Turkey Shoots Down 2 Syrian Fighter Jets

 The file photo shows a Syrian Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jet dropping a bomb on the militant-held area of Jobar district near the capital Damascus, June 30, 2017 (By AFP)

Source: Press TV

Syria confirms Turkey shot down its fighter jets on combat mission in Idlib

Syria has confirmed that Turkish forces have intercepted and shot down two Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets belonging to the Syrian Air Force, with the pilots ejecting moments before the aircraft were hit.

According to Syrian sources, the Syrian planes were on a combat mission against militants in the embattled northwestern province of Idlib.

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military source, reported that Turkish warplanes targeted the jets at 13:25 p.m. Damascus time (1125 GMT).

Tensions in the conflict between Ankara and Damascus have soared to a dramatic level recently.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian army announced the closure of airspace over Idlib, saying it will down any aircraft that breaches its airspace. 

Syria closes NW airspace, shoots down Turkish Drone 2020 Mar. 01

Separately, SANA said Syrian government forces had brought down three Turkish drones as they were flying in the skies over the strategic town of Saraqib.

Syria downs Turkish drone (Video) - 2020 Mar. 01

This came one day after the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said tens of Syrian soldiers had been killed in Turkish drone strikes in Idlib within 24 hours.

On Friday, a total of 48 Syrian soldiers were killed by similar attacks in Idlib.

The escalation in the Turkish attacks on Syrian forces comes against the backdrop of airstrikes that killed 34 Turkish soldiers on Thursday. Ankara blames the attacks on Syrian government forces.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement on Friday that Turkey is supporting terrorist groups in Idlib.

The ministry dismissed allegations by Turkish and Western media outlets regarding losses upon Syrian government forces in Saraqeb, noting that such claims are meant to uplift the morale of terror groups operating in the area and clearly show that Turkish forces are fighting alongside terrorist groups and that Ankara has no respect for its commitments under the Sochi agreement.

Under the deal, all militants in the demilitarized zone that surrounds Idlib, and also parts of the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, were supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17, 2018, with the Takfiri groups having to withdraw two days earlier.

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Additional Links:

SANA - Turkish regime’s air force targets two Syrian aircrafts in Idleb

SANA - Closing airspace over northwestern region, particularly Idleb

Press TV - Turkish drone strikes kill over two dozen Syrian soldiers in Idlib: Monitor

Britain says response to Syria chemical attack possible without unanimous UN backing

 

Updated: 1:55 PM

 

 

Members of the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Westminster (Reuters / Jon Nazca)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/uk-response-without-un-backing-979/

A response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria is possible without the unanimous consent of the UN Security Council, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

“I would argue yes it is, otherwise it might be impossible to respond to such outrages, such crimes, and I don't think that's an acceptable situation," Hague said on BBC radio, when asked whether it would be possible to respond to the use of chemical weapons without the backing of the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Royal Navy is reportedly moving ships into place for a possible strike with the US on Syria in the next few days.

Citing government sources, British daily The Telegraph wrote that as military commanders were discussing a list of potential targets, the Royal Navy is deploying vessels for a series of cruise missile strikes on Syria.

Since last week’s chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that left over 300 civilians dead, political rhetoric has been building against President Bashar Assad, alleging the regime carried out the attack against its own citizens. On Sunday, Britain added its voice to the chorus of countries urging for intervention in Syria.

Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the Assad regime, stating that “all the evidence points in one direction.”

"We cannot, in the 21st century, allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity, that people can be killed in this way, and there are no consequences for it," he said.

Branding Assad a dictator, Hague stressed a “strong response” was essential in light of the use of chemical weapons to “slaughter” Syrian citizens.

Syrian President Bashar Assad responded to the calls for an international reaction to the chemical attack, warning that any international intervention in Syria would end in failure.

"The comments [accusing the regime of using chemical weapons] made by politicians in the West and other countries are an insult to common sense... It is nonsense," Assad said, adding the accusations were completely “political.”

Russia also urged caution, calling on Washington to avoid “repeating past mistakes.”

“All of this makes one recall the events that happened 10 years ago, when, using false information about Iraqis having weapons of mass destruction, the US bypassed the United Nations and started a scheme whose consequences are well known to everyone,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow has also said a UN investigation into last Wednesday’s attack is of paramount importance and it was essential that its results were not influenced before time.

A team of UN experts arrived at the site of the attack on Monday in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, however doubts have already been raised over the validity of an investigation.

Washington has already alleged that an investigation would be “too late to be credible.” The British government echoed the US, stating that valuable evidence could have been destroyed in subsequent bombing of the area or tampered with.

"The fact is that much of the evidence could have been destroyed by that artillery bombardment. Other evidence could have degraded over the last few days and other evidence could have been tampered with," Hague told reporters on Saturday.

The toxic gas attack in Ghouta triggered a wave of media hysteria with mixed reports alleging that thousands had been killed. On Saturday, French charity Medcins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) said that 355 people had died and over a thousand were exhibiting systems related to neurotoxic poisoning. However, the non-profit organization said it was impossible to discern who was behind the attack.

