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Iranian Presidential Election Turning into a Circus

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

May 21, 2013

By Reza Kahlili

The Iranian presidential election next month will not be free. The candidates have all been selected to run because they are loyal to the Islamic dictatorship.

Most of the candidates are criminals, including three with arrest warrants issued against them by either Interpol or Argentinian courts for the 1994 Jewish Community Center bombing in Buenos Aires: Mohsen Rezaei, the ex-chief commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and two former regime officials, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Akbar Velayati.

Another candidate, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, current mayor of Tehran and former police commander, has said of the 1999 student protests:

“I was the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force at the time. Photographs of me are available showing me on the back of a motorbike, with Hossein Khaleqi, beating them (the protesters) with wooden sticks. … I was among those carrying out beatings on the street level and I am proud of that. I didn’t care that I was a high-ranking commander.”

Recently an audiotape surfaced on the Internet revealing his 2003 speech to the Basij paramilitary forces bragging about his role at the Supreme National Security Council meeting to get the authorization to attack the student protesters: “I spoke very harshly. Didn’t observe proper protocol, and I told them as head of the police, I will demolish anyone who would show up tonight on the campus to protest … with my behavior I intimidated them to get the permission to enter and also to shoot (at protesters).”

Under the Islamic Republic’s constitution, the 12-member Guardian Council decides the eligibility of who can run for office, and anyone with any history of opposing the regime is barred from participation. The council is made up of six Islamic faqihs (experts in Islamic law) appointed by the supreme leader and six jurists nominated by the head of the Judiciary (who is himself appointed by the supreme leader), and then approved by the parliament.

However, what makes this presidential election interesting this year is the confrontation between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the latter’s handpicked candidate, close confidant and top adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.

As I reported on April 30, Ahmadinejad was arrested after his visit to Tehran’s 26th International Book Fair. He was held for seven hours and was warned to keep his mouth shut about matters detrimental to the Islamic regime before being released, according to a source within the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence unit.

Earlier, the regime’s media outlet Baztab reported that Ahmadinejad had warned associates that if Mashaei was rejected as a candidate, then Ahmadinejad would reveal recordings confirming that the regime defrauded the voters in the 2009 presidential election.

Our revelation of the news caused a firestorm inside the regime, which then arrested the editor of Baztab for publishing the report. They then attacked WND and me for publishing the report of the arrest and the revelation about the recording, which reportedly quotes officials telling Ahmadinejad in 2009 that they would announce his total winning tally as 24 million votes where, in fact, the actual number was much lower.

The source who provided the information about Ahmadinejad’s arrest then revealed the content of the tape (which is a bit longer than 11 minutes) as being between Ahmadinejad and Vahid Haghanian, the head of the supreme leader’s office. The two discuss the fraud in which Haghanian said election officials added millions of votes to Ahmadinejad’s tally to declare him the winner.

During that phone call, the two argued as Haghanian told Ahmadinejad what Khamenei expected of him. Haghanian told him that they had to add millions of fake votes to declare him the winner despite having all the Guards and Basij personnel voting for him.

The actual results of the election, as provided by the source were:

• Mir Hossein Mousavi won the election with over 19,250,000 votes.
• Ahmadinejad was second with a little over 13,000,000 votes.
• Mohsen Rezaei had approximately 3,700,000 votes.
• Mehdi Karoubi had approximately 3,200,000 votes.

Millions of Iranians took to the streets after the 2009 election results were reported, calling Ahmadinejad’s reported 62 percent tally of voters a fraud and demanding a free election.

Thousands were arrested, with many tortured and executed. Mousavi and Karoubi have been under house arrest ever since.

According to the source, Ahmadinejad plans to derail the elections if Mashaei’s registration for presidential candidacy is not accepted. Khamenei desperately wants this election to go without incident to show the world that the regime is united and has popular support.

It will be interesting to see if Khamenei backs down and allows Mashaei to run just to keep Ahmadinejad in check, but then picks his own candidate out of the hat, as the regime always does, and as they did with Ahmadinejad himself, to keep the clerical regime alive longer.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award-winning book A Time to Betray (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).

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Tags: Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, Iran, Jihad, Khamenei, Political prisoners, Revolutionary Guards, Terror Plot, Terrorism

Hezbollah preparing to attack Israel, commander says

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Terror group reportedly now has sophisticated Russian weapons

hezbollah

05/19/2013

WND

By: REZA KAHLILI

Hezbollah is in the final stage of preparation to attack Israel with sophisticated weapons, according to a high-level commander of the terrorist group.

