FEATURE ARTICLE MEMRI: Islamist Forum Member: Bush to be Targeted During Visit to Saudi Arabia
On May 10, 2008, a member of the Islamist forum Al-Ikhlas (hosted by Piradius Net, Malaysia) posted a message claiming that an "official in the Jihadi Intelligence Organization" has learned of a plan to assassinate President Bush. According to the posting, members of a pro-Al-Qaeda cell from a Gulf country have undergone sniper training in a Western country, and "will lie in wait during [Bush's] upcoming visit [to Saudi Arabia]…(MEMRI).
Full Article: http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP192508
BLOG MEMRI: Al-Qaeda Orders Its Operatives In Saudi Arabia To Leave The Country
Against the backdrop of the marking of five years since the May 12, 2003 attack in Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda has sent a message over the Internet to its operatives in Saudi Arabia calling on them "to leave the country for Yemen, lest [you] be killed or arrested by Saudi security forces…(Okaz).
Full Article: http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/7314.htm
ALERT IRAN/IRAQ: Iran hitting PKK-affiliated PJAK members in northern Iraq
The Iranian military shelled border villages in northern Iraq targeting members of the Iranian wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in the region, reports say. A security spokesman for Iraq's Kurdish region told Reuters on Monday that the Iranian military shelled members from the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) on Sunday. There were also clashes on the Iraq-Iran border between those PJAK members and Iranian forces, but no casualties, he said. PJAK is an offshoot of the PKK that analysts say has bases in northeastern Iraq from which they stage operations against Iran…(Today’s Zaman).
Full Article: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141818
OIL REPORT: Oil prices slightly higher
Crude oil prices were slightly higher in Asian trade on Wednesday despite a forecast for slower energy demand growth, analysts said. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 15 cents to 125.95 dollars per barrel…(AFP).
Full Article: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.2f1331cbe37ceeaba1bc63b229e85e2e.681.html
LEBANON: Calm in Lebanon as Arab Delegation Due in Beirut to Try to Broker Solution
Calm prevailed over Lebanon as an Arab delegation was due in Beirut on Wednesday to try to broker a settlement to the ongoing political crisis that led to the country's worst sectarian fighting since the 1975-90 civil war. The army stepped up patrols as part of a drive to restore order after a week of gunbattles left at least 62 people killed and 200 wounded Press reports said several Beirut roads, blocked with earth mounds and cement blocks since violence erupted May 7, were open to traffic on Wednesday…(Naharnet).
Full Article: http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&351DCF52E287758CC225744900210FA8
U.S./IRAN/IRAQ: U.S. Colonel Says Iran Is Assassinating Iraqi Officials
Iran has also armed large numbers of militia members in Iraqi cities such as Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah and Sadr City, in Baghdad, training many in the use of the "most effective" Iranian weapons, including long-range rockets and a lethal form of roadside bomb known as an explosively formed projectile, or EFP, McMaster said. Iran has denied playing such a role in Iraq…(Washington Post).
Full Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051303165.html
SAUDI ARABIA/IRAN: Saudi Arabia: Iran Accused of Backing Hezbollah
The Saudi government accused Iran of backing what it called a coup d’état by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said at a news conference that Iran’s relations with Arab countries would be affected by its support for Hezbollah. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran responded that his country was the only one not interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs…(NY TIMES).
Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/world/middleeast/14briefs-IRANACCUSEDO_BRF.html?ref=world
IRAN/U.K.: Iranian students: Shut UK embassy
Iranian students have assembled in front of the British embassy in Tehran to protest Britain's role in the occupation of Palestine. The students, condemning the illegal Zionist regime's creation 60 years ago which is being marked with great pomp and show in the Occupied Palestine, demanded the closure of the British embassy and the expulsion of the UK Ambassador, Jeffery Adams, from the country…(PressTV).
Full Article: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=55566§ionid=351020101
IRAN: West responsible for Shiraz blast [Ahmadinejad]
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Britain, Israel and the US are responsible for a deadly blast in Shiraz that killed 14 Iranians. "The blast took place shortly after the Zionist regime, America and some British agents said they planned to assassinate Iranian officials," Ahmadinejad told a Tuesday press conference in Tehran. The president said Iran holds 'evidence' of the involvements of those countries in carrying out the blast in the Southern Iranian city -a total of 14 people lost their lives and about 200 were injured in the April 12 terrorist attack. "Those responsible for the bombing were shortly arrested and have confessed to having relations with them (the US, Britain and Israel)," Ahmadinejad expounded…(PressTV).
