US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a small US-made drone drone that the Ugandan military uses in Somalia to fight al-Qaida linked militants (AFP Photo / Pool / Jacquelyn Martin) The US is planning to consolidate its position in Africa with a new drone outpost in Niger, with the stated purpose of providing unarmed surveillance support to French efforts in Mali and keeping tabs on al-Qaeda elements on the continent.In the future, though, the US command does not rule out using the base to conduct military strikes if the situation deteriorates or the extremist threat increases, military officials told The New York Times.In the meantime, the US military’s Africa Command is reviewing the options for the base with other countries in the region, including Burkina Faso. The Africa Command’s scheme still needs the go-ahead from the Department of Defense, President Barack Obama and Niger. No final decision had been made, but a status-of-forces agreement has been reached between the two governments in Niger on Monday, providing legal protection to American troops in the African country. If the drone base plan goes through, the facility could becom
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e home to as many as 300 American military and contractual personnel. The United States so far has only one permanent base in Africa, in Djibouti. The drone base there is widely used for missions in nearby Yemen and allows access to Somalian and Sudanese airspace. A base in Niger would drastically shorten the response time to developing situations in the region. The ongoing discussions about the installation follow the French military intervention in Mali and the Algerian hostage crisis, which left at least 37 foreigners dead and highlighted the threat from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.On Wednesday, outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised not to let northern Mali become a “safe haven” for extremists in the region as al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgents have become a “a very serious, ongoing threat.”Last week, Washington sent approximately 100 military trainers to nations that are prepared to, or have already deployed, troops to Mali – including Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo and Ghana. … Read More
US considering new drone base in Africa – report
Israeli teachers paid for military recruitment
Israeli army recruits (AFP Photo / Jack Guez) Israel is encouraging and financing a new form of patriotism by offering bonuses to high school teachers who succeed in motivating students to do their army service. The move has sparked a wave of criticism of the Ministry of Education.The initiative by the Ministry of Education that circulated in schools last year outlined the new policy of granting end of year bonuses to full-time teachers in Israel’s schools based on “achievements in learning”, ”social achievements”, and “achievements in values”. The top 40 per cent of schools with a “high rate of enlistment for military, national or civil service” will receive funds to award their teachers with bonuses, according to the circular obtained by the Christian Science Monitor.Those ranked among top ten percent will receive funds to grant bonuses in the amount of $2,160, while an equivalent of $1,620 will be paid for the next 10 per cent.Critics of the move by the ministry say the militarization of the education system infringes on the future generation’s ability to participate in Middle East peace-making. Supporters say recuitment must remain high to ensure the security of the nation, citing army complaints that the percentage of young people taking up military service has dropped in recent years.Those who oppose the pay scheme say that military propaganda comes at the cost of student education.“Educating to prepare for the army and to encourage enlistment comes at the expense of regular education, which is meant to educate for democracy and citizenship,” Sharaf Hassan, educational director for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel told the Monitor.Such an approach can also result in xenophobia, argues the former education minister Yossi Sarid.“The ministry of education is taking Israel in a more militaristic, more nationalistic, more xenophobic, and more chauvinistic direction. It’s not education, it’s a sort of indoctrination,” Sarid said. The education ministry claims that the bonus program is “designed to develop excellence among teachers and pupils.” To survive, surrounded by enemies and threats, says a spokesman for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Raanan Gissin, “everyone has to take part in defense and that means three years of military service.” … Read More
White House weighing full withdrawal from Afghanistan next year
U.S. soldiers prepare to board a C-130 plane in Afghanistan. (Reuters)White House officials said Tuesday that they were considering a full pull-out from Afghanistan once the NATO combat mission there finishes next year. It comes ahead of a Friday meeting between the two countries’ presidents. It was the first time Washington had publicly said it was weighing a zero-troop presence in Afghanistan any time in the near future, and goes against statements by Pentagon officials, who advocate leaving a thousands-strong American force in the country to train local army and law enforcement and keep Al-Qaeda under control. At different points in time, the Obama administration has made various estimates regarding what it might do following the end of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. One option was to leave a residual troop presence as small as 3,000, with another option leaving as many as 15,000 depending on various factors and military goals. “The US does not have an inherent objective of ‘X’ number of troops in Afghanistan,” said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.There are currently 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan, down from the all-time high of roughly 100,000 in 2010. In
