Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Iran Threatens Ballistic Missile Strikes, Manhattan Terrorist Pledged Allegiance To ISIS, UN Plan Calls For $18 Million To Aid Palestinian Legal Efforts Against Israel




Iran Threatens Ballistic Missile Strikes on American Forces, Can Hit 'All U.S. Bases'



A top Iranian military commander has threatened to launch ballistic missile attacks on U.S. forces in the region amid a public effort by the Islamic Republic to show off its advanced missile capabilities, according to U.S. officials and regional reports.

Iranian leaders disclosed that their advanced ballistic missile technology, which could be used as part of a nuclear weapons program, is sophisticated enough to strike U.S. forces up to nearly 1,300 miles, or 2,000 kilometers, away, which encompasses all U.S. bases in the region.

The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, announced on Tuesday that Iranian missiles can already "cover all U.S. bases in the region" and that Tehran has the capability to increase its missile power even further.


"Based on the policies specified by the Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei], the range of our missiles is limited to 2,000km, but we have the capability to increase the range," IRGC Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said following an announcement by the country's supreme leader that Iranian ballistic missile technology would be capped at this distance for the short term.
While pro-Iran activists cheered the announcement as a sign of moderation on Iran's part, U.S officials and experts told the Washington Free Beacon that the distance cap on these missiles is effectively meaningless since the country's current military technology is capable of striking U.S. forces, a position emphasized by Iranian military leaders.
"At present it [this distance] is sufficient because the Americans are in a 2,000 km radius from our country and their attacks will be responded," Jafari was quoted as saying in Iran's state-controlled press outlets.
U.S. military and administration officials told the Free Beacon the United States is cementing multiple plans to counter Iran's ballistic missile threat and will continue to pursue these efforts despite Iranian threats of military violence.
"We have consistently maintained that we will work with our allies to change Iran's malign and destabilizing activities," one senior military official told the Free Beacon.
This includes the development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology, as well as Iran's support for terrorism and Islamic extremism, according to Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Defense Department spokesperson.
The U.S. defense apparatus also is working to counter Iran's support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, as well as the Islamic Republic's "unrelenting hostility to Israel," according to Rankine-Galloway.









New details have emerged in relation to Manahattan terrorist Sayfullo Saipov. As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the 29-year-old Uzbek national immigrated under former President Obama in 2010. According to his drivers license, Saipov was once a Florida resident. 


NBC News reporter Tom Winter reports a note written by Saipov pledging his allegiance to ISIS was found.

“New York terror suspect left a note behind in the rental truck pledging his allegiance to ISIS, @jonathan4ny reports,” tweeted Winter.









Top Imam Tawhidi revealed Tuesday he warned New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio that his city was a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. According to the Imam, De Blasio ignored his ‘in person,’ and ‘online,’ warnings. News of Tawhidi’s warnings come after the Manhattan terror attack. 


“About  terrorist attack, I personally sent letters to Mayor De Blasio online & in person about terrorist breeding in NYC.He did nothing. In 2016, I told Mayor De Blasio that I was in NYC and noticed some hot radical centres. I was willing to point out serious cases. Ignored! Not only am I a Muslim Imam who understands the threat of Islamic Extremism, I also hold a certificate in counter-terrorism. Now what!?,” said Imam Tawhidi in a series following the Manhattan terror attack.


Tweet credit: Imam Tawhidi
The Imam went on to blast both De Blasio and Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London.
“De Blasio griefs about London and you grief about NYC. How about you both swap positions since you don’t really care about your own people!?”









The United Nations is hoping to designate roughly $18 million in the coming years toward aiding Palestinian efforts to put more pressure on Israel via international legal action.
In a recently released plan that outlines the world body’s support for the Palestinian Authority from 2018-2022, the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) includes a budgetary framework that would allocate millions of dollars to specifically help Palestinians pursue international legal avenues against Israel.
“This will include training, capacity-building and technical advice to ensure that Palestinian victims and institutions are equipped with the knowledge and tools to effectively access international accountability mechanisms in order to hold Israel accountable for its violations under international law,” the document says.
Those funds would be deployed to a conglomerate of different UN agencies, including the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and UN Women.
“This will include training, capacity-building and technical advice to ensure that Palestinian victims and institutions are equipped with the knowledge and tools to effectively access international accountability mechanisms in order to hold Israel accountable for its violations under international law,” the document says.
Those funds would be deployed to a conglomerate of different UN agencies, including the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and UN Women.
They will also be used to “strengthen the capacity of Palestinian organizations to advocate effectively for the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territory” and help the UN with “its own advocacy on the impact of Israeli violations on Palestine’s development prospects, including through joint activities that clearly communicate the effect that the occupation and breaches of international law have on the ability of Palestine to develop economically, socially, environmentally and politically.”