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Saudi spy chief hails UK role in persistent Syrian civil war

 

 

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/26/320534/saudi-spy-chief-hails-uk-role-in-syria/

Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan has in a secret meeting briefed Britain’s MI6 chief Sir Robert Sawers on Riyadh’s role in stoking the Syrian civil war and thanked London for its strategic cooperation to that end.

"At the meeting, the Saudi intelligence chief briefed Sawers on Riyadh's latest moves on Syria, including the supply of over 400 tons of weapons to the militants in Syria via Turkey," Fars News Agency quoted unnamed sources as saying.

“We have made the Syrian army engage in a civil war and of course this strategic mission could not be accomplished without your (MI6) cooperation,” the source quoted Prince Bandar as saying during the meeting.

According to the report, the Saudi National Security Council Secretary and Intelligence Chief also reiterated that his country is sending the Salafi and other extremist fighters to Syria to get them killed and trigger religious discord among different Muslims groups in the region.

"The Prince also reminded the different advantages of the Saudi plan in Syria, saying that extremist groups, including the Salafis, have been engaged in the war in Syria and killed in there, while the Lebanese Hezbollah movement has also been pushed into direct confrontation with radical Sunni Muslims," the source said.

Prince Bandar also reportedly ensured Sawers of control over the extremist mercenaries in Syria so that they do not turn up against Saudi Arabia and its western allies.

Lebanon’s Assafir newspaper reported back in June that Prince Bandar has been an intermediary between the western governments and the Syrian militants to deliver heavy weapons to the terrorists.

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Updated: 2013 August 26, 1:55 PM

 

US cannot afford to wait for UN to attack Syria: Officials

 

 

US President Barack Obama meets with his national security team

 

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/26/320575/us-cannot-afford-to-wait-for-un-to-attack-syria/

Rep. Eliot Engel (NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said “this is time for us” to launch cruise missile strikes on Syria, and that the US government cannot afford to wait for the United Nations.

“The world is a better place when the United States takes leadership; this is time for us to do this. I hope we’ll do it soon,” the American lawmaker said on Fox News Sunday.

A growing number of Republicans and Democrats in Congress are urging President Barack Obama to approve military action against Syria following reports of a deadly chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus last week.

Engel said that the United States had to respond quickly and could not afford to wait for the United Nations.

“We could even destroy the Syrian Air Force if we wanted to… We have to move and we have to move quickly.”

Other senior US officials have also indicated that instead of seeking a UN approval for military action, Washington could work with its partners such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Arab League.

"We'll consult with the UN. They're an important avenue. But they're not the only avenue," a senior administration official said.

The Syrian government has allowed UN inspectors to visit a site that allegedly came under chemical attack on Wednesday. Obama administration officials, however, have dismissed as too late the Syrian offer.

Although there is still no evidence to blame the chemical attack on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a senior administration official said there was “very little doubt” that Damascus was behind the attack.

“Based on the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, witness accounts and other facts gathered by open sources, the US intelligence community, and international partners, there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident,” the unnamed official said in a written statement on Sunday, as reported by the New York Times.

The Syrian government and the army categorically denied any role in Wednesday’s chemical attack which killed hundreds of people. Russia, a key ally of Syria, insists that the attack was "clearly provocative in nature," and that it was staged by foreign-backed militant groups to incriminate the Assad government.

In recent days, the Pentagon has moved more warships into place in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and American war planners have updated strike targets that include government and military installations inside Syria, officials said.

President Obama met with his national security advisers at the White House over the weekend to discuss “a range of options” for Syria, but officials said late Sunday that the president had yet to decide how to proceed.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reiterated Sunday that the Pentagon has prepared “options for all contingencies” and is ready to use force if the president gives the green-light.

Meanwhile, the US top military leader is in Jordan to discuss possible strikes on neighboring Syria.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey was set to meet with his Jordanian counterpart and other regional defense chiefs during his visit.

"The exchange is designed to increase the collective understanding of the impact of regional conflicts on nations, foster ongoing dialogue and improve security relationships," Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson said.

President Obama said last year that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government was “a red line” that would provoke a military response

 

 

Russia warns US of extremely dangerous fallout of strike on Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/26/320519/russia-warns-us-against-attack-on-syria/

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the United States against the ‘extremely dangerous consequences’ of military action against Syria.

Lavrov made the remarks during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.

“Sergei Lavrov drew attention to the extremely dangerous consequences of a possible new military intervention for the whole Middle East and North Africa region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that Moscow was “deeply alarmed” by Washington’s statement about its readiness to intervene in Syria.

Foreign Minister Lavrov urged restraint during the conversation with John Kerry, the statement said.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on August 23 that the Pentagon was positioning military forces as part of “contingency options” provided to US President Barack Obama regarding Syria.

