Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Debka File

On full alert, Lebanese and UN Interi_

DEBKAfile reports: Mahmoud Abbas exploits Hamas’ Gaza takeover to win Western funds, Israeli concessions and a new power-sharing deal with Hamas

June 18, 2007, 6:50 PM (GMT+02:00)
Palestinian government of nonentities under PM Fayyad


Palestinian government of nonentities under PM Fayyad


His humiliating defeat in Gaza forgotten, the Palestinian leader hears the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert talking of “a new peace opportunity.” Encouraged by his Western backers, Abbas means to go for massive concessions from Israel to repair his damaged credibility. But instead of standing up to Hamas, the Fatah leader means to bargain for a reconciliation which endorses jihadist domination of the Gaza Strip.

More about Abbas’ manipulations and the Israeli leader’s weakness in DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Analysis below




Coalition-Iraqi raids kill 20 Shiite _

DEBKAfile reports: Mahmoud Abbas exploits Hamas’ Gaza takeover to win Western funds, Israeli concessions and a new power-sharing deal with Hamas

June 18, 2007, 6:50 PM (GMT+02:00)
Palestinian government of nonentities under PM Fayyad


Palestinian government of nonentities under PM Fayyad


His humiliating defeat in Gaza forgotten, the Palestinian leader hears the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert talking of “a new peace opportunity.” Encouraged by his Western backers, Abbas means to go for massive concessions from Israel to repair his damaged credibility. But instead of standing up to Hamas, the Fatah leader means to bargain for a reconciliation which endorses jihadist domination of the Gaza Strip.

More about Abbas’ manipulations and the Israeli leader’s weakness in DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Analysis below


Full article

Hamas steps up scale of weapons smuggling into Gaza, including Katyusha rockets

June 18, 2007, 1:18 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israel has sent its first consignment of medical supplies to Gaza through the Red Cross to Gaza. It is blocked at the Erez crossing together with foodstuffs by the absence of authority on the Palestinian side to take delivery.

Hamas has stepped up the scale of its smuggling activities from Egyptian Sinai, importing quantities of Katyusha rockets, guns, explosives and ammunition through the tunnels under the Philadelphi route.



DEBKAfile Exclusive: Damascus ordered Sunday's Katyusha attack on N. Israeli Kiryat Shemona, causing no casualties. But there is more to come

June 17, 2007, 4:13 PM (GMT+02:00)
A Katyusha rocket that did not explode in Wadi Taibeh north of Israeli border


A Katyusha rocket that did not explode in Wadi Taibeh north of Israeli border


The three 107mm rockets fired against Kiryat Shemona from Wadi Taiba Sunday, June 17, by a Palestinian radical group called Ansar Allah based in the Ain Hilwa refugee camp near Sidon was ordered by Syrian military intelligence as the first in a series, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. Hizballah intelligence officers supplied the rockets and pinpointed the launching site to make sure they struck the Israeli town. Residents rushed for bomb shelters for the first time since the Lebanon War ended eleven months ago. A factory and parked vehicles were damaged.


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Suicide bombing kills 35 in Kabul, deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2001

June 17, 2007, 2:21 PM (GMT+02:00)

The bomber hit an Afghan police bus, targeting police instructors. The dozens of injured included foreigners. Taliban claimed the attack, the fifth such bombing in three days.

Lebanese army helicopters fire four guided air-to-ground missiles at radical positions in northern refugee camp

June 17, 2007, 3:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

Lebanese army helicopters fire four guided air-to-ground missiles at radical positions in northern refugee camp Sunday

It was the second time guided missiles had been used against Fatah al-Islam and their pro-Damascus allies in the Nahr al-Bared camp under siege for a month.

The two French-made Gazelle helicopters were provided by the United Arab Emirates.

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Fatah activists are settling scores with Hamas in Lebanon as well as West Bank. Hamas threatens a wave of terror

June 16, 2007, 1:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
Fatah lines up for revenge on West Bank


Fatah lines up for revenge on West Bank


Rampaging Fatah gunmen took revenge for their defeat in Gaza on Hamas activists on the West Bank in a rampage Sat. June 16 through the Hamas-held parliament, government and local council offices on the West Bank. Hundreds of Hamas officials were detained.

Saturday night, Fatah gunmen also hurled themselves against Hamas bases and offices in Lebanese refugee camps. Serious clashes erupted near the southern port of Sidon.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the IDF is quietly allowing Fatah intelligence officers and al Aqsa Brigades activists freedom of movement across the West Bank.
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DEBKAfile Exclusive: Moscow supplies Iran’s Bushehr reactor with long-withheld nuclear fuel

June 12, 2007, 1:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
JSC Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant consigns nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr reactor


JSC Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant consigns nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr reactor


The fuel delivery, which could bring forward Tehran’s threat to Israel, arrived in Bushehr 24 hours before Israel successfully launched its new military imaging Ofeq-7 satellite into orbit.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly 304 revealed June 8 that the delivery left the JSC Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant June 203, the week before the G8 summit. Russian president Vladimir Putin released the fuel for Bushehr in reprisal for the US plan to deploy a missile interceptor system in East Europe, which he deems a threat to Russia.

Read more about Putin’s hostile move in DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s article updated by DEBKAfile below.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .


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Islamist Hamas borrows Taliban’s tactics for its brutal conquest of the Gaza Strip

June 17, 2007, 7:48 PM (GMT+02:00)

Pro-Syrian Palestinian forces are using them in Lebanon.

Al Qaeda is watching and waiting as American positions fold along the Eastern Mediterranean.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly drew some implications for the prospective US military withdrawal from Iraq in its latest issue out last Friday.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .