Israel sees Iranian nuclear weapons as an existential threat, and plans are in place to carry out strikes to cripple the nuclear program by the middle of next month. Middle East expert Mike Evans says his discussions with top Israeli officials this week suggest there is a strong likelihood the attacks will take place between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15.
Evans estimates a 75 percent chance that strikes will be carried out in that 30-day window. Evans says high-ranking Israeli leaders also tell him they have a secret weapon they intend to deploy for any strikes, but they would not tell Evans what that weapon is. He believes the likely weapon is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which would cripple Iran’s power grid.
WND Senior Staff Reporter Jerome Corsi reported in 2009 on a “secret weapon” being developed and tested by Israel.The test was done at an undisclosed Israeli military base, but few details were uncovered at the time. It was confirmed that the military specifically designed the weapon to be used in a possible conflict with Iran.
Turkish army officers have assumed direct command of the first two Syrian rebel brigades fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces, according toDEBKAfile’s exclusive sources. This step has sent military tensions rocketing on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon in case of a backlash.The rebel North Liberators Brigade in the Idlib region of northern Syria and the Tawhid Brigade fighting in the Al-Bab area northeast of Aleppo are now taking their operational orders from Turkish officers, who exercise their authority from headquarters outside Syria in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep. Nonetheless, Turkey is considered to have stepped directly into the Syrian conflict marking the onset of foreign intervention.The consequences of Turkish military action in Syria were urgently aired with CIA Director David Petraeus when he arrived in Ankara Monday, Sept. 3...After hearing how and when Ankara proposed to expand its role in the Syrian conflict, Petraeus discussed with Turkish military and intelligence chiefs the likely Syrian, Iranian and Hizballah responses.By then, US, Turkish and Israeli intelligence watchers were reporting unusual military movements in Syria and on Hizballah turf in southern Lebanon – suspected of being preparations for a blowback from the Turkish intervention in Syria.The IDF countered by placing its units guarding the Syrian and Lebanese borders on a state of alert. Wednesday, Sept. 5, an Iron Dome battery was installed in Gush Dan to head off a potential Hizballah missile barrage on central Israel and its hub, Tel Aviv.Later that day, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan commented: "The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state."
Only a few of Erdogan's listeners understood he was laying international legal grounding for expanding Turkish military intervention in Syria.
Thursday, Sept. 6, military temperatures remained high-to-feverish along Syria's borders with Turkey and Israel, and along Lebanon's borders with Syria and Israel.
Russia has starkly warned Israel and the United States against attacking Iran, saying Moscow sees no evidence that Tehran's nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.An attack on Iran "would set off deep shocks in the security and economic spheres that would reverberate far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East region," Ryabkov was quoted as saying.
Russian officials have issued similar warnings in the past, but Ryabkov's remarks appeared to underscore Moscow's concern about the possibility that Israel might attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
An ongoing visit to Israel by Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., was revealed Thursday morning on Army Radio.
The visit comes amid speculation of strained relations between Israel and the US over differences in opinion on how to properly deal with threat of Iran's nuclear program.
Admiral Winnefeld is in Israel as the guest of Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, and reportedly is taking part in discussions focusing on Israel-US military cooperation.
The IDF thwarted two separate attempted attacks against Israel in a 12-hour period Wednesday night and Thursday morning, killing 6 Palestinians in the process, according to Gaza medical sources.
IAF aircraft targeted a terrorist squad in the central Gaza Strip during final preparations to fire rockets at Israel on Wednesday night, according tot he IDF Spokesman's Office.
Palestinian sources said at least three men were killed in the airstrike, and one injured. The Palestinians said that the cell had been hit near the border. The wounded were rushed to a local hospital via ambulances.
The airstrikes came after several rockets were fired at Israel over the past week, one of which struck and damaged a home in Sderot early on Friday morning.
A strong sewage smell preceded scenes of dead fish littering the shores of Lake Erie this weekend and has residents wondering what caused the massive die-off, the president of the Rondeau Cottagers Association said Tuesday.
“This is a very substantial fish kill and there’s something really wrong to have a fish die off like this,” said Dr. David Colby, a cottager who is also the Chatham-Kent medical officer of health.
He said some of the possible causes for the fish die-off wouldn’t explain the smell which started Friday, peaked at 3 a.m. Saturday and wasn’t like the rotting fish smell that has taken over the shoreline.
“All kinds of people were woken out of a sound sleep by a stench and it was like a septic tank was backing up,” he said.
MOE officials aren’t sure what killed the fish, but preliminary tests and observations ruled out pollution or spills, MOE spokeswoman Kate Jordan said Tuesday.A significant number of dead fish in the tens of thousands was reported to the ministry on Saturday in a 40 kilometre stretch from Rondeau to Duttona Beach which is west of Port Stanley in Elgin County, she said.
Three times, delegates of the Democrat Party yelled “No!” regarding an amendment to insert “God” into the text of the party platform.
Former Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) offered an amendment to insert a mention of “God” into the platform and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A two-thirds vote is required for an amendment to be accepted. But the first voice vote was so close that convention Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa had to request a second vote.
Once again, the number of delegates yelling “No!” closely rivaled the number yelling “Aye.”
So, Villaraigosa called on the delegates to vote a third time. And, once again, the number of Democrats screaming “No” to the idea of adding God and Jerusalem to the platform appeared to rival the number voting “Aye.”
But Chairman Villaraigosa declared that – in his opinion – a two-thirds majority in favor of the motion was achieved, so he decreed the amendment adopted.
At this point, a chorus of “Boo!” erupted from the crowd.
With heavy booing from dissenters, the Democratic National Convention voted Wednesday to reinstate language supporting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to restore a reference to God in its party platform.
DNC Chairman and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa conducted a voice vote of the delegates on the proposed platform changes, asking for yeses and nos three times because of how similar the responses sounded. A two-thirds vote was required to adopt the change. Despite clear opposition, Villaraigosa declared the amendment had passed, prompting loud booing.
The Jerusalem issue came after the Obama administration’s refusal to say flat-out whether the city is the Jewish state’s capital, then saying it could be through negotiations.
The addition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital to the Democratic platform does not make up for the party's original intentions, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said on Thursday
"I have no doubt that [US President Barack] Obama put Jerusalem back in his party's platform out of political and electoral considerations and because of the sharp criticism from Israel and the US," Rivlin stated.
The last-minute change came in the wake of mounting criticism from Democratic members of Congress incensed that the 2008 platform's declaration backing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel had been removed from the 2012 text.On Wednesday, prior to the reinstatement of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the DNC platform, Rivlin had stated that Obama does not understand the realities of the Middle East.
“The fact that the Democrats removed a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital from their platform is more worrying than the argument over Iran,” Rivlin told The Jerusalem Post.
"This is a problematic sign, indicating the gradual reduction of the American government's strategic commitment to Israel," he explained.
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