Tabnak, an outlet of Iran’s Islamic regime, said an unidentified Hezbollah commander, in an interview with the Kuwaiti paper Alrai, thanked Syrian President Bashar Assad for keeping his promise to provide those weapons to Hezbollah.

“The weapons given to Hezbollah will change the balance of power,” he said.

“We have in recent days done extensive operations for reconnaissance on Israel’s central and sensitive military and infrastructural installations in different areas and also on Israel’s commando posts and peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights,” he said, “to prepare for the coming battle with the occupying regime.”

The commander revealed some of the weapons given by Syria to Hezbollah, including Pantsir (SA-22 Greyhound) surface-to-air missiles, SAM 5 surface-to-air missiles and the Russian anti-tank Kornet missiles. However, the commander also hinted that soon Hezbollah will receive the advanced and dreaded ship-killer Yakhont missiles from Assad.

U.S. officials, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin not to go ahead with his arms sales to Syria, including the S-300 antiaircraft system and the feared Yakhont cruise missiles. But despite their pleas, Russian officials said they were honoring contracts with Syria, and those weapons Russia will send to Syria may eventually wind up in the hands of Hezbollah and Iran.

The Hezbollah commander also said that Assad has ordered formation of resistance forces similar to Hezbollah, arming them with various weapons, for the confrontation with Israel.

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On May 9, days after Israeli warplanes struck shipments of advanced Iranian weapons on the outskirts of Damascus intended for Hezbollah, the terrorist group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, boasted that Syria will supply “game-changing” weapons to Hezbollah.

“The attack carried out by the Zionist regime (in Syria) will shorten this fake regime’s life,” Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi warned Israel after the Israeli attack.

Meanwhile, the British Sunday Times reported Sunday that Syria has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles aimed at Tel Aviv to be launched if Israeli warplanes strike inside Syria again.

According to a source within the Iranian intelligence apparatus, there is now little hope the Assad regime can be saved, hence the panic by Russia in arming Assad with further sophisticated weapons in a warning to U.S. and NATO to stay out of the conflict. He said Iran’s rapid shipment of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah is part of that strategy. By reinforcing its arsenal, Hezbollah can strike all of Israel and, as a last resort, engage Israel from within Syria, further complicating the already-chaotic region.

Israel, worried about the disintegration of Syria and the further arming of Hezbollah, has warned continuously that giving “game-changing” weapons to Hezbollah is its red line.

Despite the open Iranian threats against Israel, the source said, regime officials have no intention of engaging the Jewish state directly unless America launches a direct attack against Syria or if there is an attack on Iran. In fact, he said, Iranian officials are worried about Israel attacking their nuclear facilities as Iran seeks to create a nuclear-armed state that would then become untouchable.

However, Iranians have devised several plans to engage Israel through their forces in Syria and their proxies, such as Hezbollah, to draw the Jewish state into a wider conflict should Israel continue to attack Syrian armaments facilities.

The source added that the regime also has devised plans for terrorist attacks against Israel, the U.S. homeland and their interests around the world as a warning to leave Syria alone and to stop the pressure on the Islamic regime because of its illicit nuclear program. The fall of Assad, they think, would be a culmination of an effort to then target the clerical regime in Iran.

As reported exclusively on WND on May 13, Iran not only has formed a new coalition of terrorist masterminds among its Quds Forces, Hezbollah and al-Qaida to attack the U.S. homeland, but has also given the go-ahead for three imminent operations within the U.S. to change the perception of security in America, which it believes has helped empower America’s actions in the Middle East.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).

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Tags: Assad, Hezbollah, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Islam, Israel, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Sanctions, Syria, Terror Plot, Terrorism, UN, War

Syrian opposition meets in Madrid over conflict

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Monday, 20 May 2013

AFP, Madrid -

Former leader of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Moaz al-Khatib (R) listens during a conference of Syrian opposition groups in Madrid May 20, 2013. (AFP)

Branches of the divided Syrian opposition held talks in Madrid on Monday seeking to harmonize their approach to the country’s bloody civil war, their Spanish government hosts said.

The talks included Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who resigned last week as leader of the Syrian National Coalition, plus other members of the coalition and “various movements” of the opposition to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Khatib resigned last week, officially in protest over the failure of the international community to stop the conflict in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 94,000 people have been killed since an uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

Pressed back by army advances, Syria’s opposition is under international pressure to enter into dialogue with Assad’s regime.

