07/19: Ahmadinejad in Syria warns enemies they will be 'burned'

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<B><center>Ahmadinejad in Syria warns enemies they will be 'burned' - Summary

Posted : Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:19:23 GMT
Author : DPA
Middle East World News | Home
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/84687.html </center>
Damascus - On an official state visit to Syria Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</b> voiced his support for Lebanon's radical Islamic Hezbollah movement and warned "the enemies of the region" to abandon their hostile plans or risk being "burned.""The enemies of the region should abandon plans to attack the interests of this region, or they would be burned by the wrath of the region's peoples," Ahmadinejad said at a joint press conference with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Iranian president welcomed Hezbollah's victory over Israel in a war between the two sides in the summer of 2006 and called for a similar victory this summer.

Ahmadinejad described Syrian-Iranian relations as "amicable, excellent and extremely deep," adding that the two countries have common stands towards the region's issues.

"Talks covered the situation in Iraq, which is a priority for the region in general, Palestine and the latest development in the Palestinian arena, and ways of restoring dialogue among all Palestinian factions," Assad said.

In a final statement wrapping up the one-day visit to Syria, the two sides said Iran's nuclear activities must be handled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The statement said the two sides stressed the "fixed right of the countries (adhering to) the non-proliferation treaty to the peaceful use of nuclear power."

The two sides also voiced support for the Iraqi government and underlined the necessity to preserve Iraq's territorial unity.

They also called for the departure of all occupation forces, and expressed support to all efforts that aim to achieve security, stability and national reconciliation in Iraq.

The Syrian and Iranian presidents urged all Palestinian factions to return to dialogue to preserve the unity of the Palestinian people.

The two presidents held two meetings Thursday, during which Ahmedinejad congratulated Assad who was sworn in Tuesday for a second seven-year term as president.

Ahmadinejad, accompanied by a high-level delegation, was greeted earlier Thursday at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

Politically the visit appears to be an act of defiance to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has called on Syria to cut its relations with Iran as a precondition to restart the Syrian segment of Israeli-Arab peace process that deadlocked in 2000.

Syrian officials had shunned in the past Olmert's demand, stressing that Syria's relations with Iran are one of the country's fixed principles and are a matter of sovereignty.

Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally. The two countries have had close relations since 1980 when Syria sided with Persian Iran against Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Both countries face US accusations of fuelling violence in Iraq as well as supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group, which Washington labels a terrorist organization. They are also accused of supporting militant Palestinian groups, such as the Islamic group Hamas.

Ahmadinejad was expected to meet in Damascus with leaders of the Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions.

He was also due to visit the shrine of Sayyedah Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed.

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<B><center>Ahmadinejad: Summer will bring us victory

Published: 07.19.07, 20:11 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3427629,00.html </center>
"Iran and Syria are allies and shall remain allies," </b>said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday in Damascus. Iran and Syria, said Ahmadinejad, "stand as a united front against the enemies of both countries and the enemies of the region."

When asked if he thought war would break out next summer Ahmadinejad replied: "We hope the summer brings with it victory to the peoples of the region and defeat to their enemies." (Dudi Cohen)

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<B><center>Report: Ahmadinejad meets Hizbullah's leader in Damascus

Published: 07.19.07, 19:44 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3427615,00.html </center>
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Syrian capital on Thursday, witnesses said. </b>

Ahmadinejad is on a one day visit to Syria. Representatives of several Palestinian groups opposed to President Mahmoud Abbas, which have offices in Damascus, also attended the meeting, the witnesses said. (Reuters)

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<i>This article has more 'depth' information, then the one above ~ Dutch</i>



<B><font size=+1 color=blue><center>Ahmadinejad meets leaders of Syria and Hezbollah</font>

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Reuters
Thursday, July 19, 2007; 1:42 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071901134.html </center>
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday and pledged to strengthen the alliance between their countries, which are both under U.S.-led pressure.</b>

Ahmadinejad also met Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Syrian capital. The backing Syria and Iran give to the Lebanese Shi'ite movement is the lynchpin of their alliance.

A joint communique issued after Ahmadinejad met Assad said the two leaders were "comfortable with the fine way ties between Syria and Iran were going and careful to continue cooperation in all fields."

