Syrian Protesters Now Are Armed....Oh, and Syrian Troops Are Under Iranian Command

Syria is spiraling downward quickly as the protesting movement in the country, ordinary citizens across the country, are now being armed and there are even reports that the protesters now have anti-tank weapons. At the same time, more information is coming out that it is Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders that are directing the efforts of Syrian troops and security forces.

From the report at DEBKA:

For the first time in the anti-Assad uprising, elements of Syria's popular protest movement are turning to armed revolt on lines similar to those marking the Libyan conflict. Wednesday, April 27, armed civilians were seen for the first time, some openly carrying anti-tank weapons, in the Daraa district of the South and Banias and Jableh on the coast, the primary targets of the regime's armored-backed offensive on the six-week old protest movement.

debkafile's military sources report that these dissidents resorted openly to arms after discovering that Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers were masterminding the brutal crackdown against them, lending the Assad regime the experience they had gained in crushing the 2009 anti-regime opposition in Tehran.

Okay, so let's set the stage....Iranian commanders order Syrian tanks into a Syrian city's fringe and as the tanks enter a dark street, two anti-tank weapons are fired by protesters hitting both tanks and killing four or five Syrian tank crew members. Let's just say that happens...can you imagine what is going to happen next?

This situation in Syria makes Libya look like a game of kickball. We also have to consider how much is going down in Syria that isn't not being reported or discovered. I'm sure the Iranians are taking some frustrations out that they have with their own unrest on the Syrian people.

At the same time, this must be encouraging for Israel...if Assad's military is so inept that they need Iranians to come in and take up leadership roles, imagine what the Syrian army command is like.

Syrian protesters gain anti-tank guns. Iranian officers direct Assad's troops


For the first time in the anti-Assad uprising, elements of Syria's popular protest movement are turning to armed revolt on lines similar to those marking the Libyan conflict. Wednesday, April 27, armed civilians were seen for the first time, some openly carrying anti-tank weapons, in the Daraa district of the South and Banias and Jableh on the coast, the primary targets of the regime's armored-backed offensive on the six-week old protest movement.

debkafile's military sources report that these dissidents resorted openly to arms after discovering that Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers were masterminding the brutal crackdown against them, lending the Assad regime the experience they had gained in crushing the 2009 anti-regime opposition in Tehran.
At the UN Security Council Tuesday night, US ambassador Susan Rice directly accused President Bashar Assad of mustering Iranian assistance to repress Syrian citizens "through the same brutal tactics that have been used by the Iranian regime."
Our Washington sources report that the US, Britain, France and other European countries are not waiting for the Security Council to condemn Syria. As an American official put it, "in the near future," the US plans to issue a series of sanctions against heads of the Assad regime and its security agencies. There is also talk of war crimes charges against the president's brother Maher Assad who is in command of the military assault on the protesters.
In Syria meanwhile, Western military sources predict that the next stage of the Syrian crisis will see protesters-turned-rebels shooting at the military tanks and armored vehicles spearheading the assaults by commando units on foot in the towns under siege, while snipers pick off demonstrators or ordinary passers-by from the rooftops.

In the first two days of the military operation, the tanks have been rolling through the streets sowing panic and fear in targeted cities and providing cover for the soldiers shooting civilians at random. Disabling the tanks, the protesters believe, will disarm that tactic, which has been directed first against the million inhabitants of Daraa and its outlying towns in the Horon province Tuesday, April 26.
There, under tank cover, small elements of the 132nd Brigade of the Fourth Division commanded by Mahar Asasad are holding Daraa under virtual lockdown, having cut off essential supplies of food and water, electricity and external communications.

Still, the town refuses to be broken or starved into submission.
Tuesday night, small units of foot soldiers protected by tanks were on standby night outside Banias and Jableh and Wednesday morning, elements of the 47th Brigade of the Fourth Division were poised to follow a tank charge into Hama.
If Assad loses his tanks, he will need to deploy many more soldiers to shoot the protesters off the streets and carry out mass arrests and so increase the hazards of defections, mutiny and the army's breakup.
For Damascus, the Syrian ruler is pursuing a different tactic. To conceal the massive military involvement in the crackdown from the capital's population, thousands of undercover soldiers were told to remove their uniforms and issued with black coveralls without insignia for raids on the Damascus suburb of Duma and protest centers elsewhere in the capital. They are intended to look like policemen.

Political Crisis In Iran?

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (file photo)

Iran's President And Supreme Leader In Rift Over Minister's Reinstatement -- The Guardian

MPs call for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be impeached after his refusal to back Khamenei's judgment.

A rift is emerging between Iran's president and its supreme leader, prompting several members of the parliament to call for the impeachment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has not been seen in public for days.

Ahmadinejad has refused to appear at the presidential palace since Friday in what is being seen as a reaction to Ayatollah Khamenei's reinstating of a minister he initially "asked to resign".

Read more ....