It appears that a collapsed tunnel at a North Korea nuclear test site has collapsed killing at least 100 people and another hundred people are feared dead as they attempted to rescue those in the collapsed tunnel, according to a report.
The collapse occurred at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
According to a regional news agency, YonHap News:

A tunnel under construction at North Korea's nuclear test site collapsed and as many as 200 workers could have been killed, a Japanese news report said Tuesday.
About 100 people were trapped inside when the unfinished tunnel at the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site collapsed, and an additional 100 people could have been killed while trying to rescue those trapped as a second collapse occurred, Japan's TV Asahi reported.
The report didn't provide further details, such as when the accident happened.
Experts have warned that the North's nuclear test site must have become fatigued and unstable from six nuclear tests, including last month's latest and most powerful one, that a collapse could happen at any time.
On Monday, the chief of South Korea's weather agency Korea Meteorological Administration, Nam Jae-cheol, said during a parliamentary meeting that another nuclear blast could trigger a collapse of the North's mountainous test site and a leak of radioactive materials.





























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Terrorism In NYC: 8 Dead After Truck Hits Victims




[This is ABCs politically correct version...The killer shouted "something"....hmmmm]




 At least eight people are dead and others injured after a truck driver made a "purposeful turn" onto a jogging and biking path in lower Manhattan in New York City, police said.

The suspect is in custody. Multiple law enforcement officials tell ABC News that the suspect in custody has been identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov from Tampa, Florida.

The sprawling crime scene runs about 10 blocks along the West Side Highway, a few blocks away from One World Trade Center.
The incident is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack, a source confirmed to ABC News.
A vehicle -- a Home Depot rental truck, according to the company -- entered the West Street pedestrian and bike path north of Chambers Street, hitting multiple people on the path, leaving some dead and "numerous people injured," New York City police said, citing preliminary investigation.
The vehicle kept driving south until it hit another vehicle, police said. At that point, the suspect, who was "displaying imitation firearms," got out of the vehicle and was shot by responding officers, authorities said.
The suspect shouted something at police when officers confronted him, according to multiple sources.









Eight dead in terror attack after truck mows down victims on a cycle path just seven blocks from Ground Zero before being shot by police as he waved imitation firearms and screamed Allahu Akbar




  • Eight people are dead and 11 people are in hospital in a serious but non life-threatening condition 
  • The truck driver has been named as 29-year-old Sayfull Saipov, a resident of Florida
  • He mounted the West Side Highway bike path at 3.05 pm on Tuesday afternoon at Houston Street 
  • He then continued southbound for 17 blocks, mowing down pedestrians, runners and cyclists
  • He came to a stop when he crashed into a school bus at Chambers Street and then hopped out of the truck
  • The man was then seen brandishing two fake guns before being shot in the stomach by an NYPD officer
  • He survived and was taken to hospital where he now remains under the supervision of police 












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Monday, October 30, 2017

IDF Blows Up Gaza Attack Tunnel, Killing 7 Palestinians And Wounding 12, Netanyahu Hails 'Breakthrough Technology' In Discovery Of Tunnels




IDF blows up Gaza attack tunnel, killing 7 Palestinians and wounding 12 inside



At least seven men were killed and another 12 injured on Monday when the Israeli army blew up an attack tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said in the deadliest incident in the coastal enclave since the 2014 Gaza war.
Israel’s Chanel 2 put the death toll at 11, but this was not confirmed by Hamas officials.
“The explosion took place inside Israeli territory. The majority of the dead were activists that entered the tunnel after it was exploded and died in the Gaza Strip, and not as a result of the explosion,” said an IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee
The IDF said the terror tunnel was discovered inside Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and is believed to have been dug after 2014. The tunnel was being built by the Islamic Jihad terror group. It ran from the Gazan city of Khan Younis, crossed under the border for dozens of meters, and approached Kibbutz Kissufim.
The incident significantly raised tensions in the region, with leaders of the different Palestinian terror groups meeting in Gaza in a bid to formulate a response.


Israel deployed its Iron Dome rocket interceptors in the area and declared a closed military zone near the Gaza border in case the Palestinians tried to respond with rocket fire.

“We are not interested in an escalation but we are ready for all scenarios” Adraee said.










Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday hailed the IDF for destroying an attack tunnel from the Gaza Strip discovered near a kibbutz inside Israeli territory, with the two leaders attributing its discovery to Israel’s new “breakthrough technology.”

