DTN News - ISRAELI~PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: Fighting Between Israel, Gaza Continues For 3rd Day

Defense News: DTN News - ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: Fighting Between Israel, Gaza Continues For 3rd Day
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Ibrahim Barzak and Karin Laub - The Washington Post
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 12, 2012: Cross-border fighting between Gaza and Israel, touched off by Israel’s killing of a top Palestinian militant leader, showed no signs of letting up after three days Sunday. Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, hitting an empty school, and Israeli airstrikes killed three Gazans, including a boy and a farm guard.

Egypt tried to mediate but failed to end the violence, the worst in more than a year. The fighting has killed 18 Gazans, all but two of them militants, and disrupted the lives of about 1 million Israelis living within range of rocket fire from Gaza.

Even so, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers seemed eager to avoid a full-scale conflict. A three-week war three years ago left both sides badly bruised, Israel in the diplomatic arena and Hamas on the battlefield.

In the current round, Hamas has pointedly kept its large rocket arsenal and thousands of fighters out of the confrontation, even though it has not tried to stop two smaller Gaza groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, from launching rockets and mortar rounds.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak acknowledged that Hamas did not take part in the rocket salvos. Up to now, Israel has blamed the Islamist movement for all violence directed from Gaza because it rules the territory.

Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said Sunday, “We are not interested in escalation in and of itself.”

On a visit to southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that the airstrikes would continue as long as necessary. “We have a clear policy: We will hit anyone who plans to harm us, who prepares to harm us and who harms us,” he said in a meeting with local leaders.

Israel said it launched the initial Friday airstrike, which killed PRC leader Zuhair al-Qaissi in a car in Gaza, to stop a plan by his splinter group to infiltrate into Israel through Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula. Israel says the PRC was behind an August attack on the border that killed eight Israelis.

Palestinians across the political spectrum accused Israel of deliberately escalating tensions. The groups involved in firing rockets dismissed truce offers presented by Egypt.

On Sunday, Palestinians fired more than 30 rockets at southern Israel. One struck the courtyard of an empty school in Beersheba, police said.

Three Israelis have been hurt by rocket fire since Friday, two of them seriously, the Defense Ministry said.

At Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting, Barak asserted success in the first major battlefield test of the Iron Dome antimissile system, which has intercepted 30 of the more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza since Friday, according to a statement from his office. He said anti-rocket batteries were deployed near three southern cities close to Gaza.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Ibrahim Barzak and Karin Laub - The Washington Post
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Boeing 787 Dreamliner For Air India Debuts In New Delhi

Defense News: DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Boeing 787 Dreamliner For Air India Debuts In New Delhi
>14-hour non-stop flight marks first visit to India for airplane painted in Air India colors
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / NEW DELHI, - March 12, 2012: After a 14-hour non-stop flight from Seattle, a Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner in Air India's colors touched down at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi today.

"We're proud to bring the world's most advanced commercial airplane to India, especially when it proudly displays the colors of national flag carrier Air India," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Asia Pacific and India Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This week even more of our airlinecustomers will experience the game-changing technologies and innovations the 787 has to offer."

The 787 will be on static display in New Delhi before debuting at India Aviation 2012 in Hyderabad on March 14. The Dreamliner that will be showcased is outfitted in Air India's livery and an inviting passenger interior featuring full business and economy-class cabins.

Made from composite materials, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the first airplane to provide both long distance capabilities with mid-size capacity. This capability will allow airlines like Air India to profitably operate non-stop routes to many more distant cities, providing choices preferred by the traveling public.

As a result of innovative technologies, the airplane offers unparalleled operating economics, fuel efficiency and passenger comfort. More than 800 787s are on order by 60 customers, a testament to the airplane's unique capabilities.

