British and Qatari special operations units are operating under cover with rebel forces in the Syrian city of Homs, debka file ‘s exclusive sources report. They are not engaged in direct combat with the Syrian forces bombarding Syria’s third largest city, but serve as tactical advisers and logistical aides. Read More »
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DEBKAfile 
“Bold Alligator 2012″ drills 20,000 troops on US East Coast for Persian Gulf action
Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from six countries, a US nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which has invaded its neighbor in the largest amphibian exercise seen in the West for a decade. Read More »
Assad sends hit squads after top Lebanese officials
Syrian President Bashar Assad has hired hit squads to kill top Lebanese government, intelligence and security officials whom he suspects of helping insurrectionists and Saudi and Qatari agents smuggle fighters and weapons into the country to fight his regime. Read More »
Russia vetoes anti-Assad UN motion after preparing Special Forces for Syria
The West and Russia had a major showdown Saturday Feb. 5 over the Arab League resolution calling on Bashar Assad to step down. US President Barack Obama said the UN must take a stand against his “relentless brutality” and hold a vote before the end of the day. The vote was defeated by Russian and China vetoes. Read More »
Americans talk about an Israeli strike on Iran, but prepare own offensive
US Secretary of State Leon Panetta has been outspoken about a possible Israeli offensive being launched against Iran from April, but has not leveled about massive US war preparations. The question is no longer if armed hostilities are afoot, but when. Read More »
A Western-Arab Undercover Exercise Afoot to Oust Bashar Assad
To pierce the layers of armor devised by Syrian, Russian and Iranian strategists to keep Assad afloat, the Western-Arab bloc is recruiting top Syrian generals to march on Damascus and unseat the dictator. Read More »
Israel’s Military Girds up to Strike Iran This Spring
Israel’s generals are putting on a show of military capabilities ready to strike Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities by March accompanied by a stream of rhetoric about the tight timeline for Iran’s progress toward building a nuclear bomb. Read More »
Iran Didn’t Bring Down the RQ-170. A Chinese Cyber Whiz Team Did
US stealth drones stay out of Iranian skies since the RQ-170 was downed now that American intelligence knows that a Chinese cyber team was responsible. The Obama administration is avoiding a reckoning with Beijing because Washington needs the Chinese on America’s side – especially in a presidential election year. Read More »
US Promises Israel Warning of Iranian Missiles from Its Turkey-Based Radar Station
A senior US emissary promised Israel that its X-band radar station in Turkey would share data with Israel on a coming Iranian missile attack – contrary to the Turkish foreign minister’s assurances to Tehran. Read More »
Panetta Brings Forward the US-NATO Exit, Pakistan Lets Al Qaeda Run for Office
NATO allies dismayed by US Defense Secretary’s cutting the Afghanistan war short by one year without notice. Taliban is playing hard to get over peace talks while Pakistan retaliates for being cut out by letting an Al Qaeda front-man run for parliament. Read More »
A Digest of DEBKAfile Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending February 2, 2012
A Digest of debka file Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending February 2, 2012 Read More »
Israel: Iran’s nuclear arms program is complete, its missiles can reach US
Iran has completed the development of a nuclear weapon and is only waiting for a sign from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to start assembling its first nuclear bomb, said Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Thursday, February 2. Read More »
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood uses Palestinian Hamas as channel to Tehran
Hamas-Damascus, contrary to Western reports, is firmly maintaining its ties with the Assad regime and the Iranian officials posted to the Syrian capital and Beirut as well as Hizballah, debka file ‘s sources report. Neither is Hamas seeking to break its ties with Iran, its arms and cash supplier for years. Read More »
Assad may start regional war if UN tells him to step down – Gulf sources
Syrian President Bashar Assad is reported by Persian Gulf sources Tuesday, Jan. 31 to have confided to his advisers that he will start up a regional conflict if the UN Security Council calls on him to step down. The heads of the Syrian armed forces and intelligence have been given their orders. Read More »
US pledge: Turkey-based anti-Iran X-band radar will also warn Israel
Washington promised Israel this week that, contrary to Turkish assurances to Iran, the US X-band AN/TPY-2 radar station which began operating in Turkey this month would indeed feed early warning data of an Iranian missile attack to Israel and that Read More »
Assad contains Syrian uprising for now, with credits for Russia and Iran