More News On Iran's Political Crisis

Iran's Ahmadinejad in growing rift with top cleric -- AP
Ahmadinejad in growing rift with top cleric -- CBS
Rumours grow of a power struggle in Iran -- Euronews
Iranian MPs call for impeachment of Ahmadinejad -- Payvand Iran News
Tension mounts between Iranian president and top cleric -- Toronto Star
Report Says Iran’s Ahmadinejad Resigned, Then Changed His Mind -- Eurasia Review
Iran: Islamist bloggers divided over Ahmadinejad-Khamenei rift -- Global Voices
Why Is Ahmadinejad Sulking? -- Radio Free Europe
Clash Over Mashaei Reveals Fissures Within the Iranian Regime -- Geneive Abdo, Huffington Post
Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about to resign? -- Meir Javedanfar, The Guardian

Iran Is Concerned About Iraq's Growing Oil Clout

Photo: An Iraqi worker at the Dora oil refinery on the outskirts of Baghdad, March 27, 2011. Al-Rubaye / AFP / Getty Images

Iran vs. Iraq: Why Tehran Is Nervous About Iraqi Oil -- Roshanak Taghavi, Time

Iran may have had a political boost from the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East — with some new regimes apparently more sympathetic toward Tehran while others brace themselves against the Iranian regime's influence among opposition movements in the region. But there is no attendant economic windfall to all the change. Indeed, the Islamic Republic, the second largest oil producer in OPEC, has come to be very concerned about petroleum.

Read more ....

My Comment: Oil producing regimes like Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and now Iraq are completely dependent on oil revenues to sustain their budgets and spending priorities. Any disruption in these revenues has always resulted in instability and unrest in these countries .... a prospect that a revitalized oil industry in Iraq will quickly produce.

Kuwait Reveals That They Uncovered An Iranian Spy Cell That Was Monitoring U.S. Troops, Intended To Blow Up Kuwaiti Structures

The Iranians are getting it from all sides this week - just yesterday I blogged about how a UAE minister had warned the Iranians to start respecting fellow Persian Gulf neighbors and today it was revealed by a Kuwaiti minister that they have evidence of an Iranian spy cell in Kuwait that was monitoring U.S. troop movements in Kuwait last year and even had plans to blow up key Kuwaiti structures.

From the article at DAWN:

Kuwait’s foreign minister said on Thursday an Iranian spy cell uncovered by the Gulf Arab state last year monitored the US military presence and possessed explosives to bomb “strategic” facilities.

“We are talking about a cell whose task was not only to monitor and record the (US) military presence that is in their view hostile — the American forces presence on Kuwait lands — but it exceeded that,” Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television.

“They had explosives and the intention to explode vital Kuwaiti facilities. They had names of officers and they had extremely sensitive information. This indicates bad intentions to harm Kuwaiti security.”

OPEC-member Kuwait hosts Camp Arifjan, a vast US logistics base in the desert south of the capital that serves as a staging post for US forces being deployed in neighbouring Iraq.

You can see by all of this that many, many Arab and Asian countries are extremely alarmed by the positions that the Iranians are taking. I am convinced that if the United States put together a coalition of countries to take out Iran's nuclear capabilities and force them to draw back their state-sponsored terrorism, you'd need a whole tablet of paper to include the names of the countries that would want to join.

Let's be real - there isn't a single damn country on Earth that likes the Iranians other than perhaps Syria. I've said it many times, if the U.S. acted ALONE and took out the Iranian nukes there wouldn't be a peep said in the whole world - the Russians would be happy, the Chinese would be happy...perhaps the only outcry would come from Syria's Assad and Venezuela's Chavez.

So I ask the question...what is stopping us? Isn't the threat from Iran big enough? End all operations in Libya and get to work on a plan that will bring the Iranians to their knees. It's the right thing to do and everyone (except for a few Code Pink nutjobs) knows it.

Iran cell planned attacks in Kuwait, minister says


KUWAIT: Kuwait’s foreign minister said on Thursday an Iranian spy cell uncovered by the Gulf Arab state last year monitored the US military presence and possessed explosives to bomb “strategic” facilities.

“We are talking about a cell whose task was not only to monitor and record the (US) military presence that is in their view hostile — the American forces presence on Kuwait lands — but it exceeded that,” Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television.

“They had explosives and the intention to explode vital Kuwaiti facilities. They had names of officers and they had extremely sensitive information. This indicates bad intentions to harm Kuwaiti security.”

OPEC-member Kuwait hosts Camp Arifjan, a vast US logistics base in the desert south of the capital that serves as a staging post for US forces being deployed in neighbouring Iraq.

The United States has air and naval installations in Gulf Arab states, some of which are little more than 200 km (120 miles) from Iran’s coast. The US Central Command keeps its forward headquarters in Qatar while Bahrain hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Last month, a Kuwaiti court sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death for being part of an alleged Iranian spy ring in a case that has strained relations between Kuwait and the Islamic Republic.

Earlier this month, Iran expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after the Gulf emirate said it would throw out three Iranian diplomats in a row over spy allegations.

The move came after Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats, a Kuwaiti official had said.

Kuwaiti media said in May 2010 that authorities had detained a number of people, Kuwaitis and foreigners, suspected of engaging in espionage for Iran. Media reports said they were accused of gathering information on Kuwaiti and US military sites for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

But Sheikh Mohammad said Kuwait still wants good relations with Iran. “We completely reject severing ties (with Iran),” he said, although he added that Iran needs to treat Gulf Cooperation Council states as “sovereign” and not “subordinate”.

Iran’s relations with its US-allied Gulf Arab neighbours, who offer various facilities to US forces, have soured since popular uprisings were suppressed by government forces.

Sunni Muslim-ruled Gulf Arab states accused Iran of interfering in their affairs after Tehran objected to the dispatch of Saudi and UAE troops to help Bahrain put down protests by its Shia majority in March.