"The relation with Syria is progressing daily and in every field and along all lines," Ahmadinejad told reporters.

Assad said: "This visit takes on an added importance with the circumstances changing rapidly in the region. The Iranian-Syrian relation is a long-term one."

The secular government in Damascus has been reinforcing links with the Islamic Republic as the two countries try to counter U.S.-led efforts to isolate them.

Both support Hezbollah as well as Hamas and have links to parties in Iraq, and both have been accused by the United States of sponsoring terrorism, charges Damascus and Tehran deny.

"TACTICAL" ALLIANCE

Ahmadinejad, championing Iran's nuclear program despite U.N. sanctions, also planned to met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and members of the Palestinian group's politburo-in-exile in Syria during his one-day visit.

"Ahmadinejad promised to keep up the support for the Palestinian people, Hamas and the efforts to initiate a Palestinian dialogue after the latest events in Gaza," senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq told Reuters.

Although Syria's isolation by the West has eased in recent months, Damascus has shown no signs of curbing its ties with Tehran as Israel and its chief ally Washington demand.

The United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist group but Damascus and Tehran regard it as a resistance movement. Links between Lebanon's large Shi'ite community and Iran go back centuries.

Syrian officials have privately described as "tactical" their alliance, which dates from 1979, when Syria, unlike the rest of the Arab world, was quick to establish ties with the clerical government in Iran after the Islamic Revolution and backed Iran during its 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Israel has demanded that Damascus cut ties with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas before accepting Syria's calls for peace talks. Damascus rejects this, saying Israeli occupation of Arab lands is behind the region's ills.

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<B><center>Ahmadinejad: Iran fully supports resistance of Palestinian nation

Damascus, July 19, IRNA
Iran-Syria-Palestine
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0707196920192310.htm </center>
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is duty-bound to fully support the resistance of the Palestinian nation. </b>

He made the remarks in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement of Palestine Ramadan Abdullah Shalah in Damascus on Thursday.

At the meeting, the Iranian president underlined that the Palestinian groups should forge unity and continue resistance to attain victory.

The time is now ripe to put up vigilant defence to safeguard genuine Islam, he said.

"Great victories will be attained after hardships," he said, calling on the Palestinian nation as well as resistance and Jihadi groups to forge unity and solidarity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no efforts to assist the Palestinian nation and will fulfill its grave responsibility to this end, he said.

The Zionist regime has suffered heavy defeats in recent years, he said, adding that the usurper regime was now trying to reconstruct its shattered image and make good on its defeats. For this reason, regional countries, Palestinians and Lebanese should maintain their vigilance.

Some of recent seditious acts and conspiracies in Palestine were masterminded by the Zionist regime, Ahmadinejad said, adding that no doubt that they try to resolve the issue as quickly as possible in order to mastermind other plots in the region.

Unity, solidarity, patience and resistance are the key to success for the Palestinian resistance movement, he said.

The secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad movement, for his part, briefed the Iranian president on the latest developments in Palestine and called on Iran and other Arab and Islamic countries to help end civil war in Palestine and strengthen the Islamic movement.

It's gonna hit and it's gonna hurt, Sir.

Maureen

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<i> The question is; is it coincidence? Or a 'masquerade' for stagging a 'real assualt? The time frame 'fits' ~ Dutchman</i>


<b><font size=+1 color=purple><center>IRAN TO HOLD MILITARY EXERCISE</font>

Published: July 19, 2007 at 11:29 AM
http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Briefing/2007/07/19/iran_to_hold_military_exercises/4215/ </center>
TEHRAN, July 19 (UPI) -- Iran is planning military exercises in September that will include the use of its Azarakhsh jet fighters. </b>

Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, speaking on the sidelines of a Majlis (parliament) session in Tehran, gave no other details, but added that Iran was also hoping to soon hold joint exercises with other Gulf countries as it efforts to broaden military cooperation, according to a report in Iran Daily.