France and the Israeli regime have also called for military action against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Hagel’s comments have been interpreted as a tacit suggestion that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Syria. The US defense secretary repeated similar remarks on Sunday during a visit to Malaysia.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a recent interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia that any military intervention by the US would end in “failure.”

The United Nations says over 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million of others displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria since March 2011.


 

US raises alert for warships in Middle East

 

USS Abraham Lincoln

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/05/317362/us-raises-alert-for-warships-in-mideast/

The United States has reportedly ordered its warships in the Middle East to be ready in case of a possible terror attack by al-Qaeda.

DEBKAfile said on Monday that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel “is reported by CNN to be considering a special deployment of US forces in the Middle East ready for action if a terrorist attack makes it necessary.”

“US warships have been ordered to sail into waters opposite Yemen, which is reported to be the source of the terrorist threat which has closed 19 US embassies and consulates in the Muslim world since Sunday,” DEBKAfile reported.

“Marine units in southern Italy and Spain were also told to stand ready for intervention,” according to the report.

The United States closed 21 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday, warning that al-Qaeda may be planning to conduct attacks by the end of August.

On Sunday, State Department said that the country’s embassies and consulates in 19 cities will remain closed until Saturday. US diplomatic posts will remain closed in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait among other countries.

The department also issued a global travel alert due to a possible terror attack by al-Qaeda.

“Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” the department said.

In an interview with Press TV, political analyst Dr. Kevin Barrett said that the recent global terror alert shows that Washington needs to keep the so-called war on terror going.

“There is a hidden agenda of course behind it and that is to keep the so-called war on terror going and to do that they need to periodically check and see if people still believe this kind of nonsense,” he said.

“Terror alert issued by the US government is just as ridiculous as previous series of terror alerts,” Barrett added.

 

Election mandate in hand, Obama readies more Iran sanctions



 

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/iran-us-sanctions-drone-300/

Only days after President Obama won reelection, the US rolled out a new round of sanctions against Iran and accused it of attempting to shoot down an American drone in international airspace.

­The US State Department and Treasury announced on Thursday that the sanctions are aimed at senior Iranian officials and several related entities. US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said they are “responsible for the abuses carried out against their own citizens.”

The alleged abuses include the jamming of international satellite broadcasts, blocking Internet access to services like YouTube, eBay, Facebook and Gmail, and monitoring online activities to identify “users who published material insulting government officials,” a US Treasury statement said. Tehran is also accused of attacking foreign websites, shutting down newspapers in Iran and detaining journalists.

Other countries in the region, including US allies, have blocked Internet users from accessing services and materials they deemed impropriate. Turkey blocked YouTube over videos insulting its first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Pakistan blocked YouTube for “blasphemous web content.” The United Arab Emirates did the same, taking offense at ‘adult content’ on the video-sharing site.

The four individuals targeted by the sanctions include Tehran’s Communication and Information Technology Minister Reza Taghipour, deputy commander of the Basij militia Ali Fazli and Iranian police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam. The five entities include the country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Press Supervisory Board and the Center to Investigate Organized Crime.

Iranian software companies AmnAfzar Gostar-e Sharif and PeykAsa – which are involved in monitoring and blocking Internet traffic – and the companies’ founder Rasool Jalili were also targeted by the sanctions.

Tehran is engaged in a campaign to curtail freedoms and “prevent the free flow of information both into and out of Iran,” Nuland said. “Countless activists, journalists, lawyers, students and artists have been detained, censured, tortured or forcibly prevented from exercising their human rights.”

The US and some of its allies have leveled increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran. The restrictions have crippled Iranian oil exports, a major source of income for the country, by targeting any organizations worldwide that buy crude from the Islamic Republic.

Western countries are pressuring Iran in a bid to force it to stop enriching uranium. They allege that Tehran is trying to stockpile the material to produce a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists that it produces enriched uranium for civilian purposes only.

­Drone debacle

­On Tuesday, the Pentagon said that Iranian warplanes shot at a US Predator drone over the Gulf region, but failed to take it down. The encounter reportedly took place on November 1, about 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast and in international airspace.

Pentagon spokesperson George Little said that this was the fist time the Iranian military had fired on a US drone. The incident initially went undisclosed because the US military does not discuss classified surveillance missions, he explained. The attack was officially confirmed only after it was reported in the US media.

Two Iranian Sukhoi Su-25 jets intercepted the unarmed drone as it was performing a routine – but classified – patrol over Persian Gulf waters.

The aircraft shot “multiple rounds” at the Predator, and after it moved away from the Iranian border they shadowed it “for some period of time before letting it return to base,” Little said.

The American military claimed the Iranian pilots intended to shoot down the drone.

"Our working assumption is that they fired to take it down. You'll have to ask the Iranians why they engaged in this action," Little said. He did not explain why the Iranian jets failed to hit their target, as drones are incapable of performing elaborate evasive maneuvers.

He said that the American drone “was never in Iranian air space,” which begins 12 nautical miles from the country’s coastline.