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Subtley Bitch Slaps Iran Regarding Treatment of Gulf Countries

You know it's pretty bad when the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates is speaking more directly to the Iranians than an American president but that is what is going on. As we know by now, the Iranians are doing just about everything they can to create havoc and unrest in all of the Persian Gulf countries and this foreign minister from the UAE obviously hit the wall on patience.

From the story at DAWN:

Iran should respect the unity of its Arab neighbours in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Wednesday at a time of heightened regional tension.

“Iran should reconsider its policies in the region,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council, told a news conference in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.

And it “should respect the unity and sovereignty of Gulf countries,” he said at the end of an annual GCC-European Union ministerial meeting.

“I’m trying to choose my words carefully. I don’t want to act like some Iranian officials who throw their words in an abrasive and indecent way,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

“All I wish for is that Iran view its neighbours with responsibility and respect.” Tension has been running high between Iran and its Arab neighbours across the Gulf, with the two sides locked in a war of words since Shiite-led protests against Bahrain’s Sunni dynasty broke out in mid-February.

Now, the Iranians have had a bug up their ass since the Saudis rolled into Bahrain to help quell the violence and protests there but the Iranians fail to mention that the Bahrain government INVITED the Saudis in to help. The Iranians sent Revolutionary Guard forces into Syria upon the INVITATION by Assad to do that....so what's the difference? There is none of course unless you are an inbred pedophilic mullah in Iran.

Iran is the kind of country that tries to stir up trouble in every country they can without actually getting involved in it - they are the epitome' of chicken shits. They are the world's punks. They are the type to throw a brick through your front window and run like hell. One day, mark my words, some country in this world is going to stare down Iran and in the end is going to put a world of hurt on the yellow belly mullahs.

It can't come soon enough for me.

UAE calls for Iran to ‘respect’ Gulf neighbours


ABU DHABI: Iran should respect the unity of its Arab neighbours in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Wednesday at a time of heightened regional tension.

“Iran should reconsider its policies in the region,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council, told a news conference in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.

And it “should respect the unity and sovereignty of Gulf countries,” he said at the end of an annual GCC-European Union ministerial meeting.

“I’m trying to choose my words carefully. I don’t want to act like some Iranian officials who throw their words in an abrasive and indecent way,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

“All I wish for is that Iran view its neighbours with responsibility and respect.” Tension has been running high between Iran and its Arab neighbours across the Gulf, with the two sides locked in a war of words since Shiite-led protests against Bahrain’s Sunni dynasty broke out in mid-February.

A Saudi-led Gulf force including UAE police rolled into Bahrain on March 14, freeing up Bahraini security forces to crush the protest movement in the only Shia-majority Arab state of the Gulf, in a move condemned by Iran.

A joint GCC-EU statement issued after Wednesday’s meeting backed the deployment.

It said the two blocs played up “the importance of respect for the sovereignty of GCC member states and recognised the GCC is entitled to take all necessary measures to protect” their citizens.

On Monday, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said the Gulf troops had entered his country “to deter an external threat,” a reference to Iran.

“We have never seen such a sustained campaign from Iran on Bahrain and the Gulf as we’ve seen in the past two months. Usually it’s short-lived and then they back off; this time is something different,” he said.

“We wrote a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations, and in that letter we have a full attachment on the threats and all the evidence we have against Iran and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese Shiite group backed by Tehran.

And on Wednesday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Mohammed Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah confirmed that Iranian diplomats accused of spying have been expelled, in another spat between Iran and its Gulf neighbours.

Iranian state television had previously said three of Tehran’s diplomats and an embassy employee were expelled from Kuwait, but Sheikh Mohammed’s remark on Wednesday was the first official confirmation from the Kuwaiti side.

Sheikh Mohammed had said on March 31 that Iranian diplomats were to be expelled for alleged links to a spy ring working for Tehran, reportedly ever since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

The foreign minister charged the diplomats had proven links to a spy ring, three alleged members of which a Kuwaiti court condemned to death on March 29.

Strains in relations across the Gulf date back to the 1980s when the Arab states, notably Saudi Arabia, backed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in an eight-year war against Iran.

The GCC has more recently voiced concern over Tehran’s alleged ambitions for regional dominance and its nuclear programme.

In other disputes, Iran has in the past claimed Bahrain as part of its territory and it controls three islands in the southern Gulf that are also claimed by the UAE.

Is Iran Preparing For War In Bahrain?

Saudi Arabian Prince Khalid bin Sultan greets U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates after arriving at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 6, 2011. DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison

Is Proxy War About To Erupt In Bahrain? -- Pajamas Media

The language and actions of the Iranian government strongly indicate it is preparing for war in Bahrain.

Anyone who has seen the Iranian regime’s film The Coming is Near knows the Middle East is on the verge of exploding. The question is what spark will light it. The region seems to shift daily, but right now, it looks like Iran has chosen Bahrain as the place to pounce.

Iran views Bahrain as ripe for the picking. The pro-American royal family is Sunni, but about 70 percent of the population is Shiite. It faced a popular uprising that had a strong possibility of removing it from power. That uprising was only put down with brute force and intervention from Saudi and Emirati soldiers on March 14. The saving of the Bahraini government does not sit well with Iran and it is poised to wage proxy warfare in response. This would not be unprecedented, as Iran did the same thing in 2009 by supporting the Houthi rebels in their war against the Yemeni government backed by the Saudi military.

Read more ....