Full Article: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=55587§ionid=351020101
LEBANON: Army Chief : Civil War Underway in Lebanon
Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman has reportedly told his officers that Lebanon experienced a civil war that no regular force could contain. The Central News Agency said Suleiman ( pictured) made the remarks in messages addressed to all army officers, in the first such practice in the history of the military establishment. "What has happened in the streets of Lebanon is a real civil war that no national army in the world can confront. Major states encountered such wars and its armies could not contain the fight," Suleiman's message said…(YA LIBNAN).
Full Article: http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/05/army_chief_civi.php
ARAB LEAGUE/LEBANON: Arab League to invite Lebanese for talks in Qatar
A high-level Arab League delegation starts a mediation mission to Beirut on Wednesday to try to pull the country back from the brink of a new civil war. Arab foreign ministers had agreed to send the mission, to be led by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani and Arab League chief Amr Moussa, after Iranian-backed Hezbollah briefly seized control of the Muslim part of the capital before handing it over to the army last week. A senior Lebanese political source said the delegation was expected to invite rival leaders to roundtable talks in Qatar later this week if it managed to ease tensions in Beirut…(Reuters).
Full Article: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL13383311.html
IRAN/PAKISTAN: Pak to hand over Jondollah terrorists
The Pakistani government is due to hand over members of the Jondollah terrorist group to the Islamic Republic soon. Some senior members of Jondollah terrorist group who were detained and imprisoned in Quetta will be officialy handed over to Iranian authorities within days, informed sources connected to Pakistani government told Mehr. The so-called 'Jondollah' is a foreign-backed terrorist group which orchestrates terrorist operations in the southern provinces of Iran in a bid to create sectarian strife among Iranians…(PressTV).
Full Article: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=55604§ionid=351020101
BLOG MEMRI: Jamaat-e-Islami Leader: U.S. Is Eternal Enemy Of Islam And Pakistan
The Deputy Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province Maulana Muhammad Shah Mengal has said that the United States is the eternal enemy of Islam and Pakistan. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, Maulana Mengal criticized Pakistani leaders for allowing the U.S. to mediate in the country’s internal affairs…(MEMRI).
Full Article: http://www.thememriblog.org/urdupashtu
ISRAEL/HAMAS: Hamas turns down Israeli request to release Shalit
Hamas has turned down a request from Israel to include release of Gilad Shalit as part of ceasefire term. Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar responded in a speech in Gaza City by saying: "Whoever thinks that the Shalit issue will be settled for free as part of the period of calm is completely wrong…(IRNA).
Full Article: http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0805148389084107.htm
IRAN’S IRNA REPORTS: Palestinian envoy expresses gratitude to Iran
Palestinian Ambassador to Tehran Salah al-Zawawi on Tuesday expressed gratitude to Iran for supporting the cause of Palestine in international organizations. He said that the Islamic Revolution of iran was a blessing for the Palestinian nation and that that the spirit of Iranian support to Palestine is rooted in aspirations of the late Imam Khomeini…(IRNA).
Full Article: http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0805145433095919.htm
ISRAEL: ARUTZ SHEVA REPORTS: Activists to Defy Bush by Building New Jewish Town in Judea
A new Jewish town will be established during US President George W. Bush's visit to Israel, in defiance of US governmental pressure to cease building in Judea and Samaria…(Arutz Sheva).
Full Article: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126162
ISRAEL/GAZA: Two Gaza militants killed in Israeli airstrikes
At least two Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in two Israeli airstrikes on southern Gaza, a local radio station reported. The airstrikes on the western outskirts of Khan Younis also left two people injured. Both the dead and injured were identified as militants from the radical Islamic group Hamas, which took control of Gaza last June…(RIA Novosti).
Full Article: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080514/107301650.html
TURKEY: Türk to Erdoğan: PKK not cause, but effect of Kurdish problem
Ahmet Türk, the chairman of the parliamentary group of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), said yesterday that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is not a cause, but an effect of Turkey's Kurdish problem and that the country must first solve the Kurdish problem if it is to solve the PKK problem…(Today’s Zaman).
Full Article: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141732
Posts