Ten months after the Syrian people launched an uprising against its ruler, Bashar Assad can count on the bulk of his army and has regained his grip on most parts of the country. Loyal troops are hemming protesters in tight corners of the flashpoint towns, especially in the north. Read More »
US sets May as tentative date for clash with Iran. Floating SEALs base for Gulf
A hurried decision not to de-commission the USS Ponce helicopter marine carrier after duty in Libya – but to refit it for deployment in the Persian Gulf by May as a floating base for SEAL commando teams – was confirmed by the US Pentagon and Navy Sunday, Dec. 29. Read More »
Argentina nabs Iranian-Hizballah cell, aborts third Habad attack
Argentine has captured a three-man Iranian-Hizballah cell and is hunting for the rest of the network, debka file exclusive sources reveal. It was nabbed in San Carlos de Bariloche, popular with Israeli backpackers touring the Andes. Read More »
War of attrition brewing with Iran over Gulf oil routes
Military tensions in the Persian Gulf shot up again Thursday, Jan. 26, after Dubai police commander Gen. Dhahi Khalfan said an imminent Gulf war cannot be ruled out and first signs are already apparent. “The world will not let Iran block Hormuz, but Tehran can narrow the strait to the maximum,” he said. Read More »
Massive US Military Buildup on Two Strategic Islands: Socotra and Masirah
By early March, the US will have amassed 100,000 troops within reach of Iran, roughly equal to the 2003 Iraq invasion force, and enough to back up Barack Obama’s pledge to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb with military force. Read More »
Saudis Deploy Military in the Eastern Oil Regions in Anticipation of Iranian Strikes
The Saudis are building up their defenses in the Eastern oil provinces, calculating that Iran is already losing customers for its oil, cutting its exports by 15-20 percent and bringing Tehran closer than ever to striking the kingdom’s oil industry and exports. Read More »
Washington and Iran Are Talking Along Three Secret Tracks
The Obama administration saw in the unimpeded passage of the Abraham Lincoln carrier through the Strait of Hormuz a signal that Tehran may be amenable to nuclear talks. Preparatory feelers are going forward on three tracks via Baghdad, Ankara and Vienna – so far without results. Read More »
Regime Change in Damascus? Only If Tehran Wills it
The Syrian ruler is still fully in control in Damascus, contrary to the reports propagated by the opposition. He is still backed by the high army command and supported by Iran and Russia. The Assad regime will be in danger only if two of those three backers turn against him. Read More »
Who Will Rule Egypt? And Many Other Troubling Questions
Egypt’s immediate future is up in the air over unanswerable questions about its form of government, the nature of its leadership and the lack of clarity about its new constitution. The country is meanwhile on the brink of economic collapse. Read More »
A Digest of DEBKAfile Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 26, 2012
A Digest of debka file Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 26, 2012 Read More »
Jerusalem concerned: Saudi Air Force to outnumber Israel’s advanced US jet fleet
With its latest purchases from Washington, the Saudi Air Force will have more US fighter-bombers of more advanced models than the Israeli Air Force as well as a substantial influx of sophisticated Eurofighter Typhoons. Read More »
Azerbaijan foils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad
A Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry (MNS) officers, who thwarted attacks on the Israeli embassy and the Habad center as well as on Israeli and local personages. Read More »
Barak slams EU oil embargo’s delay to July. Israel’s hand ever near trigger
The new round of European sanctions will not stop Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned in a radio interview Tuesday, Jan. 24. debka file : The Obama administration and EU delayed oil sanctions to July 1 for back-channel contacts to ripen and produce a fresh round of nuclear talks with Tehran. Read More »
India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned
India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debka file reports exclusively. Our sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Read More »
Panetta: USS Enterprise carrier group to transit Hormuz in March
Three weeks after Tehran threatened action against any US aircraft carrier entering the Strait of Hormuz, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta disclosed Sunday, Jan. 22, that the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group would steam through the strategic strait in March, adding that the US would maintain 11 carriers in the Persian Gulf. Read More »
Nuclear Iran is past its point-of-no-return, yet oil sanctions remain on paper
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advised visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Friday, Jan. 20 that the time for action against Iran was now – for two reasons: First, Iran has passed the point of no return for developing a nuclear weapon; second, the US-led embargo on Iranian oil is not catching on. Read More »