My Comment: The U.S. clearly believes that Iran is interfering in the internal affairs of countries like Bahrain, and Iranian lawmakers want to get involved militarily ....but I do not think we are there yet,a dn I do not think it will happen.

U.S. Intelligence: Iran Is Meddling In Middle Eastern Countries

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad With Syrian President Bashar Assad

U.S. Says Iran Helps Crackdown in Syria -- Wall Street Journal

Iran is secretly helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad put down pro-democracy demonstrations, according to U.S. officials, who say Tehran is providing gear to suppress crowds and assistance blocking and monitoring protesters' use of the Internet, cellphones and text-messaging.

At the same time, communications intercepted by U.S. spy agencies show Tehran is actively exploring ways to aid some Shiite hardliners in Bahrain and Yemen and destabilize longstanding U.S. allies there, say U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. Such moves could challenge interests of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and inflame sectarian tensions across the Middle East, they say.

Read more ....

My Comment: I guess this explains why the U.S. has been trying to make up with Saudi Arabia in the past few weeks.

Iranian Lawmaker Demands That Iran Send Military Forces To Bahrain

Head of the Islamic Revolution Faction of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Ruhollah Hosseinian

Iran MP Offers Military Use In Bahrain -- Press TV

Amid a Saudi-backed brutal clampdown on Bahraini anti-government protesters, an Iranian lawmaker has proposed that the Islamic Republic should dispatch its military forces to the Persian Gulf state.

“I believe that the Iranian government should not be reluctant to prepare the country's military forces at a time that Saudi Arabia has dispatched its troops to Bahrain,” Khabar Online quoted Head of the Islamic Revolution Faction of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Ruhollah Hosseinian as saying on Sunday.

Read more ....

Update: Iran's MP asks for military dispatch to Bahrain: TV website -- People's Daily Online

My Comment: Such an intervention will pit Iranian forces against Saudi troops .... but more importantly .... they will also face U.S. forces and the main naval base for the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

If you want a scenario for all out war in the Persian Gulf .... this is the way to go. But my expectation is that the Iranians will just talk the talk .... but they will definitely NOT walk the walk.

Netanyahu: Iran has recently accelerated nuclear program

PM tells EU ambassadors to Israel that Tehran has taken advantage of reduced pressure from West in order to speed up nuclear program, accuses international community of "rushing to judgment" over IDF strikes on Gaza.Talkbacks (5)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday said that Iran has recently accelerated its nuclear program as it appeared to sense a reduction in international pressure, Israel Radio reported.

Speaking to European Union ambassadors to Israel, Netanyahu also commented on the recent violent escalation that broke out along Israel's border with Gaza in the past week, telling them that Hamas deliberately fired a missile at a school bus that was hit last Thursday.
RELATED:
Nuclear fuel being reloaded at Iran power plant
Video: Iron Dome intercepts Gaza rocket from Gaza
No country, the prime minister continued, can accept such actions and Israel will act to protect its citizens.

He charged that in the past, the "international community rushed to judgment" regarding Israel's response to terror attacks.

The prime minister also requested that the European delegates do what they can to prevent their citizens from taking part in the upcoming flotilla to Gaza scheduled for mid-June.

The prime minister's comments came hours after Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermanspoke out against a conditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas is fighting a war of attrition against us. We won't come to terms with a situation in which they decide when there's quiet and when the area heats up," he told Israel Radio.

Iran Confirms Facility Producing Nuclear Materials

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's foreign minister has confirmed claims by an exiled Iranian opposition group that a factory west of Tehran is manufacturing centrifuge parts.

Ali Akbar Salehi, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, says the facility is no secret and that many other facilities in the country are involved in manufacturing parts for Iran's nuclear program.

Iran has long said it produces centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium, a process that the U.N. has demanded Tehran halt.

Two days earlier, the exile Mujahedeen-e Khalq group said its spies identified the factory, called the TABA facility.

Iran says it is building a civilian nuclear power program, but the U.S. and its allies suspect it seeks the capacity to build nuclear bombs.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/09/iran-confirms-facility-producing-centrifuge-parts/#ixzz1J5C8nHoY

Arab Spring Clearing Path for Iranians ???

How is Iran taking advantage of unrest ???

Iran Is Going Mad With Anger Over Saudi Arabia's Annexation of Bahrain

If you listen really closely, you can almost hear the fists of the mullahs in Tehran right now pounding on tables out of red-faced anger in regards to how the Saudis slipped into Bahrain and in essence, made Bahrain a province of Saudi Arabia. The article hear at DEBKA even hints at the fact that Iran may take this whole thing to war with the Saudis.

It really is a fascinating article below - it's nice to see the Iranians get conned by someone else for once and it's even nicer to see them all lathered up and pissed off over it.

It does, however, raise an interesting scenario if the Iranians decided to move forces into Bahrain at this time - would the Saudis back down or not?

Here's the article.

Iran squares off against Saudi Arabia over Bahrain's annexation


The accord reached between Saudi King Abdullah and the Bahraini monarch Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa for the oil island's virtual annexation by Riyadh has so incensed Tehran that armed Iranian-Saudi clashes with the potential for all-out warfare may soon become unavoidable, debkafile's Iranian and Gulf sources estimate. Shiite-ruled Iraq would back Tehran in the first Shiite-Sunni collision to be sparked by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world - in contrast to the domestic discord raging in Libya and Yemen.