In remarks at the weekly Likud faction meeting, the prime minister said the long-rumored advanced technology to locate the attack tunnels had been utilized in the recent operation.
“I told you many times before that we are developing breakthrough technology to deal with the tunnel threat,” said Netanyahu at the start of the meeting. “We are implementing it. Today, we located a tunnel and we destroyed it.”
The prime minister said Israel holds Hamas responsible for all military action against Israel emanating from the Gaza Strip and “whoever hurts us, we hurt them.”
Also hailing the “breakthrough technology,” Liberman warned that Israel would not tolerate incursions on its territory, while stressing that Israel was not seeking renewed conflict with Gazan terror groups.

“Our enemies do not rest from their attempts to hurt the citizens of Israel. The IDF has learned from Operation Protective Edge and is using its intelligence, technology, engineering and operational abilities to stop such attempts and ensure the security of those living near Gaza. The neutralized tunnel is no longer a threat to the residents of the region,” said Bennett.



The tunnel, which the IDF described as a “grave and unacceptable violation of Israeli sovereignty,” started in Khan Younis, crossing under the border and approaching Kibbutz Kissufim, the army said.

The tunnel was discovered by a new, advanced piece of technology that was being used for the first time, Conricus told reporters. He would not specify what type of equipment was used.
It was the third such tunnel that the military has said it’s destroyed since the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. However, the first two tunnels, which were demolished last year, were believed to be leftovers from the 2014 conflict, whereas the tunnel that was detonated on Monday was “in progress,” according to Conricus







Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on Monday accused Israel of trying to foil ongoing unity efforts between them after the Israeli army blew up an attack tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, killing at least seven people inside.
The IDF on Monday said it “neutralized a terror tunnel” that was discovered inside Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and is believed to have been dug after 2014. The tunnel was being built by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The blast killed at least five members of Islamic Jihad’s military wing, including a senior commander and his deputy, and two members of Hamas’s military wing died in rescue efforts.  At least 12 others were injured, Gaza’s health ministry said.
The IDF said the tunnel was “detonated from within Israel, adjacent to the security fence.” It was not immediately clear where the deceased members of the terror groups were when the tunnel was detonated, though many reports said the Islamic Jihad terrorists were inside, and the two Hamas fatalities died of gas inhalation when coming to their rescue.
In a statement, Hamas called the Israeli measure “a desperate attempt to sabotage efforts to restore Palestinian unity and maintain the state of division.


“This crime comes in the context of [sowing confusion] and creating tension in the atmosphere in order to thwart the Palestinian national reconciliation,” he said, in a statement carried in the official PA news outlet Wafa.
Abu Eita said that despite the incident, the Palestinians would push ahead with the unity plan.









Iran on Monday condemned Israel as “bloodthirsty” after the Israel Defense Forces blew up an attack tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, killing seven people, including two commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
“The bloodthirsty Zionist regime is trying to bend the will of the oppressed people of the occupied territories to guarantee its security by killing Palestinian youths,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qassemi said, according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
“This is while seven decades of crimes, bloodshed and child-killing could not weaken the determination of this patient and courageous people at all,” he added.
The IDF on Monday said it “neutralized a terror tunnel” that was discovered inside Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and is believed to have been dug after 2014. The tunnel was being built by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The blast killed at least five members of Islamic Jihad’s military wing, including a senior commander and his deputy, and two members of Hamas’s military wing died in rescue efforts. At least 12 others were injured, Gaza’s health ministry said. Many reports said the terrorists were killed inside the tunnel, though this was not definitively clear.
The statement from Iran came days after a Hamas delegation visited Tehran and officials in the Iranian regime praised the Gaza rulers for not abandoning its armed struggle against Israel.
The IDF said the tunnel was “detonated from within Israel, adjacent to the security fence.”
Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah earlier on Monday accused Israel of trying to foil ongoing unity efforts between them in destroying the tunnel.
In a statement, Hamas called the Israeli measure “a desperate attempt to sabotage efforts to restore Palestinian unity and maintain the state of division.”




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Prophetic Indicators In View

Below are selected quotes from two timely pieces from two of our favorite sites, Terry James Prophecy Line and The Omega Letter:





Prophetic Indicators in View « Terry James



Those who are watchful for Christ’s soon return from the pre-Millennial, pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy see this present time as inundated with significant signs. We more and more often these days hear the term “convergence” bandied about. “Convergence” is used to define the coming-together at once of most of the indicators the prophets–particularly Jesus–gave for the end of the Church Age (Age of Grace).
Two signals fitting within that definition, I believe, are in the news while we continue to observe these troubled but exciting times. I say “exciting,” because the signs are indicators that our Lord must be very near that moment of shouting from the clouds of Heaven, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1-2).
First, I would like to again look at the prophecy Jesus gave about when He will next be revealed to mankind in a catastrophic way. As those who read these commentaries regularly know, I believe Christ was talking about our present time very near the end of the Church Age in this prophecy.
The Lord, as recorded in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30, said it would be just like the days of Noah and the days of Lot when He intervenes or is revealed. I believe this has to be the time of the Rapture. He said people will be buying, selling, building, planting, marrying, etc. It will be business, I believe He was saying, even better than usual when the Rapture occurs.

But, we have to look into other aspects of the way it was in Noah’s day in order to find reference to the prophetic signal I wish to examine here. 


The drive to construct the New World Order, as President  Herbert Walker Bush termed it, continues at a stepped-up pace. President Donald J. Trump’s call to “Make America Great Again” has sent the one-worlders into a frantic effort to get our thinking back on track. –Back on the track upon which President Obama faithfully took the U.S., in line with recent presidents who came after Ronald Reagan, who, for the most part, was a staunch advocate for American sovereignty.

Now, the son of the first President Bush has weighed in, demonstrating where his strongest allegiance lies. Without mention of Trump’s name, Bush 43 unloaded on any thought of America being given first place over the more important globalist agenda.

Former President George W. Bush delivered a public repudiation of President Donald Trump’s political identity, suggesting many aspects of the current administration are fueling division in the United States and around the world…
“We cannot wish globalism away,” Bush said, noting that the United States must sustain “wise and sustained global engagement” for the future of the country.
Bush indirectly accused Trump of fueling dangerous ideologies that threatened the unity of the United States and global stability, spending a large portion of his speech complaining about social ills in the country…
Globalism is a satanic, not a godly, concept. It will eventuate, however. We are seeing stage-setting for producing the platform from which Antichrist’s regime will rule with an iron fist.









America 2017 could not be a weirder time to be alive. I know you see it too. It is as if the spirit of lawlessness had suddenly decided to manifest itself in a very real and tangible way. The century’s long battle over American ideology has finally come to a head, and the results are not pretty. But adding to the rapid and widespread increase of wickedness, something equally diabolical was/is afoot; the hijacking of the information age. By hijacking, I mean there is as much misinformation as there is real information mixed in with what we call the mainstream news today.

When people don’t know what to believe or trust anymore, it causes them to either mentally check-out or go into full-blown panic mode. The mainstream news (people and organizations) are overwhelmingly leftist (progressive) in their political and ideological worldviews, and they want to drive the national narrative. The reason they had to hijack the narrative, is that objective truth (what is) is lethal to their left-wing ideological pattern of subjective reasoning(the agenda). So if truth can’t be destroyed, the only options left for the left, is to either silence (by force) those who oppose their view, or to sow as much confusion into what is real, that the truth becomes completely obscured.

Clearly, this has been going on for some time now. How the spirit of lawlessness has become visible in 2017, is that we’ve actually moved beyond obfuscation. We are now to the point where truth has become irrelevant.

If we look at what the Bible says the future looks like, it becomes apparent that the supernatural world is bubbling back to the forefront and is being fused with drugs (Pharmakeia) and technology to provide a worldwide deception for people who willingly abandoned the truth.
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thess. 2:9-12


Russia and China are making major moves in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in the Pacific. North Korea and Iran’s nuclear ambitions are forcing the West into either one of two uncomfortable scenarios, either we capitulate and accept them as nuclear powers, or we exact military force to stop them. There no longer is a third option available to us. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just North Korea and Iran. The reality is that both Iran (Russia) and North Korea (China) have powerful benefactors who would almost invariably side with them in the event of military conflict.

Israel is inching closer to bombing Syria back into the proverbial Stone Age. She simply cannot afford (existentially speaking here) to allow Iran to be imported into what used to be Syria any more than she already has. But by doing so, Israel risks bringing even more unwanted military attention from the likes of Iran, Russia, and now Turkey. This would also incur a quick reaction from the counterfeit Palestinian militants, who will undoubtedly use that as an opportunity to launch missiles and attacks against Israeli cities and communities.
The Iraqi Kurd’s recent bid for independence has begun another Mid-East conflict. 

Traditionally speaking, the US has sided with the Kurds, and we are in a bit of a bind now since the threat of ISIS has all but dissipated in Iraq. A national Kurdistan presents a huge threat to the post-WWI boundaries of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey and they simply will not allow Kurdistan to become a reality.