Among the Madrid meeting’s aims is “to facilitate dialogue between the various movements in the Syrian opposition, thereby aiding its cohesion and its future capacity to ensure unity, stability and democracy in Syria,” the ministry said.

“The international effort currently under way to this end requires the forming a strong, unified and diverse opposition capable of representing a common front.”

Spain in November recognized the coalition as the Syrian people’s legitimate representative.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said last month that Spain backed the formation of a national unity government in Syria as a way out of the two-year conflict.

The participants made no declarations following Monday’s talks but the ministry said Khatib was scheduled to meet with Garcia-Margallo on Tuesday.

The two would review the situation in Syria and international efforts to settle the conflict, it said.

The United States and Russia have called an international conference, expected in June, to push for a political solution.

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Tags: Assad, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Syria, Terror Plot, Terrorism

Syrian-Hizballah’s capture of Qusayr opens direct weapons route to Lebanon

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

DEBKAfile Special Report May 19, 2013

Syrian forces seize al-Qusayr

Syrian forces seize al-Qusayr

Shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday, May 19, to maintain Israeli operations in Syria against the passage of advanced Iranian weapons to the Lebanese Hizballah, Syrian troops and their Hizballah comrades stormed Al-Qasayr, the northwestern town which commands the high road from Syrian Homs to Lebanon’s Hermel Mountains.

This was a major victory: Iranian arms for Hizballah can now go through from Syria to destination unobstructed.
In more than two years of battling the Assad regime, this was one of the rebels’ most devastating losses after three weeks of bitter fighting and the last of a whole row of recent setbacks.

Bashar Assad in contrast has gained huge advantages from his al Qusayr victory, as DEBKAfile’s military sources report:

1. It cuts off the Syrian rebels’ main supply and communications route via Lebanon through which their Arab backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE to send them fighters, arms and funds.

2. Rebel positions in the nearby town of Homs become increasingly vulnerable, as the Syrian army regains control of the main highway links between Damascus, Homs and Aleppo.

3. After the rebels were pushed out of Al-Qasayr, Turkey remains their only accessible source of supplies.
However, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made a sudden U-turn. He had promised publicly to lobby for no-fly zones in his meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House Friday, May 17, to shield rebel forces in different parts of the country from Syrian air strikes. Instead, Edrogan threw his support between the international conference sponsored by Washington and Moscow for resolving the Syrian conflict.

This told the rebels that the supportive Turkish channel was closing down.
It is obvious to them that the conference can only succeed if Washington comes over to the Russian-Iranian-Hizballah side and agrees to the perpetuation of the Assad party’s role in any future government.

As yet, neither of the contestants has agreed to attend the conference for which no date has been set. However, Turkish backing and arms supplies through its territory are expected to shrink progressively to squeeze the rebels into accepting a formula which would be tantamount to bowing to the defeat of their uprising.

4. For Israel, the fall of al Qusayr means that while rebel supply routes are shut down, supply routes open up for the free movement of Iranian weapons from Syria straight to HIzballah strongholds in Lebanon. This would be Hizballah’s reward for its military aid to Assad’s army.

If Prime Minister Netanyahu was serious about his promise Sunday to cut off Hizballah’s weapon routes from Syria, he has three primary options to choose from – none of them easy, to say the least.

a) Military intervention in al Qusayr before the Syrian army and Hizballah clinch their takeover of this strategic byway town. This would catapult Israel into full-blown war with Syria and Hizballah and is therefore a non-starter.

b) Bombardment of the convoys carrying arms from Syria to Lebanon.
This won’t do much good. Having learned its lesson from the three Israeli air strikes against arms convoys and depots this year, Syria has now transferred the hardware disassembled into component parts and passed them out among smuggling rings ato move them under cover of dark into Lebanon.

c) Attacks on the destination of those weapons – Hizballah depots in the Hermel – after their delivery. This would almost certainly trigger Hizballah war action against Israel.

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Tags: Assad, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Israel, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Syria, Terror Plot, War

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warns against possible post-election turmoil in June

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

Published May 19, 2013

Associated Press

An Iranian worshipper prays at the start of Friday prayers at Tehran University in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (The Associated Press)

TEHRAN, Iran – Several Iranian newspapers are citing a senior Revolutionary Guard commander as warning his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after the June 14 presidential election.