China to Help Saudi Arabia Gain a Nuclear Weapon
China took advantage of the US oil embargo on Iran to bid for Saudi oil instead. Riyadh agreed to provide oil in return for Chinese assistance in building a Saudi nuclear weapon program. Meanwhile neither the US nor the European embargo decisions are ready for implementation. Read More »
Netanyahu: Iran Has Decided to Become a Nuclear State. Urgent Action Needed
Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to wait for US-led sanctions to take hold before making unilateral decisions about preempting Iran’s development of a bomb. He believes time is running out too fast to hold back for much longer. Read More »
Tehran Suspects the US-Israel Rift Is a Subterfuge
Iran will avoid a full-dress confrontation with superior US military might and trust to pinpoint harassment and provocations to carry the day. Tehran believes the apparent US-Israeli rift it’s a subterfuge to camouflage US-Israel war preparations against its nuclear sites. Read More »
Tehran Weighs Closing Strait of Hormuz, a Terror Campaign – Or Both
A detailed report to Washington by Saudi and Kuwaiti intelligence details Iran’s preparations for sabotaging oil production in the Gulf emirates, striking US targets and blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Read More »
Moscow, Tehran, Baghdad Link Hands to Keep Syrian Regime Afloat
Bashar Assad is confounding the predictions of his imminent downfall with the help of tactical, arms and propaganda assistance extended by Russia, Iran and Iraq to keep him afloat. He did not bother to conceal his brutal crack down from invited Western correspondents. Read More »
A Digest of DEBKAfile Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 19, 2012
A Digest of debka file Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 19, 2012 Read More »
Dempsey visit will not alter Israel’s refusal to notify US of an Iran strike
Gen. Martin Dempsey arrives Thursday, Jan. 19, for his first visit to Israel as Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff amid a major falling-out between the two governments over Iran. Read More »
Iran’s Al Qods cells for Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait to hit oil and US targets
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey have alerted Washington to intelligence reports that Iranian Al Qods Brigades operatives are heading their way to blow up oil installations and American targets. They ask how the US intends to respond. For the second time in a week, a US spokesman Washington disclosed Jan 17 that Al Qods commander Gen. Read More »
Iran is winning Hormuz faceoff. Israel, Saudis break away from US Iran policy
Three weeks ago, Iran threatened to forcibly bar the Strait of Hormuz to “enemy ships” i.e. the USS Stennis carrier. The US bowed to the threat by stopping sending aircraft carriers through the strait. Rather than confronting Tehran, the Obama administration is holding Israel back from striking Iranian nuclear sites. Read More »
Joint US-Israel drill called off by Netanyahu, to Washington’s surprise
debka file ‘s sources disclose exclusively that, contrary to reports in Washington, Jerusalem – and this site too – it was Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not the Obama administration, who called off the joint US-Israeli military exercise Austere Challenge 12, a step unprecedented in Israel-US relations. Read More »
Hizballah planned Mumbai-style attack on Habad Bangkok, Khao San restaurants
The Thai police’s capture of a Lebanese-Swedish Hizballah suspect thwarted a terrorist attack on Bet Habad in Bangkok, involving the taking of hostages and blowing up the building – on the same lines as al Qaeda’s 2008 assault on the Mumbai Habad center which killed 8 Israelis and Jews – only more ambitious. Read More »
US, Israel in open rift over Iran: Big joint military drill cancelled
US-Israeli discord over Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have every staged, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. Read More »
US acts to hold Israel back from striking Iran. Their intel agencies at odds
The unattributed killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan last Wednesday, Jan. 11, was the subject of an angry phone call from US President Barack Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day, debka file reports. Read More »
US stations two aircraft carriers opposite Iran, 15,000 troops in Kuwait
US President Barack Obama is busy aligning Middle East allies with the next US steps on Iran. Contributing to the mounting sense in Washington of an approaching US-Iranian confrontation, the Pentagon is substantially building up its combat power Read More »
US Refuses to Co-Opt Israel to a Military Strike against Iran
The US and Israel, while bound tightly by military bonds, are at loggerheads over Iran. The Obama administration wants to cut Israel out of military action against Iran’s nuclear sites and prevent it hitting back for an Iranian reprisal. Israel is withholding a commitment to abstain from striking Iran unilaterally. Read More »
