten exiled Libyan opposition figures.

Since the uprising began, Ghdaffi has lost his interior minster and justice minister to the side of the rebels.

124 Killed In Southern Yemeni Munitions Factory Explosion

An explosion at an ammunition plant in Southern Yemen on Monday is said to have killed scores of civilians- some of them burned beyond recognition- who were looting the factory after anti-government militants seized control of the 7th of October plant and nearby town of Jaar before leaving with armoured vehicles and cases of weapons and ammunition.

After they left, nearby residents reportedly began taking down cables and doors from the factory while siphoning fuel from abandoned vehicles and dumping out containers of gunpowder so they could use them to store more water.

According to local residents, the cause of the blast appears to be accidental- something likely sparked the gunpowder stored at the facility.

Yemeni officals, however, haven't ruled out the possibility of sabotage or the militants booby-trapping the facility after taking what they could.

The takeover of the factory by Salafist Islamic militants and subsequent explosion is just the latest in a series of problems facing the Western-backed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with antigovernment protests calling for his removal gaining momentum over the last two months and Al Qaeda allied militants and tribesmen exerting increased control over much of the country's interior. The continued unrest in the capital and ongoing insurgency in the hinterlands threatens to destabilize the strategically located Arab nation. Earlier this month, at least 40 people were killed in clashes between protesters and Yemeni security forces outside the entrance of Sanaa University prompting Saleh to declare a state of emergency.

Libyan 'Kinetic Military Action' Update, Now with Kung Fu Grip!- Downed US Pilots Rescued by Marines; Ghdaffi Arming 'Volunteers'

We're bombing a new Muslim dictator with a smaller coalition and no Congressional approval. This is, indeed, change we can believe in.
- Jim Geraghty, National Review

You thought this was a war with Libya? Don't be silly! It's a 'kinetic military action'. Then again, one man's 'kinetic military action' is another man's 'man caused disaster'.

BENGHAZI: Two Aviano, Italy-based U.S. Air Force Pilots were uninjured after their F15E crashed in rebel held territory outside of Benghazi earlier this week. Within a half hour, Marines on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge deployed two Harriers, two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters and two V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (pictured above) to rescue the downed pilots in what the USMC called a 'tactical recovery of personnel'. At least one of the pilots had reportedly made contact with some of the Libyan rebels before the Marines showed up.

The cause of the crash is thought to be a malfunction, as the F15E was reportedly well beyond the range of ground fire. The two pilots, who's names haven't been disclosed, are undergoing evaluation in Germany.

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffy is said to be distributing arms to 'volunteers' in the capital city of Tripoli, according to a Pentagon report.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," Vice Admiral William Gortney said on Friday.

"I'm not sure... if they are truly volunteers or not and I don't know how many of these recruits he's going to get, but I find it interesting that he may now feel it necessary to seek civilian reinforcements."

Advertisement: Story continues below The official said Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground" following seven days of coalition air raids.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunition stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Gortney said.

ELSEWHERE : Call it a coalition of the unwilling, I guess. NATO has tentatively agreed to take over part of the multinational operations against Libya, but attacks on ground targets will continue to fall under the command of the USA- which has indiacted it eagerness to relinquish that role.

Meanwhile, rebels in Eastern Libya have appeared to borrow a page from Ghdaffi's playbook, arbitrarily detaining and interrogating suspected Ghdaffi loyalists.

For a month, gangs of young gunmen have roamed the city, rousting Libyan blacks and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa from their homes and holding them for interrogation as suspected mercenaries or government spies.

Over the last several days, the opposition has begun rounding up men accused of fighting as mercenaries for Kadafi's militias as government forces pushed toward Benghazi. It has launched nightly manhunts for about 8,000 people named as government operatives in secret police files seized after internal security operatives fled in the face of the rebellion that ended Kadafi's control of eastern Libya last month.

"We know who they are," said Abdelhafed Ghoga, the chief opposition spokesman. He called them "people with bloodstained hands" and "enemies of the revolution."

Any suspected Kadafi loyalist or spy who does not surrender, Ghoga warned, will face revolutionary "justice."

The roundup by the Libyan rebels seems to primarily target black immigrants in Libya, as there were reports of the Libyan dictator hiring black, french-speaking mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to crush the protests and uprising that began several weeks ago.

However, long before the uprising many West Africans had also found work in Libya as construction workers and day laborers.

One Killed, 35 Injured in Downtown Jerusalem Bus Stop Bombing

A 60 year old Israeli woman was killed and at least 35 commuters were wounded when a bomb ripped through a downtown Jerusalem bus stop on Wednesday.