All of these issues (just to name a few) have become a geo-political mine-field for the President. Any of these are ready to explode if even a single misstep occurs. Even though they are not all necessarily connected per se, you can bet that if any of them kick off, they all could.

So where do things go from here?

















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U.S. Antifa And Other Leftist Groups Met In Germany With Al-Qaeda And ISIS To Plot Trump's Destruction



US Antifa and other Leftist groups met in Germany with al-Qaeda and ISIS to plot Trump’s destruction



These hard-Leftist groups, although they claim to be against fascism, are fascist to the core, wanting to shut down, violently if necessary, anyone who disagrees with them. They claim to be against hate, but are more hateful than anyone, and so they see natural allies in al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Both hate the West, both hate the U.S., both hate the Judeo-Christian tradition, so they see each other as kindred spirits.

“EXCLUSIVE: US left wing groups travelled to Germany for the G20 Summit last July to meet with Al qaeda and ISIS leaders and plot the destruction of President Trump, secret FBI investigation reveals,” by Ed Klein, Dailymail.com, October 29, 2017:


Edward Klein is the former editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine and the author of numerous bestsellers including his fourth book on the Clintons, Guilty as Sin, in 2016. His latest book is All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump will be released October 30, 2017
A secret FBI investigation of the violent ‘resistance’ movement on college campuses against President Trump has led to an alarming discovery—the collusion between American anarchists and foreign terrorists in the Islamic State and Al qaeda, according to a confidential ‘Informational Report’ by FBI field offices.
‘There is clearly overwhelming evidence that there are growing ties between U.S. radicals and the Islamic State, as well as several [ISIS] offshoots and splinter groups,’ stated the FBI field report, which was delivered to Acting Director Andrew McCabe on July 11, 2017, and which is being published for the first time in my new book All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump.
The FBI report on efforts by Islamic terrorists to recruit followers among violent U.S. groups like Antifa corroborates President Trump’s controversial claim, following last summer’s deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left-wing anarchist groups are just as dangerous as right-wing white supremacists.
A secret FBI investigation of the violent ‘resistance’ movement on college campuses against President Trump has led to an alarming discovery—the collusion between American anarchists and foreign terrorists in the Islamic State and Al Qaeda (Pictured above are the protests in Charlottesville, VA)

‘This is the greatest challenge to law enforcement since the Weather Underground and the Black Panther Party,’ the FBI report declared.
Last summer, the FBI dispatched a task force to Europe to report on massive demonstrations planned by radical groups, such as the German contingent Antifaschistische Aktion, to protest President Trump’s attendance at a meeting of leaders and central bank governors of the G20 group of major industrialized countries








  • Bestselling author Edward Klein is set to release his latest book All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump
  • Klein makes the shocking revelation that an FBI investigation discovered collusion between American anarchists and ISIS and Al-Qaeda 
  • 'This is the greatest challenge to law enforcement since the Weather Underground and the Black Panther Party,' the FBI report declared
  • It reveals the FBI sent a task force to Germany to report on radical groups that planned to protest President Trump's attendance at this year's G20 Summit
  • The investigation determined that U.S.-backed anarchist/radical groups had traveled to Germany and took part in the violence 
  • There was also evidence that three key leaders of an Oakland group met in Hamburg with a leader of the Al-Qaeda 
  • The foreign terrorists were helping them acquire the weapons they are seeking, primarily bomb-making equipment and toxic chemicals and gasses




Edward Klein is the former editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine and the author of numerous bestsellers including his fourth book on the Clintons, Guilty as Sin, in 2016. His latest book is All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump will be released October 30, 2017
A secret FBI investigation of the violent 'resistance' movement on college campuses against President Trump has led to an alarming discovery—the collusion between American anarchists and foreign terrorists in the Islamic State and Al qaeda, according to a confidential 'Informational Report' by FBI field offices.
'There is clearly overwhelming evidence that there are growing ties between U.S. radicals and the Islamic State, as well as several [ISIS] offshoots and splinter groups,' stated the FBI field report, which was delivered to Acting Director Andrew McCabe on July 11, 2017, and which is being published for the first time in my new book All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump.
The FBI report on efforts by Islamic terrorists to recruit followers among violent U.S. groups like Antifa corroborates President Trump's controversial claim, following last summer's deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left-wing anarchist groups are just as dangerous as right-wing white supremacists.