In December 2011, a CIA RQ-170 Sentinel stealth done was monitoring Iranian nuclear and military facilities when it was brought down and captured in eastern Iran. The US said it malfunctioned, while Tehran claimed they had downed the aircraft. The Iranian government later published photos of the captured drone, which appeared undamaged.

“The United States has communicated to the Iranians that we will continue to conduct surveillance flights over international waters over the Arabian Gulf, consistent with longstanding practice and our commitment to the security of the region,” Little said.

Chief of Staff Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, the Deputy Chair of the Iranian Armed Forces, said there would be a “firm response” to any air, ground and sea aggression against Iran. He vowed to confront any foreign aircraft that violated the country’s airspace, Iranian news channel Press TV reported.

US President Barack Obama (AFP Photo / Jewel Samad) 

US vows to make Mali next stop in ‘war on terror’

 

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta makes a statement during a news briefing at the Pentagon on October 18, 2012.

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/28/269135/us-vows-to-take-war-on-terror-to-mali/

Alleging “al-Qaeda” presence in Mali, the United States has vowed to make the West African country, the next stop in its so-called war on terror.

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta vowed in Pentagon to eliminate the threat from “al-Qaeda” in northern Mali, Reuters reported on Saturday. He said that he would ensure that al-Qaeda has "no place to hide.”

"Our approach is to make sure that al-Qaeda and elements of al-Qaeda have no place to hide. And we've gone after al-Qaeda wherever they are - whether it's in [the northwestern Pakistan] FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas]; whether it's in Yemen; whether it's in Somalia; and whether they're in North Africa," he noted.

The comments came amid reports that the CIA is currently flying some surveillance drones over northern Mali, and that France is also reportedly sending surveillance aircraft to the African country.

A study, conducted by Stanford and New York Universities, has showed that only one in 50 people killed by US assassination drones in Pakistan -- one of the several countries where the US has carried out drone strikes -- are militants.

Pakistan’s anti-drone campaigner Imran Khan removed from US airline for interrogation

 

Pakistani politician Imran Khan (AFP Photo / A Majeed)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/us-immigration-drone-strikes-398/

US immigration authorities have taken Pakistan’s former cricket superstar-turned-politician Imran Khan off a flight to New York and interrogated. Khan is known for his anti-drone campaigning.

Khan, who is now a popular political figure in Pakistan and ahead of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (PTI), was removed from an American Airlines flight heading from Canada to New York and interrogated. Immigration officials asked him whether he was planning to protest in the US, as well as demanding to know his views on drone strikes and jihad.

Earlier this month, the former cricket star led thousands of Pakistani protesters, together with some US anti-war advocates, on a march from Islamabad to the tribal region of South Waziristan in opposition to US drone strikes. About 15,000 of his supporters joined him in the high-profile march, which focused attention on the strikes that have killed large numbers of civilians. Islamabad recently said that 80 percent of drone-related deaths were civilians.

“I was taken off the plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop,” Khan wrote in a tweet after being questioned on Friday. Khan had been on his way to the US to give a speech and attend a fundraiser organized by his political party, which the delay caused him to miss.

“Missed flight and sad to miss the fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance,” he tweeted.

Furthermore, Khan said the official who was questioning him did not seem to understand drone warfare himself. He also expressed confusion over why he was granted a visa to visit the US given if his stance on drones was a problem.

Khan heads a political party that was founded in 1996 and ignored for years. The PTI was called “Pakistan’s one-man party” by the US Department of State. Today, it is rapidly growing, with electable officials joining. The Pakistani leader believes the War on Terror “has been devastating for Pakistan,” he said in an interview with Julian Assange in June.

“Basically, our army was killing our own people,” he said.

He is an avid opponent to US presence on Pakistani soil – even when it came down to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011. The US mission to kill the former terrorist leader in Pakistan shows that “our ally did not trust us,” the politician said.

Rather than employ Pakistan as “a hired gun, being paid to kill America’s enemies,” Khan believes the US should trust that there will not be terrorism coming out of Pakistan.

Several Canadian commentators have suggested that groups protesting Khan’s entrance to the US may have influenced Immigration to pull him off the flight. The American Islamic Leadership Coalition last week requested that Hilary Clinton attempt to revoke his visa due to what they believe are sympathetic views towards the Taliban.

“The US Embassy made a significant error in granting this Islamist leader a visa,” the group said in a statement reported by the Sun. “Granting individuals like Khan access to the US to fundraise is against the interest of the people of Pakistan and the national security interests of the US.”

Ali Zaidi, a senior PTI party leader, demanded an apology from the US government for removing Khan from the plane. So far, no apologies have been made, and Immigration officials have only restated their policies.

“Our dual mission is to facilitate travel in the United States while we secure our borders, our people, and our visitors from those that would do us harm like terrorists and terrorist weapons, criminals, and contraband,” Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Joanne Ferreira told the Toronto Sun.

US, France taking drone war to Mali: Rest of Africa next?