Israeli investigators say that the bomb likely was left inside an unattended bag at a phone booth near the bus stop and consider the bombing an act of terrorism.

The Jerusalem bombing comes a few days after mortar attacks on an Israeli border town from the Hamas-held Gaza Strip. The IDF had retaliated with tank fire and air strikes.

Libyan Rebels Attempt to Advance While US, Coalition Airstrikes Target Libyan Air Defences

Coalition airstrikes against Libyan military targets began over the weekend in what's being called Operation Odyssey Dawn. Although Pentagon and NATO officials sounded optimistic at the early success in taking out Libyan air defences and Libyan rebels seemed to be regrouping, a defiant Mummar Ghdaffi promised to drag out the conflict for as long as possible.

Although the rebels claimed they were able to shoot down some of Ghdaffi's fighter planes in skirmishes, aircraft manned by pilots loyal to the Libyan ruler have largely enjoyed air supremacy over the rebels. On top of that, it's thought that only 10% of the rebels have any kind of military experience.

(Proposed No-Fly zone map courtesy of globalsecurity.org)

Participants in Operation Odyssey Dawn so far include the USA, the UK, France, Italy and Canada with ships or aircraft from Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Qatar and Norway ready to participate in enforcing the no-fly zone over the next few days. After strikes against military targets in Benghazi, Sirte, Misrata, Zuwara and Tripoli, more than a dozen French aircraft started off the second day of Odyssey Dawn by patrolling the proposed no fly zone without incident over the weekend. Rebels based out of the stronghold of Benghazi have begun pressing back south on the highway to Ajdabiya after the road was cleared by coalition aircraft on Monday, hoping to retake one of the cities they lost to troops loyal to Ghdaffi last week.

Meanwhile an Algerian TV station is reporting that Ghdaffi's 6th son and commander of the feared Khamis Brigade was killed when a rebel Libyan pilot crashed his aircraft into the brigade's barracks in a suicide mission on Saturday. The Ghdaffi regime denies the report that Khamis Ghdaffi, 27, was killed in the attack while other sources indicated it was a British cruise missile that slammed into the Khamis Brigade headquarters.

Forces Loyal To Ghdaffi Counterattack, Bombard Rebel Positions

[Map: AFP]

Mummar Ghdaffi's forces struck back at rebel-held cities in the eastern part of Libya with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery this week, retaking the oil port of Ras Lanuf and have made it as far east as Ajdabiya- some 100 miles south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Earlier in the month, the Libyan rebels- increasingly made up of soldiers who had defected from the Libyan Army- had made their way westward from Benghazi to the outskirts of Tripoli before being steadily pushed back eastward to their stronghold by Ghdaffi's forces.

Since then, the beleaguered Libyan rebels have been requesting assistance from outside the country- including arms and the possible imposition of a no-fly zone against Ghdaffi's Air Force.

In rebel-held eastern Libya, patience for diplomatic niceties is running short. At a checkpoint near the contested town of Ras Lanuf, Saluhaddin Sultan, 38, a rebel who used to work as a kitchen worker at an oil plant, gestured angrily and said: "Why aren't the Americans doing anything? They just watch and talk. Gaddafi has heavy weapons and he is killing us."

There was a personal reason for his anger. His brother-in-law and nephew, also fighters, had died a day earlier when their car was hit by one of Gaddafi's jets.

"We are fighting for our revolution, but we cannot protect ourselves from the planes," he said.

A couple of miles along the road from the checkpoint were two deep craters on the road edge, from another bombing raid which had killed a family in their car as they fled the fighting.

Jalal Elgallal, a Benghazi businessman educated in Britain who supports the revolution, added: "I lived in Britain for years, I admire Britain - as most Libyans do - and I would expect Britain to help the underdog. If we get a no-fly zone he can't bomb us, and our fighters could march on Tripoli and end this.

"We need your help to get rid of Gaddafi. Just think about what he has done to you in the past - Lockerbie, Yvonne Fletcher, terror attacks.

"This is your chance too to get rid of him. We could get rid of him quickly with some foreign help, otherwise doing this could cost tens of thousands of lives."

In Cairo, the Arab League called for the United Nations Security Council to establish and enforce a no-fly zone during an emergency meeting last week.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have also supported a Libyan no-fly zone while President Obama has been ambivalent at best and Germany and Russia have expressed doubts.

The British and Lebanese have put forth a proposed resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would present a 'menu' of options the international community could use to curtail the activities of Ghdaffi's regime and military. However, it's thought that Russia and China- permanent members of the UN Security council- are likely to oppose any external military intervention against the Libyan regime.