In the third week of March, debkafile reveals, King Hamad agreed to hand over to Riyadh control Bahrain's defense, external, financial and domestic security affairs. The Saudi king's son Prince Mutaib was confirmed by the two monarchs as commander of the Saudi and GCC forces invited to enter the tiny kingdom to put down the Shiite-led uprising, and it was agreed that Saudi Arabia would soon start building a big naval base on the island opposite the Iranian coastline.
The accord between the Saudi and Bahraini monarchs appeared for the first time in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 487 on March 25. It revealed then that King Hamad had allowed his realm to become the de facto 14th province of Saudi Arabia in order to block the Shiite uprising against him and its knock-on impact on Saudi Arabia's two million restive Shiites next door.
Neither Riyadh nor Manama has made the pact public. The Bahraini province of Saudi Arabia will differ from the other 13 in that it will not be governed by a Saudi prince like the others but by a member of the Al Khalifa royal family who will enjoy equal royal privileges with his Saudi peers.
Our sources report that in closed meetings with senior Saudi princes, King Abdullah explained the fundamental importance of this step for the kingdom's national security. He reported that Iran and its Hizballah surrogate were actively stirring up Shiite opposition in Manama as the first step toward fomenting a Shiite uprising against the Saudi throne.

On March 21, Riyadh resolved to expand the terms of reference of the Saudi-Gulf military intervention requested by King Hamad. Instead of just safeguarding the royal palace and strategic facilities against rampaging protesters, our sources report, it was decided to expand the mission to guarding Bahrain's borders against external attack – i.e. Iran or Iraq.
To this end, Saudi troop reinforcements have been pouring into Bahrain from the last week of March, including armored units and a variety of missiles. debkafile's military sources estimate that some 11,000 Saudi and United Arab Emirates boots have hit the ground in Bahrain since then.

Four days later, on March 25, Manama announced that planes taking off from Iraq or Lebanon would not be permitted to land in the kingdom, thereby cutting of the main route used by Iran and Hizballah to bring over intelligence agents and military instructors to aid the Shiite opposition.
The second important military step afoot at present is the transfer of Saudi fleet units from the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea to the military section of Bahrain's port, where the US Fifth Fleet has its headquarters and berths its ships. This is a provisional facility, to serve the Saudis until they finish building a port at Manama for parking their main Persian Gulf naval and marine command center, in response to the expanded facilities on the opposite shore of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' naval and marine raider units.
March 31, the Iranian parliament's security and foreign affairs committee strongly condemned Saudi military steps: "Saudi Arabia knows better than any other country that playing with fire in the sensitive Persian Gulf region is not in their interests," said the statement.

Since then, Iranian media have not stopped denouncing Saudi actions in Bahrain, likening them to Saddam Hussein's 1990 conquest of Kuwait which triggered the first Gulf War against Iraq. Riyadh was even accused of accepting clandestine US and Israeli support.

Then, Saturday, April 2, Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki chipped in by reviling US Middle East policy as discriminating among the popular movements in motion against the different Arab dictatorial regimes: "Whatever decision is made on Libya should be applied to any government that suppresses its people with iron and fire," he said.

Sunday, April 3, the threatening recriminations coming from Tehran and Baghdad prompted the Gulf Cooperation Council to hold a special foreign ministers' meeting. It passed a resolution which "severely condemned Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain in violation of international pacts."

Language this blunt has never before been heard from GCC leaders. It is attributed by our Gulf sources to Saudi King Abdullah's adamant resolve to challenge Tehran headon on every issue affecting the Gulf region's security, to the point of Saudi military intervention when called for – even at the risk of precipitating an armed clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Islamic Republic finds itself confronted with its first forthright, no-nonsense challenge: If it backs down in the face of Saudi military activism, the Shiite communities across the region will conclude that Iran is both unable and unwilling to stand up for the Shiite-Arab revolt against Sunni regimes – whether in Bahrain, in other Gulf emirates or in Yemen and Lebanon.

Iraqi Prime Minister al Maliki faces the same quandary with regard to Iraqi Shiites who consider Bahraini coreligionists to be an integral part of their tribes and clans.
It is taken for granted by Saudi Arabia, Gulf capitals and Western military and intelligence observers that Tehran has been pushed into a corner from which it cannot afford to pull back from its overarching commitment to sponsor Bahrain's Shiites. The Iranians are therefore expected to send their Bahraini Shiite networks into terrorist action against Saudi military targets very soon. Riyadh is already braced for these assaults - and not just in Bahrain but in other GCC states including Saudi Arabia proper.
They will not go unanswered; hence the dire predictions among seasoned observers that armed hostilities between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia may at some point become unavoidable.

The Three Stooges of Evil

After a state-sponsored video was released last week by Iran that addressed the coming of the 12th imam or "Mahdi" it has become more and more apparent that the Iranians are seeing it as their duty to hasten the well climber's return by creating havoc and chaos and destruction upon the world - and the three men at the center of all of this Iran's Ayatollah, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah are sitting around just as safe as ever.

The article below from Family Security Matters describes the madness, describes the fact that we in the West continue to bury our heads in the sand.

Last night, when I was in the Dane's Den, I asked the question as to when Israel would be attacked by an organized effort from surrounding countries and the answers were primarily that Israel would NOT see such an attack. With a heavy heart, I disagree. The signs are all there that Israel is going to face an organized and substantial attack this year...my best guess is in September or October. Iran's Ahmadinejad literally sees himself playing a big role in the return of the Mahdi - he sees himself as the conqueror of Jerusalem. And in his view, time is awasting.