US, France mull taking drone war to Mali

 

A French Harfang drone (file photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/23/268272/us-france-mull-moving-drones-to-mali/

The military officials of France and the US have reportedly held secret talks in Paris to discuss a plan to move French surveillance drones from Afghanistan to the crisis-hit African country of Mali.

American and French officials met in Paris last week to draw a plan for military intervention in Mali by moving the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to the African country, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Last Friday, African leaders had met in the Malian capital, Bamako, to discuss a plan for a military intervention in the north, which was seized under the cover of a coup d'etat six months ago.

On October 13, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that gave West African nations 45 days to offer details of a plan for a military intervention in Mali.

“France and the United Nations insist any invasion of Mali's north must be led by African troops,” the AP report claimed, adding that Paris, however, “is playing an increasing role behind the scenes.”

A French defense official said on the condition of anonymity on Monday that his country is considering a plan to send two more surveillance drones to western Africa from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Reports say France has deployed its special forces to the region around Mali as well.

Meanwhile, a group of top American military officials and diplomats, including US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, arrived in Paris on Monday to hold talks on intelligence-gathering and security in the Sahel region, including Mali.

Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure was ousted in a military coup on March 22. The coup leaders said the president had failed to fight the separatist movement of Tuareg rebels in the north.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned against a military operation, saying it would further affect millions of people in the region.

Once a detailed plan for military intervention in Mali is received from the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and the United Nations, the Security Council would consider a second resolution to approve the move.

 

CIA seeks significant expansion of its assassination drone fleet

 

American premier spy agency the CIA has called for a significant expansion of its fleet of assassination drones to bolster the agency’s terror campaign of targeted bombings in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/19/267543/cia-seeks-to-expand-terror-drone-fleet/

American spy agency, the CIA, has called for a significant expansion of its fleet of assassination drones to bolster the agency’s terror campaign of targeted bombings in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

The plan, submitted to the White House by CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Director David Petraeus, would enable the spy agency not only to boost its persisting campaign of deadly strikes against suspected militant areas in Yemen and Pakistan, but also shift the assassination drones to “emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots,” US daily The Washington Post reported on Friday, quoting officials that spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

One American official said the request by Petraeus, a former top military official who commanded US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, reflects a US concern that “political turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa has created new openings for al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” according to the report.

“With what happened in Libya, we’re realizing that these places are going to heat up,” said the official, referring to the September 11 incident at the US Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where four Americans, including the US ambassador to the African country, were killed following a massive anti-US demonstration to protest the release of a film that grossly insulted Muslims and their highly revered Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

No decision has so far been taken about shifting armed CIA assassination drones into the North Africa region but contingency plans are being mapped out, according to the official. “I think we’re actually looking forward a little bit.”

American officials at the White House, the CIA and the Defense Department have refused to comment on the drone expansion proposal, says the daily, and those who did, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Washington officials, says the report, are “particularly concerned” about the emergence of pro-al-Qaeda militants in North Africa, following the downfall of pro-US regimes in Libya and Mali.

Seeking to reinforce their intelligence surveillance in the region, the US has been forced to “rely on small, unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes.”

The CIA, according to the report, also maintains a separate fleet of stealth surveillance drones, the use of which were exposed when one of them was brought down intact in 2011 by Iranian forces while on a surveillance flight over the country. Such drones were also used to monitor “bin Laden’s compound” in Pakistan before a US military assault to kill him, the daily claims.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has promoted collaborations between the CIA and the military in what it advertises as “counterterrorism operations,” leading to “a blurring of their traditional roles,” according to the Post. In Yemen, the CIA routinely “borrows” the aircraft of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to carry out strikes. The joint command is growingly engaged in operations that resemble espionage.

Moreover, says the daily, any decision to extend the reach of CIA’s fleet of armed assassination drones would most likely require the spy agency to establish additional secret bases overseas. The CIA relies on American military pilots to fly the drones from bases in the southwestern US “but has been reluctant to share overseas landing strips with the Defense Department.”

The CIA’s pilotless Predators used in terror strikes over Pakistan are flown out of airstrips along the border in Afghanistan. The agency established a secret base on the Arabian Peninsula when it began its drone attacks over Yemen, even though JSOC drones are flown from a separate facility in Djibouti.

On Wednesday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that contrary to US claims, 80 percent of people killed by US assassination drone strikes in the country are innocent civilians.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament, Malik added that the total of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks conducted by US drones in Pakistan amounted to 336 attacks, killing nearly 2,300 people.

Despite Islamabad’s repeated calls on Washington to end the terror drone attacks, the US government continues its strikes on the tribal regions of the country.

Meanwhile in Yemen, a recent report by the country’s National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms states that over 300 people have been killed in the strikes carried out in the southern regions of the country so far in 2012.

The aerial attacks were initiated by former US President George W. Bush, but have escalated under President Barack Obama.

The United Nations has censured American drone attacks as targeted killings and says they flout international law.

Rise of the Machines – USA – Drones!

Source Video: Journey Man Pictures

For downloads and more information visit: http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=64311

Most people see drones as a controversial weapon prowling over foreign battlegrounds. But as America's military campaigns wind down, these machines are coming home and set to change civilian lives forever.