Air India Fleet
Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers				Notes
			F	J	Y	Total
Airbus A319	24	—	0	0	144	144	5 dry leased
Airbus A320-200	18	—	0	20	126	146	6 dry leased
Airbus A321-200	20	—	0	20	152	172
Airbus A330-200	2	—	0	24	255	279	both dry leased
Boeing 747-400	5	—	12	26	385	423	2 dry leased
Boeing 777-200LR	8	—	8	35	195	238	5 to be leased out
Boeing 777-300ER	12	3	4	35	303	342
Boeing 787-8	—	27	0	18	238	256[2]	First aircraft delivery March 2012[3]
Total	89	30

Contact: 
Wilson Chow
International Communications
Boeing Commercial Airplanes
+1 425-306-5921
wilson.chow@boeing.com

Bhawna Singh
Corporate Voice | Weber Shandwick
+91 989 9158658
bhawna@corvoshandwick.co.in 


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
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DTN News - OSAMA BIN LADEN NEWS: Bin Laden Was 'Betrayed By One Of His Jealous Wives' Who Revealed Location Of His Secret Pakistan Compound

Defense News: DTN News - OSAMA BIN LADEN NEWS: Bin Laden Was 'Betrayed By One Of His Jealous Wives' Who Revealed Location Of His Secret Pakistan Compound
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Simon Tomlinson - Daily Mail UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2012: Oldest wife wanted revenge because aging terrorist was 'bedding' his youngest spouse, investigator claims.

Betrayed: Osama Bin Laden may have been outed by one of his jealous wives, a retired Pakistani Brigadier has claimed

Osama Bin Laden was betrayed by one of his wives who revealed the location of his Pakistan hideaway because she was jealous of the Al-Qaeda leader's youngest spouse, it was claimed today.

Khairiah Saber, the oldest of his five wives, was motivated by revenge because the aging terrorist was 'bedding' Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada while she slept in abedroom on the floor below, according to a Pakistani official.

Retired brigadier Shaukat Qadir, who has investigated the U.S. operation which killed Bin Laden in May last year, also controversially claims that Saber may have been working with Al-Qaeda itself.

He believes word that 'someone very important' was living in Abbottabad got out to the Taliban, Pakistan’s ISI military intelligence service and ultimately the CIA. 

Qadir suggests that Al-Qaeda was looking to cash in on the $25m (£16m) bounty on his head. But he said he has no proof.

Pakistan claims it had not been warned about the raid, but Qadir's claims suggest elements in the intelligence service may have been aware.

Marital discord: Jealously and suspicions between Bin Laden's wives began when his eldest spouse moved into the compound

According to the Sunday Times, it was also said that Bin Laden understood what was happening, but had lost the will to live.

Trouble arose when Saber, the mother of at least five of Bin Laden's sons, showed up at the compound in early 2011.

After 9/11, she spent years under house arrest in Iran until, after her release in 2008, she told Al-Qaeda she wanted to be rejoin her husband, according to Qadir.

He said: 'Nobody really understood why she should want to come back to him. They had lost contact, there was nothing going on between them — he was bedding only Amal.'

Favourite: The five-times married and twice divorced bin Laden shared a room with his youngest wife, Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada, seen right in an undated passport photo

Revenge motive: The aging terrorist was bedding his youngest wife, while Khairiah Saber had to sleep in a bedroom on the floor below

The arrival of Saber, a well-educated Saudi in her 60s, was disruptive, particularly for Amal, Bin Laden’s fifth wife, Siham Sabar, and her 24-year-old son, Khalid.

Qadir said: 'In the house everyone is suspicious of her and Khalid questions her, saying, "Why the hell have you come back?"

THE HOUSEHOLD HIERARCHY

Twenty-eight people lived within the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden lived with his three wives, eight of his children and five grandchildren.

He shared a room with his youngest and favourite wife, Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah as-Sada.

Another wife, Siham Saber, lived on the same floor as her husband.

His eldest wife, Khairiah Saber, arrived later and stirred up trouble living on the floor beneath the al-Qaeda leader.

Bin Laden had two wives previous to Khairiah who he divorced and twenty children between the women.

He doesn't believe Saber had any connection with the CIA, but her arrival in Abbottabad revealed to those hunting Bin Laden that he might be there. 'Who else could have led them there?'

His theories go against the U.S version of events which states that Bin Laden was tracked to his secret compound by following a 'courier' who was his contact with the terrorist organisation.

The picture of bin Laden's family life comes after Qadir was given rare access to transcripts of Pakistani intelligence's interrogation of Amal, who was detained in the raid.

Others in the family, crammed into the three-story villa Abbottabad compound where bin Laden would eventually be killed in a May 2 U.S. raid, were convinced that the eldest wife intended to betray the al-Qaeda leader.