'While there has been military progress in Iraq against the Islamic State, their influence in Europe and throughout the world is clearly growing,' the report said. 
'Now that the bureau has determined they have followers in the radical U.S. resistance movement in the United States, it is clear there will be additional violence in the attacks on law enforcement and U.S. institutions, including banks.
'Ties between three key leaders of the Oakland group [names redacted] met in Hamburg with a leader of the AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] and the AQIM [Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb],' the report continued. 'The leader from AQAP is an Egyptian-born male [name redacted] who is known to be in charge of finances and recruiting for the group.
'There is evidence from informants that he is helping the Oakland group acquire the weapons they are seeking, primarily bomb making equipment and toxic chemicals and gasses.
'One of the men from Oakland traveled to Syria to meet with ISIS; the purpose was for training in tactics, but was thought to be primarily a bonding visit to discuss possible massive disruptive attacks in the U.S.




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Is Israel Preparing To Strike Hezbollah?




Is Israel Preparing to Strike Hezbollah?




Though a targeted strike has up-front costs, failing to act will likely exact an even greater price in the next conflict. 




Likely as a response to the effective Israeli interdiction of convoys delivering high-quality arms from Iran to Hezbollah, Tehran and Hezbollah have decided to build the capability to produce advanced weapons in Lebanon rather than ship them there. 
The arms set for production reportedly include precise surface-to-surface missiles that can travel long distances and inflict significant damage on Israeli forces and infrastructure, thus crossing a red line set by Israel. 
The latter’s most preferable strategy is to halt Hezbollah’s production of advanced weaponry in Lebanon by means that do not unnecessarily risk provoking a war. The question that Israel now faces is how to proceed in a way that ensures its red line is enforced, while minimizing the risk for uncontrolled escalation.
On the diplomatic front, Israel has already used several methods to relay the message that it will not accept Hezbollah’s production of high-quality weaponry in Lebanon. Behind the scenes, Israeli officials asked European diplomats to pass Jerusalem’s warning about its red line in Lebanon to Iran, which sponsors and manages the arms project. 
In the public view, Israel and the United States have cooperated in international bodies and public forums to promote multilateral efforts to oppose Hezbollah’s continued acquisition of advanced weaponry. 
Senior Israeli officials like the minister of defense have also made unequivocal public declarations that such activities are unacceptable. Public statements are important because they relay to Iran the message that these actions will not be tolerated, at the same time as they demonstrate to the international community that any future use of force on Israel’s part will be a last, rather than first, resort. Although threats and declarations did not dissuade Iran from moving forward, and had a low probability for doing so, Israel was right to exhaust its diplomatic options for resolving this issue before turning to military escalation.
Alongside its diplomatic efforts, Israel has demonstrated its determination to prevent Hezbollah from acquiring advanced weapons by surgically striking the group’s weapons convoys in Syria without violating the current “rules of the game.” According to the current understanding, Israeli strikes on Lebanese soil will receive a military response from Hezbollah, while attacks on weapons convoys in Syria will not. 
The latter is therefore a means to assertively enforce Israel’s red line vis-à-vis Hezbollah’s acquisition of advanced weaponry (at least in Syria), while likely avoiding unpredictable enemy responses or uncontrolled escalation, as these actions are tacitly governed by an understanding between the two sides. However, the same reason that makes these actions less risky also renders them unlikely to change calculations of risk from the enemy’s perspective: they do not present any bold new Israeli strategy or willingness to escalate that Hezbollah and Iran had not already seen prior to embarking on their venture to produce weapons in Lebanon.
Therefore, in early September 2017, Israel allegedly sent a stronger message to Iran by launching an unprecedented strike from Lebanese airspace on an Iranian-run weapons-production facility in Syria that tested the limits of the current “rules.” 
This single attack delivered several messages. First, Israel is broadening its actions against Hezbollah weapons acquisition to include production facilities. Second, the strike was reportedly launched from Lebanese airspace into Syria, and this was probably meant as a warning shot regarding the weapons production facilities on the Lebanese side of the border. Third, Israel demonstrated that it will confront Iran as necessary. And fourth, the attack highlighted the fact that Russian air defenses will not protect Hezbollah-Iranian activities that violate Israel’s red lines.


If these limited efforts do not succeed in convincing Hezbollah and Iran to turn back on their weapons-production venture, Israel will be faced with two options.
First, Israel may opt to launch a preemptive strike on the production facilities in Lebanon. Doing so constitutes a blatant violation of the unwritten “rules of the game,” and its ramifications are accordingly difficult to predict. In responding militarily to this violation, Hezbollah would likely seek to preserve the existing understanding by punishing Israel’s violation while trying to avoid escalation to full-scale war. In delivering a limited response to the Israeli strike, the group would simply attempt to control the escalation as it has in the past. Unfortunately, escalation control is hardly an exact science; miscalculations have cost many lives along this border in the past, and are liable to do so again in the future. Recalling a previous error that led to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War, Hassan Nasrallah lamented, “You ask me, if I had known on July 11 . . . that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not.”