"This is a powerful technology. No amount of hand-wringing is going to stop it", says drone expert, Peter Singer. Whether it's a floating TV station streaming live to the web, the prying lens of the paparazzi, the police chasing a criminal or a government agency spying, small domestic drones are experiencing an exponential growth. At the world's largest drone convention in Las Vegas a salesman tells the crowd, "this can be used in law enforcement, disaster relief and industrial applications. It's also very good at dusting floors. Every home owner should have one". And as the technology advances at a frightening speed, anyone with a few hundred dollars can buy one over the counter. These hobby drones can fly for miles and provide sharp video feedback to the pilot. "I wouldn't cheat on your wife!", laughs columnist Charles Krauthammer. But jokes aside, there are real fears over the "political, legal and ethical issues that play out with this", argues Singer. In 3 years time an order from the US congress will see tens of thousands of drones legally occupy an already crowded sky, raising numerous questions about basic safety, terrorism and civil liberty. As companies rush to cash in on this new billion dollar industry, experts warn, "we're not ready for this".

ABC Australia

Spying on Americans: 64 Drone Bases on US Soil

 

By: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/spying-on-americans-64-drone-bases-on-us-soil/

We like to think of the drone war as something far away, fought in the deserts of Yemen or the mountains of Afghanistan. But we now know it’s closer than we thought. There are 64 drone bases on American soil. That includes 12 locations housing Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed.

Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information, released a map of military UAV activities in the United States on Tuesday. Assembled from military sources — especially this little-known June 2011 Air Force presentation (.pdf) – it is arguably the most comprehensive map so far of the spread of the Pentagon’s unmanned fleet. What exact missions are performed at those locations, however, is not clear. Some bases might be used as remote cockpits to control the robotic aircraft overseas, some for drone pilot training. Others may also serve as imagery analysis depots.

The medium-size Shadow is used in 22 bases, the smaller Raven in 20 and the miniature Wasp in 11. California and Texas lead the pack, with 10 and six sites, respectively, and there are also 22 planned locations for future bases. ”It is very likely that there are more domestic drone activities not included in the map, but it is designed to provide an approximate overview of the widespread nature of Department of Defense activities throughout the US,” Michael Haynes from Public Intelligence tells Danger Room.

The possibility of military drones (as well as those controlled by police departments and universities) flying over American skies have raised concerns among privacy activists. As the American Civil Liberties Union explained in its December 2011 report, the machines potentially could be used to spy on American citizens. The drones’ presence in our skies “threatens to eradicate existing practical limits on aerial monitoring and allow for pervasive surveillance, police fishing expeditions, and abusive use of these tools in a way that could eventually eliminate the privacy Americans have traditionally enjoyed in their movements and activities.”

As Danger Room reported last month, even military drones, which are prohibited from spying on Americans, may “accidentally” conduct such surveillance — and keep the data for months afterwards while they figure out what to do with it. The material they collect without a warrant, as scholar Steven Aftergood revealed, could then be used to open an investigation.

The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the U.S. military from operating on American soil, and there’s no evidence that drones have violated it so far.

This new map comes almost two months after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) revealed another one, this time of public agencies – including police departments and universities – that have a permit issued by the Federal Aviation Agency to use UAVs in American airspace.

“It goes to show you how entrenched drones already are,” said Trevor Timm, an EFF activist, when asked about the new map. “It’s clear that the drone industry is expanding rapidly and this map is just another example of that. And if people are worried about military technology coming back and being sold in the US, this is just another example how drone technology is probably going to proliferate in the US very soon.”

Domestic proliferation isn’t the same as domestic spying, however. Most — if not all — of these military bases would make poor surveillance centers. Many of the locations are isolated, far from civilian populations. Almost half of the bases on the map work only with the relatively small Raven and Shadow drones; their limited range and endurance make them imperfect spying tools, at best. It’s safe to assume that most of the bases are just used for military training.

Privacy concerns aside, the biggest issue might be safety, as we were been reminded on Monday when a giant Navy drone crashed in Maryland

 

Panetta admits that US is at war in Pakistan

 


Leon Panetta (AFP Photo / Pool / Jim Watson)

Source: Russia Today
http://rt.com/usa/news/panetta-us-war-pakistan-225/

Hold the phone, anti-war activists. President Obama says that American troops are done with Operation Iraqi Freedom and their episode in Afghanistan is almost over. Now, though, it looks like the US is calling its operation in Pakistan an actual war.

Only one day after American officials announced that US troops executed an alleged al-Qaeda higher-up with a drone strike in Pakistan, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters on Wednesday that America’s fair-weather ally is indeed serving as a battlefront in the War on Terror.

“We are fighting a war in the FATA, we are fighting a war against terrorism,” Secretary Panetta said this week. Panetta was referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a region in northwest Pakistan that is currently the scene of American airstrikes.