These lunatics are pointing to the Middle East uprisings as further signs that the Mahdi is close and in the center of their conjecture is that Israel needs to be defeated. I think the article does a good job of asking the question about what will be asked of us if this all does come to pass...won't we be sitting back and asking ourselves why we sat on our asses as we saw all of this unfold?

It's my contention that the Iranian film is the final evidence that the Iranians and their surrogates have the motive, the means and the desire to attack Israel. This year.

"The Three Stooges Of Evil" - Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!


In the aftermath of 9/11, the question asked was why we failed to see what was coming.

An interviewer asked news reporter Tom Brokaw when he was retiring in 2004 if there was ever a story he regretted not reporting. His response was his failure to do a pre-9/11 story that connected the dots on terrorism. The dots were all there but blind ignorance prevented us from seeing the connection. Unfortunately, blind ignorance is at it again.

Reflect for a moment on a film with the following plot.

Three men in positions of power and authority are bonded together by a shared belief. The trio sees a world in complete disorder. Desperately needed to re-organize it is a leader possessing superhuman traits. They believe just such a leader has been pre-ordained for this role, with the ability to create a single global society. Once this leader appears, he will effectively mold all six plus billion inhabitants of Planet Earth into a society answerable to but one god and one set of laws. Those opposed to such a world order will suffer death.

The trio believes this pre-ordained superhuman leader has walked among Earth’s inhabitants before. He was a descendant of a great religious warrior-leader more than a millennium ago, but disappeared as a child, ascending into a state of occultation. He still exists in this suspended state today, unable to return to Earth to lead his global unification fight until the right condition exists by which to release him, triggering his return.

The plot thickens as it is the trio alone who collectively hold the key to the occulted leader’s release. Only by their joining forces and working together to achieve the necessary condition to free the leader from his occultation can his destiny be achieved.

The condition the trio needs to usher in to achieve this result is world chaos. To do so, one of the trio’s members seeks nuclear weapons—a goal from which he will not be deterred, regardless of the obstacles placed in his way.

The above makes for intriguing fiction—were it not for the fact it is not. According to an article by Ryan Mauro in FrontPageMag.com, a documentary with just such a plot has recently been released in Iran. It is a film explaining the intentions of a trio of leaders to use war as a trigger to expedite the arrival of the “Hidden Imam” or “Mahdi.” Not only does the documentary brazenly forewarn what lies ahead for the world, it also predicts the prophecy of the Mahdi’s return is “very close” to becoming reality. As the prophecy ordains the Mahdi’s return will not occur in an odd numbered year, “very close” may suggest that war will happen in 2012.

Starring in the film’s role is the trio of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Shown to top clerics a few weeks ago, the film is now being viewed by Iranian security forces—the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and the Basiji. It will then be distributed to mosques and Islamic centers throughout the region.

The documentary appears to be an educational tool for preparing followers for the role a nation in the east (i.e., Iran) is destined to play in fulfilling this prophecy by leading the war against Islam’s enemies in order to trigger the Mahdi’s return. The film cites current events, such as the various Arab uprisings, to explain that “the final chapter has begun.” It also explains the “end-of-the-world” prophecy involves three characters who will be critical to its fulfillment—the aforementioned Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah.

Khamenei is “the preparer” for the Mahdi’s return. The film shares that Khamenei has already had a private meeting with the Mahdi who came down from his “occulted” state to reveal himself to the head mullah. During this meeting, Khamenei was allegedly told the Mahdi’s official arrival will occur sometime before Khamenei’s term as Supreme Leader ends (i.e., his death). Khamenei’s poor health is an indicator 2012 is, again, probably being perceived by Iran as the year for things to fall into place for the Mahdi’s return.

As “the preparer,” Khamenei appoints a commander-in-chief 72 months before the Mahdi’s return. Ahmadinejad became president in August 2005 (stealing the 2009 election for a second term). Thus, this is Ahmadinejad’s role, for in 2012 he will still be serving as commander-in-chief.

The film depicts a role for which Ahmadinejad has always believed he was destined and from which he has never shied away. As mayor of Tehran before becoming president, he had ordered the widening of some of Tehran’s streets to prepare for the Mahdi’s return. Only three months after taking office as president, he announced his mission was to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi.” And, after addressing the UN in 2005, Ahmadinejad returned home to brag to clerics that, as he spoke, he felt surrounded by the glowing aura of the Mahdi—an aura which so mesmerized world leaders present they could not even blink. His speeches include a prayer for Allah to “hasten his (the Mahdi’s) reappearance.”

The last member of the prophecy’s trio is a military commander who will form the Mahdi’s army with which to march into Mecca in Saudi Arabia. (This indicates the Mahdi’s trio targets not only non-Muslims but Sunni Muslims as well. In fact, in a direct threat to the Saudis, the film begins with the challenge, “Whoever guarantees the death of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, I will guarantee the imminent reappearance of the Mahdi.” Accordingly, 2012 may prove to be the year of the assassin for the Saudi leader.) The military commander’s role in the Mahdi’s trio is played by Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nasrallah.