Production of the Azarakhsh was first announced in the late 1990s. The Azarakhsh, which can fly at Mach 2, is believed based on the old U.S.-made F-4 Phantom and F-5 Tiger. Some of its avionics, radar and weapons systems were believed reverse-engineered from more modern U.S. combat aircraft system components Iran was able to obtain despite U.S. export restrictions.

"......Iran was also hoping to soon hold joint exercises with other Gulf countries...."

Would they include:

Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. (Ezekiel 38:5,6)

David

The Flying Dutchman said:

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<B><center>Ahmadinejad: Summer will bring us victory

Published: 07.19.07, 20:11 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3427629,00.html </center>
"Iran and Syria are allies and shall remain allies," </b>said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday in Damascus. Iran and Syria, said Ahmadinejad, "stand as a united front against the enemies of both countries and the enemies of the region."

When asked if he thought war would break out next summer Ahmadinejad replied: "We hope the summer brings with it victory to the peoples of the region and defeat to their enemies." (Dudi Cohen)

Click to expand...

Translation: Either the Dems get their way & the US cuts & runs from Iraq (which in reality means the Middle East) or they wage war causing enough casualties (10,000-15,000 KIA) on US forces that will pressure Congress to surrender.

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<B><center>Ahmadinejad: It's going to be a 'hot' summer

<font size=+1 color=red>In surprise Damascus visit hopes for 'defeat for the region's enemies'</font>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 19, 2007
8:04 p.m. Eastern


By Aaron Klein
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56765 </center>
TEL AVIV – Visiting Syria today, <font size=+0 color=purple>Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned during a press conference that this summer will be "hot" and will bring defeat for the "region's enemies." </b></font>

"We hope that the hot weather of this summer would coincide with similar victories for the region‘s peoples, and with consequent defeat for the region‘s enemies," Ahmadinejad said, standing alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Ahmadinejad was speaking after a meeting in Damascus with Assad and Hassan Nasrallah, chief of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which last summer engaged in 34 days of confrontations with the Jewish state during which the group fired thousands of rockets into Israeli population centers.

Nasrallah made the rare appearance in Damascus after months of largely keeping a low public profile in Lebanon.

Ahmadinejad claimed unspecified "enemies of the region" have "plans to attack the interests of this region." He urges those enemies to abandon their war plans "or they would be burned by the wrath of the region's peoples."

He described Syrian-Iranian relations as "amicable, excellent and extremely deep," stating the two countries have common stands on regional issues and face common enemies.

Ibran and Syria have a military alliance. According to Israeli security officials, Iran has been supplying the Syrian military with long-range rockets capable of hitting central Israeli population centers, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.</b>


<B><font isze=+0 color=purple>Ahmadinejad's talk of a "hot summer" comes after WND last week quoted a top official from Assad's Baath party warning if Israel doesn't vacate the strategic Golan Heights by August or September, Syrian guerrillas will immediately launch "resistance operations" against the Golan's Jewish communities.</b></font>

<b><u>The Baath official said Damascus is preparing for anticipated Israeli retaliation following Syrian guerrilla attacks and for a larger war with the Jewish state in August or September</u>. He said in the opening salvo of any conflict, Syria has the capabilities of firing "hundreds" of missiles at Tel Aviv. </b>

"Syria passed repeated messages to the U.S. that we demand the return of the Golan either through negotiations or through war. <b>If the Golan is not in our hands by August or September, we will be poised to launch resistance, including raids and attacks against Jewish positions (in the Golan Heights)," the Baath official said. </b>

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory looking down on Israeli population centers captured by Israel after Syria twice used the territory to attack the Jewish state.

The Baath official said a new purported guerrilla group called the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights has been training and is ready to attacks against Jewish communities in the Golan in August or September.

<b>He said Syria is preparing for a war. </b>

"More and more of our units have undergone intensive trainings starting at 6 a.m. and finishing late into the evening. If the need arises, we are ready for a war," said the official.

<b>The official said Syria "learned from the Hezbollah experience last summer and we can have hundreds of missiles hitting Tel Aviv that will overwhelm Israel's anti-missile batteries."

