The IDF has the ability to attack the Iranian nuclear sites without help from other nations, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz told Israel Radio in a lengthy interview aired Tuesday.
When asked if the IDF has the capabilities to attack alone in Iran, Gantz answered "unequivocally, yes."
Gantz told Israel Radio that the top political and military officials discussed a possible strike in Iran, but denied reports that there were arguments on the topic. "There are long, continuous discussions, and I presume we'll have more of those in the future."
On the northern front, Gantz assured that the IDF is ready for a possible military confrontation with Syria and with Lebanon. "We are ready, at any given time, and in an immediate manner, for a war with Syria, both on the defense and on the offense. I don't see it happening tomorrow morning, but despite that we are ready."
Israel can strike any Iranian nuclear installation on its own and is holding intense discussions between military and political leaders to prepare for the eventuality, Israel Defense Forces chief Benny Gantz said in an interview aired Tuesday.
The interview with Israel Radio was one of several Gantz gave to a number of Hebrew-language news outlets as part of a media blitz for Israel’s 65th Independence day celebrations Tuesday.
Gantz told Israel Radio that Israel had the capabilities to strike Iranian nuclear targets on its own if no country came to its aid, and that intense, thorough discussions between the military and political leadership on the matter were ongoing.
“The Iranian challenge is very significant and we must approach it with a responsible long-term strategy. We will do what is necessary when it is necessary,” Gantz said, adding that Israel was following nuclear developments in Iran closely.
The head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group says he’s “happy to see the horror in America” after the explosions in Boston.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaeda-linked plot to attack US and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.
“Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there,” he said early Tuesday.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaeda.” He did not give actual evidence.
A Jordanian official said security was beefed up around the US Embassy in Amman.
Tuesday morning, while interviewing witnesses and collecting photos taken by spectators, the Boston police and security officers announced they were seeking two wanted men: One was described as swarthy, speaking with a foreign accent, his face partially hidden by a hood, who was carrying a large backpack and kept on trying to enter a closed section near the finishing line. This was the first time an area was disclosed as having been closed to the public.
The second man was photographed by a spectator walking on a rooftop overlooking the finishing line after the second bomb exploded.
After the event, police searches turned up and defused another three explosive devices. Had that search taken place before the event, at least one of the lethal devices might have been discovered and the race aborted.
After the event, police searches turned up and defused another three explosive devices. Had that search taken place before the event, at least one of the lethal devices might have been discovered and the race aborted.
...a determined official effort is being made in Washington and London to present the Boston bombings as the work of a lone wolf.
However, experts experienced in these matters maintain that an attack on this scale and of this type would have required four or five bombers on the ground and a support team of about 10 spotters and accomplices familiar with the terrain, further back. They would have needed more than one vehicle and communications gear, in addition to mobile phones which are easily tracked.
The two explosions, 400 meters apart, were obviously coordinated and designed to cause maximum casualties. The ball-bearings scattered across the crime scene and found in the pockets of some of the casualties were familiar to Israelis and others and telling evidence of Middle East terrorist authorship.
The explosive device which caused such havoc and agony was small yet deadly – another pointer to the “professionalism” of the attackers. A similar device was discovered in time three years ago in a bomb-rigged car parked in Times Square New York and left there by the Pakistani student Faisal Shahzad.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts "carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaeda."
National Guard forces were streaming Tuesday into Boston in long convoys of armored Humvees.
Boston residents are in for upsets from the massive security measures that will continue throughout the week, as the area of the bombings is declared a crime scene and kept under lockdown; law enforcement officials patrol the streets and carry out random bag checks; and transport services are delayed.
Bay State residents can expect the massive security surge prompted by the marathon bombing to continue throughout the week, with Copley Square under lockdown, the Common converted into a National Guard staging area and a flood of law enforcement officials patrolling Boston — even as city officials urged residents to return to work as normal.
“The city of Boston will be open, but it will not be business as usual,” said Gov. Deval Patrick, later adding that life in the city is “not going to be easy, simple or regular.”
Patrick said the National Guard has secured a 15-block crime scene and is limiting access in the area, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe into who planted the explosives.
Law enforcement will continue to have a presence at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, where victims are being treated.
“Tomorrow will not be business as usual in Boston,” said Boston Police Department Commissioner Edward F. Davis. “There will be a significant police presence throughout the city.”
Davis said officers will be working in 12-hour shifts to ensure more manpower on the streets, and another Boston official said officers will “go through every nook and every cranny” of the area.
DesLauriers warned that the site of the blasts remains a crime scene and the event “is a potential terrorist investigation. We will be working diligently to gather all the facts. It is an ongoing investigation.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 5.44 a.m. ET at a depth of 15.2 km (9.4 miles). The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert.
It was located 201 km (125 miles) southeast of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said.
Tall buildings shook in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated shaking buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said.
A powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on April 9, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two villages.
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stocks UP again ??
ReplyDeleteYEP.
it seems that bulls just cannot get enough. any more SELLING in the metals will be a sign that a panic
is getting close....in stocks.
gold will be headed WELL UNDER 1,000
before this is over.
Stock bulls believe they are INVINCIBLE........that is a
deception.....of all deceptions.
Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>