Implementing its plan for war against the US, Iran last year took a strategic step to position itself for the 2012 conflict. With elements of Hezbollah pre-positioned in Venezuela since 2006 with the permission of President Hugo Chavez, an agreement was struck between the two countries to establish missile bases there—jointly operated by the two and manned by Hezbollah fighters. In a far cry from President Kennedy’s aggressive, and successful, actions almost a half century earlier in forcing the Soviets to remove missiles they had placed in Cuba, President Obama has done nothing to challenge Iran on this. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has been linking up with Mexican drug gangs to access our borders in order to be prepared for the 2012 war.

Another event signaling the Mahdi’s imminent return is re-capturing Jerusalem. This goal brings into context a recently published map identifying the location of a thousand military sites and facilities Hezbollah has been building over the past few years in Lebanon—many co-located at civilian sites. It is a build-up that will continue until Hezbollah gets the signal from Iran to strike out at Israel in fulfillment of meeting the condition precedent to the Mahdi’s return.

Ironically, the war with Iran that President Obama has so desperately sought to avoid is one Iran, based on its own documentary, is seeking to have by 2012. The production of a film making this intention so clear is a brazen indication its leadership is confident its release will not cause a complacent West to act. They are confident, once again, we will fail to connect the dots.

If only the trio above were characters in a comedy spoof. We could rest assured the “three stooges of evil” would be stopped in time by a superhero. Unfortunately, however, the danger in the real life plot of “The return of the Mahdi” is that the superhero role remains unscripted.

Iranians Arms Shipment Headed For Syria Is Seized At Turkey Airport

For the umpteenth time in the past few months, the Iranians continue to try and supply terror networks and rogue regimes around the world with weapons and fortunately, many of these have been seized in the process. The latest is a cargo plane that made a stop in Turkey - the cargo was supposed to be "spare auto parts" headed for Syria but that's not what the Iranians were sending to Syria and then probably on to Hezbollah.

From the article at Family Security Matters:

Turkey has seized a secret shipment of Iranian weapons heading to Syria, documents submitted to the U.N. Security council and obtained by Reuters reveal. The discovery was made while officials were inspecting an Iranian cargo plane that had landed at Turkey’s Diyarbakir Airport on a technical stop, carrying what it declared as “spare auto parts”.

The search, which uncovered 60 Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, 14 BKC/Bixi machine guns, nearly 8,000 rounds of BKC/AK-47 ammunition, 560 60-mm mortar shells, and 1,288 120-mm mortar shells, is the latest in a series of Iranian violations of their U.N. weapons-trading embargo. Colombia's Nestor Osorio, who oversees the Iran sanctions committee, called the increase in sanctions violations a “matter of serious concern”.

The U.N. report, however, leaves a number of critical questions about the latest seizure in Turkey unanswered.

The first is regarding the ultimate destination of the weapons cargo. The plane’s documents mention only that it was headed to Aleppo, Syria. However, it is plausible that they may have been ultimately destined for Latakia – a major flashpoint in the destabilizing protests facing embattled president Bashar Assad, and a place the Reform Party of Syria (RPS) has suggested the Syrian regime might try and instigate sectarian violence.

Now, you can see from the article that some are believing that this shipment was meant for the area of protests in Syria and that could be true but that does speak to the lack of arms in Syria...I find it hard to believe that Syria is sitting around with no arms to send to their security forces in that trouble spot.

But this is just further evidence of the type of sabotage that the Iranians continue to do - we had the report of Iranian arms seized on their way to the Taliban in Afghanistan and then a few weeks later we have the Iranian arms on a ship that was headed for Hamas in Gaza that the Israelis seized. I wonder what the Iranians would say if an American freighter landed in their port with a dozen containers of weapons earmarked for the Green Revolution fighters?

Iranian Weapons Seized in Turkey


Turkey has seized a secret shipment of Iranian weapons heading to Syria, documents submitted to the U.N. Security council and obtained by Reuters reveal. The discovery was made while officials were inspecting an Iranian cargo plane that had landed at Turkey’s Diyarbakir Airport on a technical stop, carrying what it declared as “spare auto parts”.

The search, which uncovered 60 Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, 14 BKC/Bixi machine guns, nearly 8,000 rounds of BKC/AK-47 ammunition, 560 60-mm mortar shells, and 1,288 120-mm mortar shells, is the latest in a series of Iranian violations of their U.N. weapons-trading embargo. Colombia's Nestor Osorio, who oversees the Iran sanctions committee, called the increase in sanctions violations a “matter of serious concern”.

The U.N. report, however, leaves a number of critical questions about the latest seizure in Turkey unanswered.

The first is regarding the ultimate destination of the weapons cargo. The plane’s documents mention only that it was headed to Aleppo, Syria. However, it is plausible that they may have been ultimately destined for Latakia – a major flashpoint in the destabilizing protests facing embattled president Bashar Assad, and a place the Reform Party of Syria (RPS) has suggested the Syrian regime might try and instigate sectarian violence.

Another critical and related question to consider is whether the growing number of Iranian weapons-trading infractions, which include, notably, Israel’s March 15th seizure of a boatload of Iranian weapons it claims were furnished for militants in Gaza, are actually a case of Iran increasing efforts to arm its assets by proxy, or whether its rivals are getting better at policing Iranian exports. In this case, the seizure of arms reflects very well on Turkish officials, who have garnered considerable criticism from both US and European officials for their inability to fully implement financial sanctions on Iran.

Finally, remaining unclear from the UN report is whom the crew of the Iranian cargo plane were and what their ties to groups in both Iran and Syria may be. According to Turkish officials they “denied any knowledge about the prohibited items on board, as well as the identity of the consignor or consignee.” Based on this Newsmax report Thursday, they have been released and allowed back to Tehran.