He claimed Syria has "proof" Israel is also readying for a war.</b>

"We hear about special Israeli trainings to take Damascus. We see that Israel is re-establishing bases of the Israeli army in the Golan that are unusual and not needed except for war. We believe the Israeli government has an interest in confronting Syria to rehabilitate its image of losing to Hezbollah," he said.

He also claimed newly installed Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a former prime minister, "wants to prove he is a military expert."

He said Syrian war preparations are so specific, the Syrian government has given its officials and top contacts alternative phone numbers to key government ministries in case the Damascus phone system is knocked out during an Israeli aerial bombardment.

<b>Israel: Syrian war preparations serious </b>

<B><font size=+0 color=purple>Israeli security officials confirmed the stepped-up military presence of Syrian troops deployed along the Syrian side of the Golan Heights with strengthened forces after carrying out increased training the past few months. The security officials noted the movement of Syrian Scud missiles near the border with Israel and said Syria recently increased production of rockets and acquired missiles capable of hitting central Israeli population centers.

The Syrian army has improved its fortifications, according to the Israeli security officials, and has received modern, Russian-made anti-tank missiles similar to the missiles that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria also received from Russia advanced anti-aircraft missiles.</font></b>

<b>The security officials said any conflict with Syria could degenerate into a larger war involving Hezbollah along Israel's northern border and Palestinian terror groups launching attacks from Gaza in the south and the West Bank toward the center of Israel.

The officials noted Syria stepped up the pace of weapons, including rockets, being shipped from the Syrian border to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. </b>

<u>The security officials said the greatest threats Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles and rockets. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had</u>.

In addition to longer-range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter-range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah.

<b>Israel also has information Syria recently acquired and deployed Chinese-made C-802 missiles, which were successfully used against the Israeli navy during Israel's war against Hezbollah one year ago. The missiles were passed to Syria by Iran, Israeli security officials told WND. </b>

Israeli security officials said Syria is indeed preparing for a summer war. But they said there was an argument within the Israeli intelligence community whether the military buildup is for an attack or is meant by Syria to pressure Israel into vacating the Golan Heights. Some officials said Syria estimates the U.S. or Israel will attack Iran, and Syria will be drawn into a larger military confrontation by opening up a front against northern Israel. Also, the officials said, Syria may believe Israel will attack first and its preparations are defensive in nature.

The Israeli army is not taking any chances. The Israel Defense Forces last month reportedly carried out a mock attack on a "Syrian" village during a major exercise in the Negev. The Israeli soldiers besieged and occupied the village, designed to be similar to towns on the Syrian side of the Golan. Similar war exercises were carried out in Israel the past few months, including a mock attack on Damascus.

<b>According to security officials, recent U.S. intelligence estimates also predict a strong possibility of war between Israel and Syria in the coming months.</b>

Dennis Ross, the American Middle East envoy under the Clinton administration, said last weekend in an interview with YnetNews.com, a leading Israeli news website, he thinks "there is a risk of war" between Israel and Syria this summer.

"Nobody has made any decision (about going to war),<b> but the Syrians are positioning themselves for war," said Ross. </b>

skip1 said:

Translation: Either the Dems get their way & the US cuts & runs from Iraq (which in reality means the Middle East) or they wage war causing enough casualties (10,000-15,000 KIA) on US forces that will pressure Congress to surrender.

Click to expand...

Uhmmm ... Skip. You must be reading some other news lately ... it is most of America that is tired of "winning" Dubya's war. I honestly believe his approval ratings show that. Many conservatives starting to see the light. Anything from here on out can be attributed to Dubya's stupidity. Honestly ... we need to protect our own butts here. But Dubya would rather see those who do so go thru the legal system. Something he avoids.

et2 said:

Uhmmm ... Skip. You must be reading some other news lately ... it is most of America that is tired of "winning" Dubya's war. I honestly believe his approval ratings show that. Many conservatives starting to see the light. Anything from here on out can be attributed to Dubya's stupidity. Honestly ... we need to protect our own butts here. But Dubya would rather see those who do so go thru the legal system. Something he avoids.

Click to expand...

Well, you need to include the fact that Congress has a lower approval rating than even the Prez...