Col. Rasool Sanaeirad says a “possible riot in Tehran could spread” to other regions. He claims chances for turmoil are heightened because Iran is for the first time holding both presidential and municipal balloting at the same time.

The remarks appear to be a warning to the opposition against staging protests. They were published Sunday in several papers, including the pro-reform Bahar daily.

All key policies in Iran are made by the clerics and their inner circle, including the powerful Guard.

The Guardian Council, the clerical watchdog that runs the elections, is expected Tuesday to announce a handful of candidates for the ballot.

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Tags: Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Political prisoners, Revolutionary Guards, Terror Plot, Terrorism

Powerful Blast Reported in Damascus

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

israelnationalnews.com

Initial reports said that the blast was caused by a car bomb and three people were killed.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 5/18/2013, 10:34 PM

View of the Syrian capital Damascus

View of the Syrian capital Damascus

AFP/File

Syrian state TV has reported a powerful explosion has hit the nation’s capital, causing an unknown number of casualties.

State TV said Saturday evening that the blast shook the Damascus neighborhood of Ruken al-Deen late Saturday.

Residents confirmed to news wires that they heard a large explosion.

At least three people are said to have been killed in the blast.

According to RT, initial reports said the blast was caused by a car bomb and that experts are dismantling other explosives in the area.

No further details were immediately available.

Israel reportedly attacked three sites in Syria two weeks ago, in an effort to preventchemical weapons from reaching Hizbullah.

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Tags: Assad, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Syria, Terror Plot, Terrorism

Head of Iran’s Parliament rejects municipal election criticism

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

RadioZamaneh

Sat, 05/18/2013

Ali Larijani

After Iran’s Guardian Council chief criticized the municipal elections process in his Friday sermon, the parliamentary speaker reacted today, saying the head of the council must be misinformed.

The Khaneh Mellat website reports that Ali Larijani, the head of Parliament, said on Saturday May 18 that the city council elections are being carried out in an “accurate” way, adding: “All supervision is being carried out according to the relevant statutes, and the public should not be made to doubt the process.”

Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, which oversees the eligibility criteria for presidential candidates, said during the Friday mass prayers that supervision of the municipal elections amounts to “zilch.”

Ali Larijani said, however, that the process is going as planned and there is no cause for concern.

The determination of the eligibility of city council candidates is handled by Parliament, and the Guardian Council has no say in it.

City council elections will be held on June 14 at the same time as the presidential election.

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Tags: Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Political prisoners, Revolutionary Guards, Terror Plot, Terrorism

The John Batchelor Show

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

The John Batchelor Show

Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re: Iran elections and American influence as Ahmadinejad reaches term limits.

May 17, 2013

Listen Here

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Tags: Hezbollah, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Sanctions, Suicide bomber, Terror Plot, Terrorism, UN

U.S. Quiet On Iran Women President Bar

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

Cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, said Iranian law prohibits women from being president.

May 18, 2013

RFE/RL

The United States has declined to take a firm stand after a member of Iran’s electoral overseer said women will be barred from standing in Iran’s June presidential election.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington would not comment on specific candidates. She also noted that Iranian authorities must approve all candidates.

The spokeswoman said that, broadly, the United States supports women participating in elections for public office.
Earlier, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, said Iranian law prohibits women from being president.

The Guardian Council approves all candidates for Iran’s presidency and parliament.

A total of 686 people, including some women, have registered to run to replace President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in the June 14 election.

The final list of approved candidates is expected to be announced early next week.

Based on reports from AP and AFP

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Tags: Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Jihad, Khamenei, Sanctions, Terror Plot, Terrorism, UN

Who Will Fix Ahmadinejad’s Disastrous Foreign Policy?

Friday, May 17th, 2013

Asharq

Written by : Alex Vatanka

on : Friday, 17 May, 2013

Iran’s next president would do well to return to pragmatism in foreign affairs

SAFFRON blog: A highly prized spice native to Iran, historically used in ancient Persia to medicate, dye, weave and beautify. Today, it gives Iranian cuisine its distinctive yellow pigment. Saffron flavors the discussion of all things Iranian.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, and his close ally Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, flash victory signs at the start of their press conference, after registering candidacy of Rahim Mashaei for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, May 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

On June 14, Iran will hold its long-awaited presidential elections. The vast majority of the 686 individuals who have registered to contest the elections will not appear on the ballot. The Guardian Council—Iran’s unelected 12-man vetting agency that determines who can run for any political office in the country—is likely to reject all but a very small number of the aspirants. The list of those cleared to run will be made available by the Council on May 18. In the last Iranian presidential election, held in June 2009, only four candidates were approved out of 476 that registered to run.