Indeed, the compound where bin Laden lived since mid-2005 was a crowded place, with 28 residents — including bin Laden, his three wives, eight of his children and five of his grandchildren.

The bin Laden children ranged in age from his 24-year-old son Khaled, who was killed in the raid, to a three-year-old born during their time in Abbottabad.

Bin Laden's courier, the courier's brother and their wives and children also lived in the compound.

Crowded: 28 people lived in the recently destroyed Abbottabad compound with bin Laden including his three wives, eight children and five grandchildren

Bin Laden’s home life was stirred up when Khairiah joined the fray. 

There was already bad blood between Khairiah, who married bin Laden in the late 1980s, and Amal because of bin Laden's favoritism for the younger Yemeni woman.

Even ISI officials who questioned Khairiah after the raid were daunted by her.

‘She is so aggressive that she borders on being intimidating,’ Qadir said he was told by an ISI interrogator.

Amal stayed close to bin Laden as he fled Afghanistan into Pakistan following the 2001 U.S. invasion. 

She took an active role in arranging protection for him and bin Laden wanted her by his side, the tribal leaders told Qadir.

Khairiah fled Afghanistan in 2001 into Iran along with other bin Laden relatives and al-Qaeda figures. 

She and others were held under house arrest in Iran until 2010, when Tehran let them leave in a swap for an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Pakistan's frontier city of Peshawar.

Khairiah showed up at Abbottabad in February or March 2011 and moved into the villa's second floor, Amal told her interrogators.

Khalid, bin Laden's son with Siham, was suspicious, according to Amal's account. He repeatedly asked Khairiah why she had come. 

At one point, she told him, ‘I have one final duty to perform for my husband.’ Khalid immediately told his father what she had said and warned that she intended to betray him.

Amal, who shared Khalid's fears, said bin Laden was also suspicious but was unconcerned, acting as if fate would decide, according to Qadir's recounting of the interrogation transcript.

There is no evidence Khairiah had any role in bin Laden's end. Accounts by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials since the May 2 raid have made no mention of her. 

Instead, U.S. officials have said the courier inadvertently led the CIA to the Abbottabad villa after they uncovered him in a monitored phone call.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Simon Tomlinson - Daily Mail UK
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - KOREAN PENINSULA NEWS: Clinton Cautiously Hails North Korea Food Aid Deal

Defense News: DTN News - KOREAN PENINSULA NEWS: Clinton Cautiously Hails North Korea Food Aid Deal
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CNN
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 10, 2012: North Korea's agreement to halt portions of its nuclear and missile programs and accept the return of nuclear inspectors is a "modest step in the right direction," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.

Clinton said, however, that the United States will be watching North Korea closely and judging the country's leaders by their actions in the coming weeks and months.

North Korea last week announced it would freeze its nuclear and missile tests, along with uranium enrichment programs, and allow the return of U.N. nuclear inspectors in exchange for 240,000 metric tons of food aid from the United States.

North Korea has suffered famines and widespread malnutrition during the past two decades -- thanks to its dysfunctional economy and international sanctions. Other countries and international groups have repeatedly stepped in with food aid to alleviate the situation.

The United States suspended shipments of food aid to North Korea in 2009 amid tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program and concerns that the supplies were not reaching those most in need.

Clinton spoke after meeting in Washington with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, who called the North Korean agreement "a meaningful first step" toward resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

Kim said "faithful implementation" of the measures to which North Korea agreed -- the moratorium on nuclear activities and the return of the inspectors -- was important going forward.

The timing of the food aid is unclear.

Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, said the administrative details have been resolved, but officials are still working on details.

King, who on Thursday wrapped up two days of talks with officials from Pyongyang, said he is optimistic that the food aid will find its way to those in need in North Korea.

The initial deal last week to resume the deliveries came after the the two countries revived negotiations that had stalled after the death in December of the longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The talks this week were intended to finalize points like what ports will be used to dock incoming ships, how the distribution of the food will be monitored and which nongovernmental organizations will be involved.

U.S. officials cautiously welcomed the agreement last week in hopes of a new era in relations with North Korea and a resumption of multilateral talks aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

But Pyongyang has stepped up its rhetoric against the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, and his government since Kim Jong Un took over from his father, Kim Jong Il, as North Korean leader.