Since well before the top-secret raid and execution of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden brought US troops into Pakistan, the American military has tried time and time again to sugarcoat its activities overseas. Despite being an at-one-time top ally of the United States, Pakistani officials have continuously condemned the US over Uncle Sam’s continuing air strikes with unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. Now after years of trying to re-develop those deteriorating ties with Pakistan, the United States’ top military man flatly called his country’s operations in FATA an actual war.

To put it simply, this might not be good news for anyone.

While Panetta’s comment came only a day after the Pentagon confirmed that al-Qaeda’s “number-two in command,” Abu Yahya al-Libi, was executed with a drone strike in the FATA region, it also coincides — coincidently — with a statement made by another former CIA official. Robert Greiner, the one-time head of the CIA’s counterterrorism center, tells reporters this week that America’s mishandling of drone attacks is creating a safe haven for terrorists.

In a report published this week by the UK’s Guardian, Greiner says that ongoing attacks that target a broad and often unspecific range of targets is causing anti-American sentiments to increase faster than the US can actually combat terror. After the US has increased its air strikes in locales such as Pakistan and Yemen, says Greiner, insurgency has only become more rampant.

Because the Obama administration has gone on the record to say that all military-age men in strike zone are considered combatants, Greiner believes that unrest with the US is adding up at a rate that repeated strikes won’t help.

"We have gone a long way down the road of creating a situation where we are creating more enemies than we are removing from the battlefield. We are already there with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan," says Greiner.

"That brings you to a place where young men, who are typically armed, are in the same area and may hold these militants in a certain form of high regard. If you strike them indiscriminately you are running the risk of creating a terrific amount of popular anger. They have tribes and clans and large families. Now all of a sudden you have a big problem … I am very concerned about the creation of a larger terrorist safe haven in Yemen”

Anglo-French drone files stolen

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/228282.html

Highly secret documents related to the Anglo-French project aimed at building Europe’s assassination drones have been stolen at the Gare du Nord station in Paris.

A briefcase containing highly confidential documents relating to the Anglo-French assassination drone project has been stolen from a senior French executive.

The senior executive from Dassault Aviation, a French manufacturer of military jets, was on his way to London when two people, possibly linked to “a highly-sophisticated operation by a spy agency” as described by the French police, stole the documents.

Britain and France agreed to carry out a joint project aimed at building a new generation of assassination drones, known as Male (medium altitude long endurance) drones, by 2020.

British arms giant BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation are to launch the joint venture so that the new assassination drones will fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the US and Britain’s so-called “War on Terror.”

British anti-arms campaigners have severely criticized the Anglo-French project as they describe the assassination drones as “the latest ‘must have’ weapon system” that Britain is “desperate” to build.

“Drones are the latest ‘must have’ weapon system and it is important they say, that the UK keeps up with the US and Israel in this key market,” said Drone Wars UK in a statement.

Israel to deploy drones in north Iraq

An Israeli drone aircraft (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193813.html

The Israeli army has stepped up its military activities in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region and is planning to station a number of unmanned aerial vehicles in the area in northern Iraq.

Israel plans to deploy new equipment, including six drones, in the region in cooperation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, a Press TV correspondent in northern Iraq reported on Saturday.

Four of the aircraft will be stationed at the Khalidiyah airbase in the northern oil city of Kirkuk and two others will go to the airport in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh governorate.

Israeli intelligence agents and military advisers, equipped with special transmission devices, are also being sent to Mosul to train security forces in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani has reportedly agreed to the concession in return for the admission of a number of Iraqi Kurd students to Israeli universities.

Barzani gave Israel the green light to deploy military drones in northern Iraq without gaining the approval of the Iraqi central government in Baghdad, which has no diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.

Despite ban, France buys Israeli drones

The Heron TP (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190564.html

The French defense ministry has decided, after a four-decade-long weapons sales embargo on Israel, to purchase Heron TP drones from Tel Aviv.

The decision, made last week, will put an end to a 42-year weapons sales ban to Israel placed by the then French President Charles de Gaulle, Ha'aretz reported.

De Gaulle declared the ban on June 2, 1967. Only three days after the Six-Day War began.

Israel had at the time purchased several Mirage jets and missile boats from France. However, as the embargo was enforced, Israel never received the military equipment.

De Gaulle and the French government at the time had warned Israel that it was a mistake to occupy the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They further refused to recognize Israel's control of Jerusalem.

The move to buy Israeli drones marks a shift in Paris' policy towards Tel Aviv.

This will be the first time the drone, produced by Israel's Aerospace Industry is purchased by a foreign country.

Israel's Aerospace Industry has yet refused to comment on the deal. This comes while an unnamed security industry official has called the deal “a truly and historically coming full circle.”

Heron TP is suspected to have been used for the first time in January 2009 when Israel launched a war on the impoverished Gaza Strip.

The 22-day Israeli onslaught took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians and left thousands more injured. It also inflicted over USD 1.6 billion in damages on the territory's economy.

BBC accused of broadcasting "lies"

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184479.html

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been deplored for spreading lies over its claims that the NATO was conducting “precision bombing” in Libya.