The Guardian Council aside, among those likely to be allowed to run there is still a considerable diversity in terms of the backgrounds of the candidates and the political camps and views they represent.

All the candidates in Tehran, however, appear to see eye-to-eye one point: they all agree that outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was an unequivocal disaster for Iranian foreign policy and the country’s diplomatic standing in the world.

The maverick two-term president is blamed for having exacerbated Tehran’s foreign challenges by generating unnecessary tension with the West through his bombastic style—and not doing nearly enough to mollify Iran’s immediate neighbors amid widespread fear of its regional ambitions.

Even those not running in the elections are having a field day in attacking Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy record. Mehdi Sanaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, commented that the Ahmadinejad government had not pursued the basic “cost and benefit” rule which is part and parcel of diplomacy. In Sanaei’s view, and undoubtedly many others in Tehran, Iran “has paid dearly” for mistakes made in recent years in the realm of foreign policy.

In recent weeks, a host of high-profile foreign policy decisions have come under increasing scrutiny. Ahmadinejad’s trademark Holocaust-denial stance is a favored topic of criticism. Mohsen Rezaei, a rightist senior regime figure who also ran against Ahmadinejad in 2009, stated recently that if he became president he would not “speak about the Holocaust.”

Another front runner, Mohammad Qalibaf, asked, “What good did Iran get out of [Ahmadinejad] denying the Holocaust?”

Meanwhile, another prominent candidate, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and now a darling of the reformists, raised the ante by making comments that essentially questioned the logic behind Tehran’s long-standing enmity toward Israel: “If the Arabs end up in a war with Israel, Iran can provide material support to the Arabs,” but added that there was little else it could do.

This sort of narrative—and the argument that Iran is in dire need for a foreign policy overhaul—is now being debated more openly in the Iranian media. Once the official election campaign begins, more surprising policy positions can be expected from the competing candidates.

The candidates who represent the broader reformist movement—and here Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rouhani stand out—have a more compelling case to take to the voters. During the years of the reformist administration of President Mohammad Khatami, a coherent, rational approach to foreign policy was more discernible. It stressed the need for detente, and specifically reaching out to neighboring states. This was the period when the Iran–Saudi relationship was the most tranquil, and when Khatami’s call for a “Dialogue Among Civilizations” brought Tehran and Washington closest to an accord. The same sorts of inclinations were also in place when Rafsanjani was president from 1989 to 1997, although his administration’s record was more mixed.

On the other hand, the Ahmadinejad administration of 2005 to 2013 has had a foreign policy record that is in many ways incoherent. Instead, it has been heavy on slogans and grand—but almost always unrealistic—gestures. A focus on securing and promoting Iran’s specific national interests has been missing. Whichever candidate survives the scrutiny of the Guardian Council would do well to promise the electorate a return to pragmatism in foreign policy, one rooted in a clear-eyed recognition of Tehran’s multiple foreign policy challenges in its neighborhood and on the international stage.

Alex Vatanka

Alex Vatanka is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. Born in Iran, he was the senior Middle East analyst at Jane’s Information Group from 2001 to 2010. He is also a senior fellow in Middle East Studies at the US Air Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS).

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Tags: Hezbollah, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Sanctions, Terror Plot, Terrorism, UN, War

U.N. and Russia call for urgent Syria conference

Friday, May 17th, 2013

Friday, 17 May 2013

AFP, Moscow -

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shakes hands with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) as they pose for a photograph at the U.N. headquarters in New York March 12, 2012. (Reuters)

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Russia agreed Friday that a peace conference on Syria should be held “as soon as possible” even as Moscow defied growing global pressure over its arms supplies to the Damascus regime.

Ban met Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ahead of talks later Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin about an impending international meeting on Syria that should include representatives of the two warring parties for the first time.

“There are high expectations and the meeting should be held as soon as possible,” Ban told reporters alongside Lavrov. Russia’s top diplomat added: “The sooner this conference is held, the better.”

But Lavrov still cautioned that it was too early to name the date of the Geneva talks — now expected for the first half of June — because the actual makeup of the Syrian delegations had not yet been decided.

“We have to come up with a decision about the Syrian delegations and the group of this conference’s participants,” Lavrov said. “Nothing is possible without this.”