Hard Questions Remain after Their Confidential Marathon in Washington
Saudi Arabia demands a precise, unequivocal US declaration of intent to prevent a nuclear Iran by a military strike if necessary. Riyadh doesn’t trust sanctions to do the job – or Barak Obama to stick to the course of a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites without wavering. Read More »
Only Ali Khamenei’s Ouster Would De-Radicalize Iran’s Military and Nuclear Policies
A US intelligence report has advised Barack Obama that Iran may be ripe for regime change owing to the bitter infighting at the top and a plunging economy which may herald famine at around election time in March. But Tehran will not budge on its radical military and nuclear policies as long as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in charge. Read More »
A Digest of DEBKAfile Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 12, 2012
A Digest of debka file Round-the-Clock Exclusives in Week Ending January 12, 2012 Read More »
Turkey halts Iranian arms corridor to Syria, balks at nuclear Iran
When IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi accused Iran and Hizballah Wednesday, Jan. 11of of supplying Bashar Assad with arms for suppressing protest, Turkey had just closed the Iranian corridor carrying those arms through its territory after its contribution to the Syrian army’s success in beating down Hama, Homs and Idlib. Read More »
Dep. Dir. of Natanz enrichment plant assassinated in Tehran
Forty-eight hours after Iran began advanced uranium enrichment in the fortified Fordo bunker near Qom, Prof. Mostapha Ahmadi-Roshan, deputy director of the first uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was killed early Wednesday, Jan. Read More »
Are US, Israel, Saudis united on military action versus Iran?
The first exclusive rundown on US, Saudi and Israeli war preparations against Iran is offered in the coming DEBKA -Net-Weekly out next Friday. Read More »
Iran plans one-kiloton underground nuclear test in 2012
Tehran plans an underground test of a one-kiloton nuclear device during 2012, debka file reports. Underground facilities are under construction in great secrecy behind the clamor raised by the start of advanced uranium enrichment at Iran’s fortified Fordo bunker-site. Read More »
Russian, French warships off Syria, Iran, US drones over Iranian coast
US, Russian, French and British air and naval forces are gathering around the Syrian and Iranian coasts on guard for fresh developments at the two Middle East flashpoints. The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov put in earlier than planned at Syria’s Tartus port Sunday, Jan. 8, together with two more Russian warships. Read More »
Generals’ early handover to Islamists wrecks hopes for New Egypt
Washington and Jerusalem were dismayed to discover last week that Egypt’s transitional military rulers (SCAF) were preparing to drop the reins of government and hand them over – lock, stock and barrel, including the armed forces – to civilian rule, i.e., the Muslim Brotherhood, at the earliest opportunity. Read More »
Thousands of US troops land in Israel. Aircraft carrier coming soon
The first of 9,000 incoming US troops have arrived in Israel – not just for the joint Austere Challenge 12 exercise but for a longer stay. They are part of the joint US-Israel deployment ready for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. Read More »
The Hourglass Sands for a Military Clash Started Running out January Third
Tehran is kicking back hard for Barack Obama’s three-prong anti-Iran warfronts in the economic, covert and allied spheres. After having its horizon for expansion shrunk to its front door in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s rulers are looking for trouble, hoping to provoke a limited military clash with the United States. Read More »
Will the US and GCC Recapture Three Iran-Held Persian Gulf Islands?
Against Tehran’s bid to dictate the Persian Gulf’s rules of navigation, the US and GCC are preparing to fight together or separately against any attempts to prevent free movement through the oil route. They would aim to recapture the three Persian Gulf islands held by Iran, which are the key to controlling the Strait of Hormuz traffic. Read More »
The Generals Discard Power, Cutting Short Transition to Democracy
The military rulers of Egypt are upending President Obama’s plans for Egypt by bringing forward the handover of power ahead of the formulation of a democratic constitution and the election of a moderate president. Power would then go straight to the Muslim Brotherhood. To save the day, Washington hopes to handpick an acceptable president. Read More »
Who’s in Charge in Tripoli? A Deepening Mystery
Libyans see their revolution has fallen off track, their transitional leader Abdel-Jalil predicting a slide into civil war as former rebel militias fight it out in the streets and oil deals transacted by ministers who offer no accounting to ordinary citizens. Read More »
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