Earlier this week, North Korean television aired footage of a military unit carrying out live-fire drills in sight of a South Korean island.

It showed tanks repositioning and an artillery machine being prepared, overlooking waters that have seen a number of violent incidents over the years.

Li Gum-chol, a North Korean deputy commander, threatened to engulf Seoul in a "sea of flames" in retaliation for U.S.-South Korean joint military drills taking place on the peninsula. North Korea has condemned the annual drills as provocation.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Clinton calls it a "step in the right direction"
• North Korea agreed last week to halt missile tests and nuclear activities
• The deal is in exchange for food aid from the United States
• South Korea's foreign minister says it's a "meaningful first step"

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CNN
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: 5 Rockets Hit Israel - IAF Strikes In Gaza

Defense News: DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: 5 Rockets Hit Israel - IAF Strikes In Gaza
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yoav Zitun - Ynet news

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 10, 2012: South still under fire as terrorists continue to launch rockets at Israel. IDF Spokesperson says terror alert remains despite successful airstrikes in Gaza.

Residents of southern Israel were still under fire Saturday evening, as terrorists continued to launch rockets from the Gaza Strip. Five Qassam rockets exploded in open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.

An IDF spokesman said that IAF aircraft hit a weapons storage facility in the northern Gaza Strip. The strike came in response to earlier rocket barrages fired from Gaza. According to the statement, the target was hit directly.

"Hamas, which uses the other groups to carry out acts of terror against the State of Israel, will be held responsible for any future operation that the IDF choose to launch in order to eliminate the threat of terror and restore relative calm to the region," the IDF statement read.

Around 8:20 pm two rockets were fired toward Ashdod and Ashkelon; both were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Shrapnel hit a house in Ashkelon but no injuries were reported.

Watch IAF strike weapons factory in Gaza

Two hours earlier the Color Red alert sounded in Ashdod and the Gan Yavne area. The rockets apparently exploded in open fields.

Earlier on Saturday, IDF officials expressed satisfaction over the outcome of IAF airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, which killed 15Palestinian terrorists, but noted that a terror alert was still in effect, following intelligence suggesting that terrorists from Gaza were planning to cross into the Sinai Peninsula and infiltrate Israel in order to carry out an attack.

IDF Spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said that the military decided to target the terror cell because they were planning an attack similar to that carried out in August near the southern city of Eilat.

Mordechai noted that despite the successful operation, "Some of the cell members are still alive and can carry out the attack."

The IDF spokesman said that a total of 100 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel since Friday, out of which about 30 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

"Rockets with a range of 40km or more were fired from the Strip by the Islamic Jihad, while the shorter range rockets were launched by PRC terrorists," he said. The spokesman added that the rockets fired towards Ashdod and Ashkelon originated from the northern Gaza Strip, while rockets directed at Ofakim and Beersheba came from the central part, and rockets hitting Gaza vicinity communities were fired from the southern part of the Strip.

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Watch rocket launcher hit in IAF strike

A total of 13 rockets were fired at Gan Yavne and Ashdod, out of which 11 were intercepted. Five rockets were fired at Ashkelon, out of which one was intercepted. Out of 17 rockets fired toward Beersheba, 15 were intercepted.  

All of the rockets that were not intercepted exploded in open areas. Four foreign workers from Thailand were injured in Eshkol Regional Council while working in an open field. One suffered serious injuries while the others were lightly wounded.

Earlier Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the heads of the southern regional councils and expressed his support.

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch visited in the south and told residents: "We will continue to act against those who try to harm the State of Israel. Israel will continue to protect its citizens at all times, in all places. Israel is not interested in escalation, but will continue to thwart terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip."

Watch Iron Dome intercept rockets

Since Friday, the IDF attacked 10 terrorist cells that were launching rockets toward Israel, killing 15 terrorists. In addition to Zuhir al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group, targets included two top Islamic Jihad terrorists.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit reported direct hits in all the airstrikes, stressing that no innocent civilians were hurt during the attacks.

Related stories:

• Report: Hamas leaders head to Cairo
• IAF kills 3 more terrorists
• US, EU condemn rocket fire in south 

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yoav Zitun - Ynet news
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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