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response to a journalist’s question over whether zero troops would be an option, Rhodes said it was something the Obama administration “would consider.”The statement comes three days before Afghan President Hamid Karzai is set to visit the White House to meet with US President Barack Obama. The leaders are expected to discuss their partnership following troop withdrawals in 2014, but they are known to disagree over several other issues likely to come to the table. One is the American demand that US troops remaining in Afghanistan after combat comes to a close would be immune to prosecution there. With Karzai resisting this demand, the White House has been trying to trade troop immunity for a stabilizing post-2014 US presence.White House military advisor Doug Lute told reporters Tuesday that Kabul would have no choice but to allow US forces certain “authorities” if it wanted them to stay and help law enforcement. The comment was taken to be referring to the immunity issue.“As we know from our Iraq experience, if there are no authorities granted by the sovereign state, then there’s not room for a follow-on US military mission,” he continued, referring to Iraq’s 2011 refusal to grant US troops immunity from the law that resulted in a full American pull-out from that country. … Read More
IDF soldiers abandon post over refusal to do cleaning, guard duty
Israeli soldier stands guard in Golan Heights. (Reuters / Baz Ratner)Seventeen Golani Brigade soldiers abandoned their post near the Syrian border Wednesday night over allegedly humiliating treatment by senior officers. The deserters have each been sentenced to 7 to 20 days of imprisonment. The 17 servicemembers of the IDF’s 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade claimed that poor treatment by their commanders was the reason they staged an hour-and-a-half walkout of their a bunker on Mount Hermon on Wednesday night, Israeli media reported. The soldiers were protesting their commanding officers’ refusal to dispatch new recruits to the base. They claimed they were forced to carry out tasks that are often considered beneath experienced soldiers, including guard duty and cleaning.”We work around the clock in one of the harshest areas. It’s unfair that we should be eroded like this,” Israeli news website Ynet quoted one of the soldiers as saying. Colonel Yaniv Asor, the commander of the Golani Brigade, convinced the soldiers to return to base a short while later. The soldiers regretted their actions and expressed remorse, the IDF press office said in a statement. “The incident was investigated by the brigade commander, who considered it very grave, and instructed that the soldiers be given prison sentences,” the statement read. “At no point was the IDF’s operational readiness at the position harmed. The IDF categorically condemns every incidence of insubordination.”The IDF also claimed that all operational and administrative tasks at the base are distributed equally among soldiers. The Golani Brigade, also known as the 1st Brigade, is currently deployed at the top of Mount Hermon. The region is believed to be the buffer zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied territory, and also contains the highest elevations in Israeli-occupied territory – one peak in the area stands at 2,236 meters high.The military unit was formed in 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence, and has since participated in all of Israel’s major wars and many key operations, including the Sinai War, the Six-Day War, the first and second wars in Lebanon, and various operations during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Over the last decade, several incidents have been reported of IDF soldiers abandoning their posts to protest mistreatment. Some 50 soldiers walked out of the Tze’elim training facility in January 2003, claiming they did not receive their due rights. In April 2006, six soldiers abandoned their post in northern Israel in protest against being denied veterans’ benefits. Fifteen servicemembers abandoned their guard duty at an outpost in the Gaza Strip in July 2007 over complaints of poor service conditions. And in
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May 2012, five soldiers from an anti-aircraft unit left their post at a remote guard tower over allegedly harsh punishments for an earlier misdemeanor. … Read More
RT correspondent injured in Damascus crossfire
RT correspondent injured in Damascus crossfire(47.9Mb)embed videoA group of international journalists – including members of RT’s Arabic team – have been caught in crossfire in Syria while covering the army’s operations outside the capital. RT’s correspondent suffered light injuries while trying to escape.Syrian government forces have been trying to clear the area of rebels occupying the Damascus suburb of Daraya. Several international journalists, including Russians, Iraninans and Syrians, joined the group to report on the early morning operation and found themselves caught in heavy gunfire.“We were moving from street to street, and when we reached the dock, my colleagues and I got caught in crossfire,” RT Arabic correspondent Kamel Saqer explained.“We tried to escape, running one after another fearing that armed rebels would notice us. A Syrian army soldier accompanied us the entire time – he constantly kept his eye on the situation and helped us to escape the gunfire.”It was unclear whether the rebels were deliberately targeting journalists, all of whom were wearing bulletproof vests with clearly visible word ‘press’ on them, Saqer said.The firing was very intense and it was difficult to find shelter, Saqer added. “I ran and fell down, I hurt my arms – but the Syrian army doctors gave me first aid on the scene. So I could continue to do my job.”One of the Syrian cameramen was also slightly wounded.‘There’s no way to be safe in wartime’According to recent studies, Syria was the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with over 50 correspondents killed while covering the conflict. “The reality is there is no way to be safe in wartime,” an award-winning war correspondent Russ Baker told RT. “It is just inherently dangerous.”A member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition previously said that Russians in Syria have become legitimate targets, claiming they are “cooperating with enemy forces”And Baker believes that the very fact that most journalists are perceived as somewhat biased increases the danger to them during the wartime.