The benefits of a preemptive strike are not limited to the instrumental destruction of production facilities, which can be rebuilt and therefore do not represent a long-term solution. But they do signal a level of determination that includes risking an outbreak of war in order to prevent facilities from going operational. 
Breaking the established rules of the game may convince Hezbollah that it should cease its efforts to manufacture advanced weapons if it wants to avoid full-scale war. On the other hand, Hezbollah could also decide to in a manner that starts a chain of escalation to full-scale war. Overall, the results of a strike are heavily dependent on Hezbollah’s reaction which, in turn, will be based on fluid calculations regarding its strategic environment.

Should Israel choose to strike, however, the current situation presents an opportune moment to carry out a preemptive attack, as Hezbollah is disinclined to escalate the conflict for several reasons. First, the group is heavily involved in Syria and is not interested in fighting on two fronts (although this window of opportunity is contingent on the duration of the Syrian Civil War, which appears to be winding down). Second, President Trump’s strong support for Israel and hostile attitude towards Iran will likely translate into support on the bilateral and multilateral levels for Israeli actions that pushback against the aggressive posturing of the Iranian-led axis; the same may not be true of the next U.S. administration. Third, if Israel is striking to prevent Hezbollah from producing high-quality arms, the risk of attack will be lower before Hezbollah has had time to produce them. Doing so after the group has already manufactured advanced weapons could be costly if these arms are used against Israel in response to the strike. Fourth, the recent successes of Hezbollah and Iran in the region may provide a false sense of security that time is on their side to close the gap between Hezbollah-Iranian forces and those of the IDF (which does not necessarily reflect reality). If Hezbollah views the long-term trends as favorable to its positioning with respect to its Israeli opponent, it is less likely to risk all out war at present in order to confront adversaries like Israel from a position of greater relative strength in the future.
Should the strike lead into a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would likely emerge victorious due to its quantitative and qualitative edge over the Lebanese militia—although it is important to note that Israel would not emerge unscathed. Hezbollah possesses more than one hundred thousand rockets and missiles, and though the majority of them are of poor quality, dozens of these weapons have the potential range and accuracy to strike sensitive sites or population centers in Israel despite the latter’s cutting-edge missile-defense system. As a consequence, though insufficient to deliver Hezbollah a military victory, the group’s missiles could severely damage Israel’s infrastructure. 
Furthermore, Hezbollah’s status as a state-sanctioned organization neutralizes the potential strategic advantage it can derive from asymmetric warfare that plays to the advantage of a conventionally weaker party; any future war between Israel and Hezbollah will be more along the lines of a conventional interstate conflict in which Israel has an enormous military advantage. Although Hezbollah’s positioning as the “underdog” may set a lower bar for success (which includes little more than inflicting damage on Israel and its own survival), this will not negate the objective devastation that both Hezbollah and Lebanon would experience in the event of war.
Israel’s second option is to rely on its ability to deter Hezbollah from using advanced weapons, rather than preventing the group from acquiring them. Doing so avoids the heightened risk of escalation through enforcing Israel’s red line, but it also means that the IDF will have to cope with a more dangerous enemy along its northern border and a potential loss of credibility in regard to upholding its red lines. While adopting this approach may prevent the outbreak of “the most destructive Arab-Israeli war yet” in the short-term, it will likely increase the price of a future Israel-Hezbollah conflict in the long term.
Israel may consider this second option because of its purported success in deterring Hezbollah from attacking again after 2006, which many attribute to the heavy price the IDF inflicted on Lebanon in the previous conflict. However, drawing a direct connection between Israel’s ability to inflict damage and the current quiet along the Israel-Lebanon border is dubious, and there are two major problems with relying on this approach. First, deterrence is not an exact science and actors are not always rational (particularly those with radical religious ideologies). Second, deterrence is dependent not only the ability to inflict maximum damage on an adversary, but also how that adversary views its long-term prospects. For instance, if Hezbollah were to foresee its own decline compared to Israel for any number of reasons—reasons that do not necessarily relate to Israel directly—it is possible that the threat of overwhelming Israeli force may not be enough to prevent a future outbreak of hostilities. If Israel decides to rely on its ability to deter Hezbollah, the failure of this strategy would put the IDF up against a far more capable foe on land, sea and air.
Israel appears to have exhausted its low risk methods for stopping Hezbollah-Iran efforts to produce advanced weapons in Lebanon, and it is now faced with a choice: deterrence or preemption. 
Relying on the imperfect and uncertain idea of deterrence would entail unacceptable risks that are likely to increase exponentially over time. Instead, Israel should opt for a precision strike against Hezbollah’s production facilities while clarifying that it is prepared for, but does not seek, a wider war. Though a targeted strike has up-front costs and does not guarantee that Hezbollah will not rebuild its production facilities, failing to act will likely exact an even greater price in the next conflict, and could leave Israel poorly positioned to protect its interests in the future.