Iranian Film: The Coming is Upon Us-12th Imam Near

Since 2005 the Authors of this blog, prior to the blog's existence, have pleaded with the world; Stop Iran before it's too late. Research the 12th Imam, understand every decision made by Iran's Government, is guided by the "Contract With the 12th Imam." It matters not if you or I think it's madness, they not only believe it; they're doing it. We again plead, watch "The Coming is Upon Us," Iran's latest film. Then please, research Iran's leaders and the 12th Imam. Seek and understand the truth. This will be the world's future, unless they're stopped. Israel is in Grave and Imminent danger. Iran will destroy the Israeli State, Allah and the 12th Imam; have ordered it so !!!

New evidence has emerged that the Iranian government sees the current unrest in the Middle East as a signal that the Mahdi--or Islamic messiah--is about to appear.

CBN News has obtained a never-before-seen video produced by the Iranian regime that says all the signs are moving into place -- and that Iran will soon help usher in the end times.

While the revolutionary movements gripping the Middle East have created uncertainty throughout the region, the video shows that the Iranian regime believes the chaos is divine proof that their ultimate victory is at hand.

'The Coming is Near'

The propaganda footage has reportedly been approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government.

It's called The Coming is Near and it describes current events in the Middle East as a prelude to the arrival of the mythical tweflth Imam or Mahdi -- the messiah figure who Islamic scriptures say will lead the armies of Islam to victory over all non-Muslims in the last days.


"This video has been produced by a group called the Conductors of the Coming, in connection with the Basiji -- the Iranian paramilitary force, and in collaboration with the Iranian president's office," said Reza Kahlil, a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who shared the video with CBN News.

Kahlili, author of the book, A Time to Betray, worked as a double agent for the CIA inside the Iranian regime.

"Just a few weeks ago, Ahmadenijad's office screened this movie with much excitement for the clerics," Kahlili told CBN News. "The target audience is Muslims in the Middle East and around the world."


To watch the video in its entirety, visit Kahlili's website.


The video claims that Iran is destined to rise as a great power in the last days to help defeat America and Israel and usher in the return of the Mahdi. And it makes clear the Iranians believe that time is fast approaching.

"The Hadith have clearly described the events and the various transformations of countries in the Middle East and also that of Iran in the age of the coming," said a narrator, who went on to say that America's invasion of Iraq was foretold by Islamic scripture--and that the Mahdi will one day soon rule the world from Iraq.

Other 'Prophetic' Signs

The ongoing upheavals in other Middle Eastern countries like Yemen and Egypt--including the rise of the Muslim Brotherood -- are also analyzed as prophetic signs that the Mahdi is near -- so is the current poor health of the king of Saudi Arabia, an Iranian rival.


"Isn't the presence of Abdullah, his illness, and his uncertain condition, great news for those anxious for the coming?" asks the narrator.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khameini, and Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah, are hailed as pivotal end times players, whose rise was predicted in Islamic scriptures.

The same goes for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, who the video says will conquer Jerusalem prior to the Mahdi's coming.

"I think it's a very grave development," Mideast expert Joel Rosenberg, author of The Twelfth Imam, told CBN News, "because it gives you a window into the thinking of the Iranian leadership: that they believe the time for war with Israel may be even sooner than others had imagined."

Kahlili says The Coming is Near will soon be distributed by the Iranian regime throughout the Middle East.  He explained that their goal is to instigate further uprisings in Arab countries.

h/t: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/March/Iranian-Regime-Video-Says-Mahdi-is-Near-/

Libyan Rebels Selling Qaddafi's Chemical Weapons to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah.

From Bare Naked Islam

Those so-called “rebels” Barack Obama is defending are selling Libya’s chemical weapons to Iran, Hizballah, and Hamas

by barenakedislam
Tehran was drawn into backing Libya’s rebels by the discovery that the military stores they captured in Benghazi offered a one-time opportunity to acquire unconventional systems, especially chemical weapons, for its surrogates, the Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas.

The Libyan war has become the global arms market’s richest event in five years. Qaddafi may be its primary engine, but Libyan rebels have not been amiss to dipping their hands in this lucrative market on their own behalf, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military and intelligence sources disclose.

Indeed more than one party has been attracted by Libya’s weapons trove, notably Iran, Hizballah and Hamas.

In the third week of February, Iranian representatives arrived in Benghazi on a shopping trip. They sat down with “senior officers” of Libya’s rebel forces, including former members of Qaddafi’s army.

In the first week of March, secret delegations arrived from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip to confirm prices and arrange for the chemical weapons, as well as missiles of various types, especially anti-aircraft missiles purchased in the same batch, to be smuggled out of Libya and transported to their buyers.

Our intelligence sources report that the chemical weapons sold to Hizballah and Hamas were spirited out of Libya in the past week to Sudan in convoys of tightly-secured refrigerator trucks. The consignment also included short-range, surface-to-surface missiles, artillery shells and mortars armed with chemical substances.

Read the article here.

Will we hear anything about this in the MSM?

Chemical production plant, Rabta, Libya. Satellite view of the Rabta chemical plant in Libya. Rabta was built in the mid 1980s. Although classed as a pharmaceutical factory, it was alleged that Rabta produced banned chemical weapons such as sarin and mustard gas.

h/t: http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=67357