“The reality is that very few news organizations are seen as truly objective or open minded. And I suppose that just as people from RT may be seen as in some ways skeptical of the rebels, American journalists are going to face the opposite kind of thing.”“Unfortunately I now consider a lot of combat coverage to be sort of in the realm of entertainment,” he added. “And what I mean by that is that it doesn’t really provide people with any kind of great insight into what really is going on.”Many international journalists are reported missing or have been detained in Syria, one of them is Ukrainian Anhar Kochneva who is being held captive by the Free Syrian Army. Generally there i
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s no condemnation of such cases from the world powers which back the opposition, and Baker believes that is because such incidents do not fit the reality they are trying to present.“This is a general problem that all journalists have to be treated alike and we’ve got to have some kind of standardization of the criteria. But war is a game of propaganda and unfortunately there is very little context to any of this.” … Read More
Chemical war of words: Syrian govt, rebels trade accusations
Chemical war of words: Syrian govt, rebels trade accusationsGet short URLLink copied to clipboardemail story to a friendprint versionPublished: 24 December, 2012, 18:48
TAGS:Arms,
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TRENDS:Syria unrest
Screenshot from YouTube user kooooke11 alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weaponsThough Moscow maintains that Syria’s chemical weapons are secure, new rumors have recently swept international media: Syrian rebels and government forces have accused each other of using nerve agents that led to fatalities, unconfirmed reports said.Fear that Syrian rebels will attempt chemical provocationsThese allegations followed a recently released video purportedly showing Syrian Islamist rebels testing chemicals weapons on rabbits and threatening to use them against Syria’s Alawite Muslims.“Your destiny would be the same as them because you are missionaries for Naseeriyah and supporters of Bashar Assad,” text underneath the video read. “We from the Ar-Reeh Asarsar Chemical Battalion, the Destructive Wind Chemical Battalion – we shall kill you all with our chemical weapons.”Three weeks ago, the Syrian Foreign Ministry warned the UN that rebels might use chemical weapons after they gained control of “a toxic chlorine factory” east of Aleppo, AFP reported. This may be referring to a Syrian-Saudi plant which produces sodium hydroxide and hydrogen chloride for agriculture.Damascus officials have stressed on numerous occasions that Syria would not use chemical weapons under any circumstances, except against a foreign attack.Earlier reports also raised concerns that Syrian rebels could be armed with chemical weapons from foreign backers. Captured Libyan weapon depots were thought to be the likely source of these weapons, which could then be used as a provocation against the government.Meanwhile, the Syrian government has recently consolidated its chemical weapons stockpiles from around the country into a handful of high-security locations, Moscow announced.“The latest reports about some movement of the chemical weapons were related to the steps undertaken by the government to concentrate the chemical stuff which has been dispersed in various locations into two sites, to make sure that it is absolutely protected,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT in an exclusive interview, adding that intelligence from both Moscow and Washington confirmed his statement.Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal has remained a major international concern in the Syrian conflict – and a source of intense media speculation – since the topic first emerged in July. The EU, US and allied nations have said that the main threat from Syria’s chemical weapons is that they could fall into the hands of terrorists who have infiltrated the ranks of the Syrian rebels.Screenshot from YouTube user httplebanonhaouseadv alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weaponsScreenshot from YouTube user homslive alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weapons”);
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Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency has reported that Al-Qaeda-linked rebels allegedly used chemical weapons during a battle with government tr
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oops in the Darya district on the outskirts of Damascus, killing at least seven soldiers.“The terrorists have already thrown three cube-shaped plastic bags towards the [Syrian] army’s forces that killed seven due to the gases emerging from the bags,” a commander of the Syrian Presidential Guard told the Iran-based Al-Alam news channel on Sunday.The commander did not comment on the nature or the suspected origin of the gas, but said that it was yellow and caused death within an hour of being inhaled, Fars News Agency reported.As the allegations emerged, some Twitter users said that at least seven people died after about 50 people were exposed to gas used by government troops in Homs, Syria. The gas reportedly caused suffocation, nerve paralysis, temporary blindness, a change in skin color, nausea and hallucinations.A number of videos surfaced on YouTube showing several men gasping for air surrounded by medics, allegedly after being exposed to the chemical weapons. Unidentified narrators said the men “saw flames in the sky” from an explosion, after which they “suffocated.”Doctors were reportedly unable to identify the type of the gas used in the attack, but activists claimed it was a nerve agent, possibly hydrogen cyanide since the alleged effects were similar to those caused by the substance.None of these reports have been independently verified.Screenshot from YouTube user kooooke11 alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weaponsFear that Syrian rebels will attempt chemical provocationsThese allegations followed a recently released video purportedly showing Syrian Islamist rebels testing chemicals weapons on rabbits and threatening to use them against Syria’s Alawite Muslims.