The new talks are meant to include both the fiercest rebels and members of the regime — a difficulty considering some opposition members’ refusal to recognize Assad as a negotiating partner.

Moscow is also calling for the inclusion on this occasion of its trading partner Iran and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia as a counterweight.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will continue to press for Assad’s ouster even if this is no longer a a precondition of the Geneva talks — a point that Russia insisted on adamantly.

“We both agree that Assad needs to go,” Obama said after meeting in Washington on Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“He needs to transfer power to a transitional body. That is the only way we’re going to resolve this crisis.”

The Geneva talks were agreed during a May 7 visit to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and are seen as a joint peace push by the two former Cold War rivals some 26 months into the Syrian war.

But Obama has admitted that some mistrust lingers between Moscow and Washington and the world community remains particularly concerned by Russia’s arms deliveries to Syria — Assad’s most powerful ally.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Putin in Sochi on Tuesday not to follow through with Russia’s reported decision to ship powerful S-300 surface-to-air missiles that can take out fighter jets.

The New York Times reported for its part on Friday that Russia has also sent the regime a new batch of upgraded Yakhont anti-ship missile systems that make a shipping embargo of Syria much more difficult to enforce.

Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow did not understand the international uproar created by its continuing arms supplies to Assad.

“I do not understand why the media is trying to create a sensation out of this,” he said.

Lavrov argued that Russia only supplied defensive weapons that could not alter the outcome of a conflict that a Syrian observers group said has claimed nearly 95,000 lives.

“This does not in any way alter the balance of forces in this region or give any advantage in the fight against the opposition,” Lavrov stressed.

Ban and Lavrov said they also discussed the suspected use of chemical weapons and Syria’s refusal up to this stage to allow U.N. weapons inspectors on the ground.

Russia has been reluctant to accept arguments that the regime was responsible for the nerve agents’ use. Yet Lavrov said on Friday that he had received Damascus’s assurance that progress on the issue of open U.N. access could be achieved soon.

The regime has thus far wanted to limit the inspection to one site near the northern city of Aleppo where rebels are accused of having used the chemical arms themselves.

“As far as we know, the Syrian government — we are working with it, on this subject included — has expressed a readiness, after there is an inspection of this place near Aleppo, to examine requests for inspections in other parts of Syria,” Lavrov said.

Ban for his part stressed that it was “very important” an investigation was conducted into the chemical weapons claims.

He added that a U.N. team could be ready to enter Syria within “24-48 hours” of having received permission from Assad.

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Tags: Assad, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Russia, Syria, Terror Plot, UN

Los Angeles buildings emptied after devices found

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

05/16/2013

Yahoo News

By TAMI ABDOLLAH | Associated Press

Associated Press/Nick Ut – Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad officers gather at the site where police arrested a man after discovering explosive material in his car and potential explosive devices in

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A police bomb squad detonated 17 homemade explosive devices found in an apartment on Wednesday after officers spotted an explosive liquid in a man’s car during a routine traffic stop, authorities said.

Robert Wilson, 29, was booked on felony possession of a destructive device, police Sgt. Rudy Lopez said. Authorities said there were no signs he planned to use the devices. They believe he acted alone and had no apparent link to terrorism.

Wilson was described as a “hobbyist, lone wolf, tweaker” on probation for a weapons violation, said Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department’s counter-terrorism and special operations bureau. A small amount of methamphetamine was also found in his apartment.

“He’s not in any federal databases, not associated with any groups or gangs,” Downing said. “He’s just kind of a loner and it was probably more experimental.”

Wilson built the explosives because he was curious about them, Sgt. Frank Preciado said.

The bomb squad went to an apartment complex in the Palms neighborhood of west Los Angeles after officers stopped Wilson for improper vehicle registration on Tuesday night and spotted a suspicious clear liquid, Lopez said. A bomb squad analysis showed it had explosive contents.

Officers also found a .45 Colt handgun and narcotics in the car. That discovery prompted the search of the man’s apartment. The complex and three surrounding buildings were evacuated, and several blocks were sealed off.

Officers found explosive devices — primarily pipe bombs and their component parts in various stages of construction, Downing said.

They detonated them on a nearby closed-off street behind a bunker.

Residents were directed to a nearby shelter during the evacuation that lasted throughout the day.

___

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams

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Tags: America, Suicide bomber, Terror Plot, Terrorism