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Sunday, October 29, 2017

U.S. B-2 Nuclear-Capable Bomber Arrives In Asia, N Korea On Verge Of 'Catastrophe' At Nuclear Site, Secretive U.S. Military Agency Reveal How N Korea Would Start WW 3




Incoming: US B-2 Nuclear-Capable Bomber Arrives in Asia Ahead of Trump Visit



The Pentagon has deployed a B-2 stealth bomber fitted out for carrying nuclear weapons to unidentified areas of the western Pacific ahead of next week’s planned visit to the region by US President Donald Trump.
The flight plan for the nuclear-equipped bomber has not been released by the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) or the White House, although various US bases in the region, including those in South Korea and Japan, make up a short list for the long-range warplane to resupply.

The last documented time a B-2 visited the area was during a 2013 Pentagon promotional show-of-force tour over the Korean Peninsula, according to the Japan Times.

Flying to the Pacific area from its Missouri home at the Whiteman Air Force Base during the weekend, the B-2 — with a range of over 6000 miles — can be refueled in mid flight, making it possible for the aircraft to deliver a nuclear weapon anywhere on the planet.

STRATCOM downplayed the bomber overflight, stating that the globetrotting mission was routine, and was being conducted to "familiarize aircrew with air bases and operations in different geographic combatant commands, enabling them to maintain a high state of readiness and proficiency," cited by Japantimes.com.


The STRATCOM statement also included remarks intended to allay the fears of regional US allies Japan and South Korea ahead of Trump's visit, suggesting that the B-2 visit should be considered as "a visible demonstration of commitment to our allies and enhancing regional security."

Over the weekend US Defense Secretary James Mattis accused the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) of engaging in "outlaw" activity, promising that Washington and its allies will never accept Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons-capable state.

"I cannot imagine a condition under which the United States would accept North Korea as a nuclear power," Mattis declared.
"North Korea has accelerated the threat that it poses to its neighbors and the world through its illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear weapons programs," he stated, adding that recent developments — including a purported successful hydrogen bomb detonation by Pyongyang in September — have created "a new urgency" for the region.










Scientists from Beijing believe the Punggye-ri nuclear facility is unstable and that just one more explosion could blow the top off of Mount Mantap, beneath which all six of North Korea's nuclear tests thave been conducted.
That could lead to the mountain collapsing, causing radioactive waste to escape and blow aross the border into China just 50 miles away. 
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geology and Geophysics warned Pyongyang delegates of the risk during a briefing in Beijing soon after North Korea's last nuclear test on September 3, according ot the South China Morning Post. 
Tellingly, the meeting occured two days before North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters at the United Nations Assembly in New York Pyongyang was considering conducting a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean. 
Zhai Mingguo, a senior Chinese geologist who organised the September 20 briefing, told the newspaper: “This is a big, sophisticated problem requiring multiple, systematic approaches. 





North Korea has the capability to strike any state in the US according to a leading American commander who heads up a secretive military monitoring centre.
The man in charge of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) revealed for the first time how officials who work there monitor North Korea missile tests 24/7.
Engineers, photo experts, and intelligence analysts at the Ohio air base pour through satellite information for impending weapon tests - and analyse the results from missile launches.
It comes amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, as the US Defence Secretary yesterday admitted the chance of a North Korean nuclear strike was "accelerating". 

Colonel Sean Larkin, who heads up the NASIC programme, told CBS that North Korea is well equipped to hit any state of the US mainland.
He said: "The missile tests this summer have demonstrated the ability that they could reach the US."
When asked if this would put any state in particular danger, the US military leader was unequivocal: "All 48 states on the mainland."
Colonel Larkin admitted that the if positioned in a standard trajectory, the missiles launched in July could have blitz California. 
In a shocking computer stimulation of the North Korean ICBM, researchers at NASIC revealed how Kim Jong-un is within touching distance of ordering a nuclear blast on the US west coast.






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