“Your destiny would be the same as them because you are missionaries for Naseeriyah and supporters of Bashar Assad,” text underneath the video read. “We from the Ar-Reeh Asarsar Chemical Battalion, the Destructive Wind Chemical Battalion – we shall kill you all with our chemical weapons.”Three weeks ago, the Syrian Foreign Ministry warned the UN that rebels might use chemical weapons after they gained control of “a toxic chlorine factory” east of Aleppo, AFP reported. This may be referring to a Syrian-Saudi plant which produces sodium hydroxide and hydrogen chloride for agriculture.Damascus officials have stressed on numerous occasions that Syria would not use chemical weapons under any circumstances, except against a foreign attack.Earlier reports also raised concerns that Syrian rebels could be armed with chemical weapons from foreign backers. Captured Libyan weapon depots were thought to be the likely source of these weapons, which could then be used as a provocation against the government.Meanwhile, the Syrian government has recently consolidated its chemical weapons stockpiles from around the country into a handful of high-security locations, Moscow announced.“The latest reports about some movement of the chemical weapons were related to the steps undertaken by the government to concentrate the chemical stuff which has been dispersed in various locations into two sites, to make sure that it is absolutely protected,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT in an exclusive interview, adding that intelligence from both Moscow and Washington confirmed his statement.Syria’s chemical w
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eapons arsenal has remained a major international concern in the Syrian conflict – and a source of intense media speculation – since the topic first emerged in July. The EU, US and allied nations have said that the main threat from Syria’s chemical weapons is that they could fall into the hands of terrorists who have infiltrated the ranks of the Syrian rebels.Screenshot from YouTube user httplebanonhaouseadv alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weaponsScreenshot from YouTube user homslive alleges Syrian rebels were exposed to chemical weapons … Read More
US sending Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Turkey – reports
Patriot anti-aircraft missiles (AFP Photo)US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has signed an order to deploy two Patriot air-defense missile batteries to Turkey, he said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. The missiles are expected to bolster Turkish defenses against Syria.
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$(“.tail_text”).html(“Up to 400 American servicemen are being sent to Turkey to operate the batteries. On December 4 NATO foreign ministers approved the deployment of German and Dutch batteries of Patriot missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border.On December 14 Germany’s lower chamber of Parliament is expected to vote on deploying country’s Patriot complexes to Turkey.The air defense shield on Turkish-Syrian border will not only protect Turkey. There are fears that Patriot batteries might create practicalno-fly zones inside the Syrian territory, as Patriot has a range of 160 kilometers.Germany and Netherlands are expected to dispatch Patriot batteries to Turkey in early 2013.The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Patriots are defensive weapons and NATO’s decision to deploy the surface-to-air missiles to Turkey is clear signal to Damascus that Turkey is backed by its NATO allies.NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen told the media earlier this month that “Patriots are effective as interceptors against chemical weapons,” following the news spread in the western media that Syria is getting its chemical weapons stock ready.The US fears that in case President Bashar Assad loses control of the situation the chemical weapons of Syria could fall into the hands of radical Islamists.Several cross border incidents between Syria and Turkey over the summer have stoked fears within Ankara that the ongoing civil war in its southern neighbor could spill over into Turkish territory.”);
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Up to 400 American servicemen are being sent to Turkey to operate the batteries. On December 4 NATO foreign ministers approved the deployment of German and Dutch batteries of Patriot missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border.On December 14 Germany’s lower chamber of Parliament is expected to vote on deploying country’s Patriot complexes to Turkey.The air defense shield on Turkish-Syrian border will not only protect Turkey. There are fears that Patriot batteries might create practicalno-fly zones inside the Syrian territory, as Patriot has a range of 160 kilometers.Germany and Netherlands are expected to dispatch Patriot batteries to Turkey in early 2013.The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Patriots are defensive weapons and NATO’s decision to deploy the surface-to-air missiles to Turkey is clear signal to Damascus that Turkey is backed by its NATO allies.NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen told the media earlier this month that “Patriots are effective as interceptors against chemical weapons,” following the news spread in the western media that Syria is getting its chemical weapons stock ready.The US fears that in case President Bashar Assad loses control of the situation the chemical weapons of Syria could fall into the hands of radical Islamists.Several cross border incidents between Syria and Turkey over the summer have stoked fears within Ankara that the ongoing civil war in its southern neighbor could spill over into Turkish territory. … Read More