Personally, I would fire anyone who expected to get paid to stay up all night to grandstand (when they know it wont work) and Get NOTHING done. If the boys and girls in the Congress had any cahones (sp?) they would do the only thing they can do to stop this war... Cut Funding... then the Prez would have no choice but bring our BRAVE MEN AND WOMAN home. But if they did that and all HE!! broke loose then they would have to take the slack for it. Hmm... how many of these bozos are running to be our Comander & Chief???

Just my 2 cents... fwiw

Windi

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<B><center>US Slams Iran Claims on Bahrain

July 20, 2007
Gulf daily News
Geoffrey Bew
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=188247&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30122 </center>
MANAMA -- </b>The US State Department has accused Iran of behaving recklessly following comments that Bahrain was part of its territory. Earlier this month, Hussain Shariatmadari, the adviser to Iran's supreme leader, claimed in one of the country's daily newspapers that Bahrain was part of Iran.

The Kayhan managing editor provoked widespread condemnation and more than 800 MPs, clerics and protestors gathered outside the Iranian Embassy in Bahrain last Saturday to object to his statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki later said during an official visit that Iran recognises Bahrain as an independent Arab state and has no ownership claims towards the country.

But US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Mr Shariatmadari's comments reflected a worrying trend of remarks from Iran.

"This is just another in a series of outrageous statements out of Iranian leadership," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"You have President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad multiple times talking about wiping Israel off the map.

"Now they've shifted their focus to Bahrain and they want to gobble up Bahrain.

"It's another indication of how this is a regime that operates completely outside the accepted norms of international behaviour."

Mr McCormack also called on Iran to stop supporting Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq and criticised the regime for recently parading two US-Iranian citizens on state television showing them making incriminating statements about plotting subversion in Iran.

"It is important to directly convey to the Iranian government the importance of them changing their behaviour, not only for safety of our troops, but also for the future of Iraq," he said.

"What you have is a picture of a country that is 180-degrees opposite in its policy orientation than rest of the world is."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3427717,00.html

Release of Palestinian prisoners begins

Published: 07.20.07, 06:51 / Israel News

The release of 250 Palestinian prisoners from Ketziot Prison begun early Friday. The prisoners have begun undertaking final tests and boarding the buses.


The prisoners will be escorted to Bitunia crossing in the West Bank, from which they will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority. (Raanan Ben-Zur)

You're kidding.

Per global security:




Azarakhsh (Lightning)
Iran was not known to have possessed advanced technology to build fighter planes or tanks. However, In April 1997 Iranian Brigadier General Arasteh, a deputy head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (serving under Major General Ali Shahbazi, the joint chief of staff) claimed that Iran had successfully designed, constructed, and tested its first fighter aircraft, the Azarakhsh(Lightning). According to one theory, Iran cobbled together an aircraft by reverse-engineered elements from a number of other aircraft. Evidently a modified F-5, this Iranian design evolved from an examination of the wide variety of fighter aircraft in Iran's inventory [which include both the F-4 and F-5], along with training and experimentation.

A scaled-up version of the US Northrop Grumman F-5f Tiger, Azarakhsh features shoulder mounted air intakes. It is said to be a 10- to 15- percent larger than the F-5. It incorporates an Iranian-designed radar, but with some of the avionics modules actually of Russian design.

Brigadier General Arasteh stated in April 1997 that the "production line of this aircraft will begin work in the near future." And Iranian officials announced in September 1997 that Iran had started mass producing its first locally-designed fighter-bomber. In February 1999 commander of the Air Force Brigadier-General Habibollah Baqaei offered a report on the achievements of the air force. He said the Air Force had made great progress since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the operational, technical, educational and research fields and in manufacturing fighter planes of Azarakhsh and training plane of Tondar as well as radar receivers and is strong enough to defend the air-space of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In June 1999 it was reported that Iran had begun series production of the Azarakhsh. As of 2000 only four examples of the Azarakhsh were thought to be in existence, and series production was expected to start in 2001. As of 2001 there were six in inventory, with a production schedule established for 30 aircraft over the following three years.




F-5:

http://www.airliners.net/search/pho...F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger&distinct_entry=true

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well, if no one else will -- Guess I'll have to

Bump it</center>