Campaigners attending the annual conference of Stop the War Coalition, including anti-poverty charity War on Want, slammed the BBC on Saturday for claiming that the Western military alliance's invasion of Libya will protect civilians, because they are using modern military technology to avoid civilians' deaths.

War on Want executive director John Hillary lashed out at the broadcaster for giving coverage to NATO airstrikes, particularly attacks by US-made remote-controlled Predator drones, against Libyan people since late April.

A BBC correspondent had written in March that the “NATO coalition were "plainly making big efforts to avoid killing civilians”.

"The old myth of pinpoint precision bombing has become much more of a reality", said BBC correspondent John Simpson.

"Drones can hit military targets more easily in urban areas, minimising the risk of civilian casualties," wrote another unnamed reporter.

But, John Hillary dismissed claims of increased precision as sheer “lies”, because the use of drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan is an explicit example of indiscriminate killings.

A study carried out by western military experts David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum in 2009 consolidated the fact that of the more than 700 people killed in Pakistan by drone attacks that year, only 14 were known al-Qaeda operatives and the rest were civilians.

The War on Want executive director described drones as indiscriminate weapons, the use of which violates international law.

“…yet the BBC with absolutely no backing or justification feels happy to go out and say these are precise bombing instruments", said Hillary.

"We have to stand up and say enough with these lies from the BBC.

"This is not precision bombing - this is indiscriminate bombing with massive civilian casualties," he added.

The use of drone missiles has also been described by the UN's special rapporteur on extra judicial killings Philip Alston as a crime against humanity.

The New America Foundation, a right-wing body that monitors drone attacks, has reported that at least 2,431 people have been killed by drone bombings in Pakistan since 2004.

Yemen: US exaggerates al-Qaeda threat

Former Guantanamo inmate Said Ali al-Shihri is currently second-in-command
for the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140130.html


Yemen says the threat of al-Qaeda in the country has been blown out of proportion, insisting that it is Sana'a's job to fight the militants.

Western media outlets "exaggerate the size of al-Qaeda and the danger that it poses to Yemen's stability and security," AFP said, citing a report published by the state-run Saba news agency.

US officials had earlier referred to increasing concerns in Washington about the looming threat posed by al-Qaeda in Yemen, saying it was planning to step up pressure on the militants.

Reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post also cite US officials who spoke of a possible expansion of US operations in Yemen, including CIA drone strikes.

"Yemen insists that fighting terrorism in Yemen remains the responsibility of Yemeni security authorities," said a Sanaa official, according to Saba.

"Yemeni forces, with the support of friends and brothers, are capable of bearing their full responsibilities in eliminating Al-Qaeda elements," he added.

The militants, believed to be holed up in Yemen -- dubbed by the US as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- were thrown into the spotlight following an alleged attempt by a group member to bomb a US-bound flight on Christmas Day, 2009.

The US military reportedly conducted a secret air strike in May against suspected militants in the remote desert of Marib province.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International charged the US with violating international law by carrying out attacks and cooperating in 'extrajudicial executions' in the impoverished Arab nation.

In a report published in June, the human rights watchdog said the United States used cluster bombs on a cruise missile in Yemen, killing 55 people, mostly civilians, in al-Ma'jalah in Abyan province.

Gates confirms Blackwater presence in Pakistan

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116754&sectionid=351020401

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirms that American security firms Xe Services LLC, formerly known as Blackwater, and DynCorp have been operating in Pakistan.

The two firms are operating in private capacities, Gates said on Thursday, adding that the companies were abiding by Pakistani laws.

However, he said that if the Pakistani parliament votes for a ban on the presence of the firms, the US government would comply with it.

Blackwater won notoriety for having gone on a shooting rampage in a heavily trafficked Baghdad intersection in September 2007 killing more than a dozen Iraqi civilians.

Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to Xe Services LLC in February 2009, after it came under international criticism for its disregard for civilian lives.

Two former Blackwater mercenaries have also been charged with the 2009 murder of two Afghan civilians in Kabul.

Asad Durani, former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had earlier told Press TV that the notorious firm, Blackwater, was involved in the deadly drone attacks on Pakistani territories, which usually result in civilian casualties.

"I learned somewhere that these people are employed certainly for…the logistic support at the drone bases. That is understandable," Durani said earlier in January.

Gates, meanwhile, said that Washington is considering sharing its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology with Pakistan.

"These UAVs are useful and we have a budget for them," Gates said in an interview with a privately-run Pakistani television on Thursday.

He claimed that the drones had proved productive in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We are working together with Pakistan army in this connection," Gates said, adding that discussions were underway with Pakistan military leadership on technical matters in this regard, a Press TV correspondent reported late Thursday.

Defense officials in his delegation later said that the US will provide 12 Shadow drones to Pakistan.

The Shadow drone is about 3.3 meters (11 feet) long and has a wing-span of 4.2 meters (14 feet), with sensors and cameras feeding video images back to operators on the ground.