From the Timesonline:

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

Posted by: Bluto at 01:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh, PLLLEEEAASSEE let Syria do something. Give Israel an excuse.

Dennis Kucinich may have a heart attack here...

Posted by: Good Lt. at 11:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Via David at Lundesigns.com

Posted by: Rusty at 03:57 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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Sadly, a leading anti-Syrian voice in the Lebanese government, Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated yesterday. Gemayel is the fifth prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese figure killed in the last two years.

Meanwhile, probably simultaneous with the Gemayel murder, Syria's grand mufti was pumping smoke up the skivvies of yet another Westerner in the country.

From SANA.org:

Syria's grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badre al-Din Hassoun on Tuesday underlined the importance of work to spread culture of peace, tolerance and human fraternity in the world to overcome seeds of conflict and extremism among nations.

"The reason behind instability in the region is that Israel is based on a religious basis… and this is a dangerous concept in life which paves way for more conflicts among nations… thus efforts should be intensified to bring up nations on national basis," the Mufti said during a meeting with the Canadian Ambassador in Damascus Mark Belli.

For his part, the Canadian Ambassador expressed admiration over tolerance and coexistence in Syria, stressing the important role of clergymen and scholars to spread culture of fraternity and peace among peoples.

Regarding the other Westerners, notable recent visitors to Syria included American Protestant Pastor Rick Warren and Reverend Joan Brown Campbell, who both presumably became moist while listening to the grand mufti's eloquent statements about the religion of peace and tolerance.

He [Warren] met with Assad and the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, saying, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency, that "80% of the American people rejected what the US administration is doing in Iraq and considered the US policy in the Mideast as wrong." SANA added, "Pastor Warren expressed admiration of Syria and the co-existence he saw between Muslims and Christians, stressing that he will convey this image to his church and country."

And then there's the involvement of Reverend Joan Brown Campbell, head of a delegation of senior American clergy, who also recently visited Syria. The Americans met with the Grand Mufti of the Republic Dr. Ahmad Badruddin Hassoun who explained that Islam is the religion of tolerance and "asserted that man was the most sacred creature on Earth." In response:

Members of the delegation expressed pleasure over the climate of tolerance they had seen in Syria, stressing that realities in the country were different from what the negative image given about Syria in the past.

Members of the American delegation expressed admiration for what they had seen in Syria and for the example of coexistence and fraternity among Moslems and Christians, adding they were going to convey what they had seen in Syria to the American people.

Just lovely.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 09:21 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Breaking news!

(Damascus) Several sources are reporting loud explosions and heavy gunfire in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus. One witness stated that it appeared the U.S. Embassy was being attacked. A security source said that Syrian police may have foiled a bomb attack against the Americans.

Emergency vehicles rushed to the area and security forces have sealed off the neighborhood where several embassies, security installations and diplomats' residences are located.

No official confirmation of the events has been issued.

From Bloomberg, nervous investors pushed U.S. stock-index futures downward after news of the attack.

[Update 0525 EDT]

It's now reported that three attackers were killed when a car bomb was detonated. Apparently, the three tried to drive into the embassy compound and were met with gunfire from the guards. They then blew themselves up. No damage assessment yet. No American casualties reported.

According to Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid speaking on state television, "A terrorist operation targeted the US Embassy. Security forces have brought the situation under control. Three terrorists were killed and one was wounded."

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Update by Rusty: This is classic al Qaeda 3.0. Mark my words.

Keep throwing martyrs our way, AQ wannabes. We know what to do with them.

Above: Marine looks down from U.S. Embassy in Syria after the failed attack (via: Sticky Notes)

UPDATE by Rusty: Did you mark those words? Breitbart:

The al-Qaida offshoot group, called Jund al-Sham, has been blamed for several attacks in Syria in recent years, the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, said in comments to CNN.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 08:42 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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From Ynet:

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences.”

The report said “a senior Pentagon source warned that should the Arab world and international community fail in the efforts to convince Syria to pressure Hizbullah into releasing the soldiers and halt the current escalation Israel may attack targets in the country.”

Al-Hayat quoted the source as saying that “the US cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli strike in Syria,” this despite the fact that the Bush administration has asked Israel to “refrain from any military activity that may result in civilian casualties.”

The war will be much wider soon. The big question is: how much support will the US provide to Israel when it is facing the Palestinians, Hezbullah, Syria and Iran? Will we use this opportunity to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities?

Posted by: cbjohnson at 06:32 AM | Comments (33) | Add Comment
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President Bush issued an order today blocking the assets of anyone connected with the February 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. We're glaring in your general direction, Syria. The noose is getting tighter. Kicking Assad.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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We're often told by the media that it's the seriousness of the accusation that matters. If that is the case, how come there is no press coverage of the accusation that Syria routinely totures and kills their own Kurdish citizens?

A Kurdish website run out of Holland is reporting that 19 year old Mohammed Wayso was recently tortured to death by his commanders in the Syrian Army because he couldn't speak Arabic well enough. Syria is run by the Arab nationalist Ba'ath Party.

The Kurdish political party in Syria, Yeketi, claims that at least 5 others Kurds have been tortured to death in Syria in the past two years because of their ethnic identity.

You can see a translation of the Azady story here (warning: graphic images). More images of the murdered Kurd here (graphic)

Posted by: Rusty at 11:54 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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