Semaine 29 / 2011

          US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fended off criticism from the Arab League over America’s condemnation of Syria, reiterating that the current regime had lost the legitimacy to lead as it killed at least 32 civilian protesters Friday. “[Syrian President Bashar] Assad has lost his legitimacy in the eyes of his people because of the brutality of their crackdown, including today,” Clinton said during a meeting of the Libya Contact Group in Istanbul. “And we, along with many... [Lire la suite]

          Damascus is increasing shipments of advanced missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah amid continuing unrest in Syria, The Times of London reported Friday quoting Western intelligence officials. The officials said Syria provided Hezbollah with eight Scud D missiles that have a range of 700 kilometers. The missiles "are accurate to within tens of meters and bring all of Israel, Jordan and large parts of Turkey within Hezbollah's range," the officials were quoted by the newspaper as... [Lire la suite]

            Forty-one people were killed in Friday's mass anti-government protests across Syria that were broken up by security forces using live ammunition, a human rights group said Saturday. The death toll was initially given as 27 by activists documenting the protests on the day dubbed "Friday of Freedom Prisoners," in honor of those jailed during months of protests called for political reform and on President Bashar Assad to step down. But on Saturday, National Organization... [Lire la suite]

            A Japanese heavy machinery manufacturer said it has cut business ties with the Iranian government following a report that its cranes have been used for public executions. The company's announcement came several days after United Against Nuclear Iran President Mark D. Wallace published an op-ed in Los Angeles Times where he names the Japanese Tadano company as one of several companies exporting cranes to Iran. "In response to Iran's brazen attempts to intimidate and... [Lire la suite]

             Syrian security forces shot dead at least 20 protesters on Friday as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country in the biggest protests so far against President Bashar Assad. Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party rule, has sought to crush demonstrations. But although rights groups say some 1,400 civilians have been killed since March, the protests have continued unabated and swelled in size. "These are the... [Lire la suite]

               "Yasser Arafat was not poisoned," reveals attorney Dov Weissglas, the director of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau at the time of the PLO chief's mysterious death on November 11, 2004 at the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris. In a rare comment on the subject by a senior Israeli official, who had access to confidential information and was very close to Sharon, Weissglas dispels the rumor mill and conspiracy theories that have been around ever... [Lire la suite]

              The UN nuclear watchdog brought allegations of covert atomic work by Syria before the Security Council on Thursday, alleging that a base destroyed by Israel in 2007 was in fact a nuclear reactor, but the 15-nation body took no immediate action amid divisions among key powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors voted in June to report Syria to the council, rebuking it for stonewalling an agency probe into the Dair Alzour complex.... [Lire la suite]

           Israel Air Force strikes left at least five Palestinians wounded and one missing early Friday in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and officials in the territory said.   The witnesses said that IAF fighter jets struck a smuggling tunnel under the border between southern Gaza and Egypt, where five people were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces spokesman's office said the strikes were in response to response to six homemade missiles fired by militants from Gaza toward... [Lire la suite]

          Firefighters continued to battle a fire that began in the Ein Tina nature reserve and subsequently spread to Nahal Gilbon in the Golan Heights on Friday. A number of firefighting crews as well as firefighting planes were battling the blaze, estimated to have already burned several thousand dunams of land. Nearby Highway 91 was closed to traffic to prevent people from entering the nature reserve area. The fire broke out in the Ein Tina nature reserve on Thursday. Three female... [Lire la suite]

             Israel Air Force aircraft carried out air strikes against a total of six targets throughout the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday, in direct response to the firing of high-trajectory projectiles by Palestinian terrorists at western Negev communities, the IDF Spokesperson announced. Two children were reportedly lightly injured after IAF aircraft bombed two smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza and four terrorist targets in the northern and central parts of the... [Lire la suite]