Iran Unveils New Marine Missile, Torpedo

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a short-range marine missile and a torpedo system Aug. 23 as Iran marked its annual "Defense Industry Day," state media reported.
"Qader (Able) missile, built by the capable hands of Iranian experts, is a marine cruise missile with a 120 mile range, possessing high destructive ability which can be used against coastal targets and warships," the state television website reported.

Ahmadinejad also unveiled a torpedo system called "Valfajr (The Dawn) to be used by submarines.
It has a payload of 485 pounds and can be used in shallow and deep water, the website said, adding that the unveiling ceremony was held at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, which has close links to the Revolutionary Guards, the elite military force.
Ahmadinejad said Iran's arsenal was not aimed at any nations and would only be used to fend off possible aggressions.
"We do not want to use our military might to conquer lands and dominate humanity," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying in the unveiling ceremony.
"The best deterrence is that enemy does not dare aggression and must be so certain of a decisive response that it does not contemplate" an attack, he added.
"The enemy's weaponry should be grounded at deployment point and not above Tehran's sky," he added.
Both weapons were "successfully tested," the state television website said.
It quoted Defense Minister Brigadier Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying that Iran was now "locally" producing the equipment and weapons systems for the navy.
Iran has increased in the past two years the development, testing and unveiling of new "indigenous" military equipment, including missiles.
These weapons are always accompanied by warnings against any potential aggressor, sometimes explicitly directed at the Islamic republic's archfoes, Israel and the US forces deployed in the region.

Taiwanese Official: F-16 Buy From U.S. 'Hopeless'

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan's bid to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States has become "hopeless," a top Taiwanese official was quoted as saying in an Aug. 20 report. This follows up a report by Defense News last week that Washington told Taiwan it will not sell the jets.

AN ARMED U.S.-BUILT F-16 fighter takes off during a drill in April. (Sam Yeh / Agence France-Presse)

The comments by parliamentary speaker Wang Jin-pyng, who said the U.S. had changed its mind about selling the jets, mark the first time an official has stated publicly that the long-awaited deal is expected to fall through.

At that time, both U.S. and Taiwanese officials insisted no decision had been made.

It is now "all but hopeless" for Taipei to get the jets, although Washington will still help it upgrade the F-16A/Bs and provide the island other defensive weapons, Wang said in an Aug. 19 speech, according to the report in the Taipei-based China times newspaper.

However, the Taiwanese defense ministry said it was still seeking to acquire the new jets.

"We will continue to push for our request to buy the F-16C/Ds and we will not give up on that," ministry spokesman David Lo said.

Taiwan applied to the U.S. in 2007 to buy the 66 F-16C/Ds, improved versions of the F-16A/Bs that the island's air force now uses, claiming that the new jets were needed to counter a rising China.

Washington recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei but remains a leading arms supplier to the island.

China reacted furiously in January 2010 when the Obama administration announced a $6.4 billion arms deal with Taiwan. That package included Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and equipment for Taiwan's existing F-16 fleet, but no submarines or new fighter jets.

No Firm Decision on Keeping U.S. Troops: Iraq

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Aug. 19 said the Iraqis want to extend the presence of U.S. troops into 2012 - but the Iraqi government in Baghdad said it has made no final decisions yet.

"My view is that they finally did say yes," Panetta said. "There was unanimous consent among the key leaders of the country to go ahead and request that they negotiate on what a training presence would look like."

In an interview with Defense News, Panetta said he viewed the Iraqis recent decision to begin formal discussions with the U.S. about a possible troop extension beyond December, the current withdrawal deadline, as a sign of Iraqi political support for U.S. forces to stay there in some capacity.

"We have made progress and as a result of that we are going to be engaging with them and trying to negotiate what that presence would look like," Panetta said.

But a spokesman in Baghdad said no deal has been finalized.

"We have not yet agreed on the issue of keeping training forces," Ali Mussawi, media advisor to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told Agence France-Presse. "The negotiations are ongoing, and these negotiations have not been finalized."

A spokesman for Panetta later clarified the secretary's remarks. "He made clear that the Iraqis have said yes to discussions about the strategic relationship beyond 2011, and what that relationship might look like," said George Little, a Pentagon spokesman.

In July, Panetta went to Baghdad and told the Iraqis publicly to "damn it, make a decision" about whether to request U.S. troops to say there beyond December, when the current U.S.-Iraqi security agreement expires.

"There were obviously a number of us that went to Iraq and delivered the same message and that message was basically three- or four-pronged, which was, you've got to make a decision about whether or not - what kind of presence you want to maintain," Panetta said.

The U.S. is also pushing the Iraqis to forge a new status of forces agreement that will provide legal protection for any U.S. troops who remain beyond December. "There had been some dispute as to whether or not that was needed. I think they now recognize that they have to get that enacted as part of it," Panetta said.

It remains unclear how many of the roughly 44,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today might stay and what their mission would be.

"The issue then will become what is the kind of training and assistance presence that Iraq feels it needs in order to be able to defend itself and secure itself," he said.

Iraq Cleric Warns of War if U.S. Presence Extended

NAJAF, Iraq - A radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric warned of "war" if U.S. forces stayed in Iraq beyond a year-end deadline for their withdrawal, in a brief statement viewed on Aug. 17.

Asked whether he would negotiate directly or indirectly with U.S. forces over a security training mission to last beyond the end of this year, the cleric replied simply: "No, there will be war."

Moqtada al-Sadr did not give any further details in the written reply to a follower's question, released by his office in the holy Shiite city of Najaf.

The statement was at least the fourth message in the past two weeks from Sadr calling for American forces to leave the country, following an Aug. 3 announcement by Iraqi political leaders that they would open talks with Washington over a training mission.

On Aug. 6, he warned that a post-2011 U.S. presence "should be resisted through military means".

About 47,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in Iraq, all of whom must leave by the end of the year under the terms of a 2008 bilateral security pact, which would remain in force if a training deal is not agreed.

U.S. and Iraqi military officials assess Iraq's security forces capable of maintaining internal security, but say the country is lacking in terms of capacity to defend its borders, airspace and territorial waters.

Sadr's movement has 40 deputies in parliament and five ministers in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity government.

Before it was disbanded in 2008, Sadr's Mahdi Army militia numbered some 60,000 fighters with fierce loyalty to the cleric. It fought bloody battles with the U.S. Army in the years following the 2003 invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein. On July 10, Sadr said he would not revive the Mahdi Army, complaining it had been infested with "criminals."

Venezuela's Chavez Thanks Russia for Tanks

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thanked Russia on Aug. 17 for its sale of 25 tanks and other arms to the South American country, saying they were needed for "defending our sovereignty."

"These arms from Russia, now in Venezuela, will be for defending our sovereignty. Thanks to Russia. A round of applause for Russia," he added, to applause, speaking at a military ceremony to receive the arms.

"I want to thank (Russian) President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister (Vladimir) Putin for these weapons manufactured in the Russian Federation, in sister Russia," Chavez said in a message broadcast by state TV.

The Venezuelan military received 25 tanks and hundreds of other weapons, according to generals present at the ceremony.

Between 2005 and 2007 Venezuela reached deals to buy $4 billion worth of arms from Russia, including Sukhoi fighter jets, combat helicopters and guns.

The Chavez government also secured a $2.2 billion loan in 2010 to purchase Russian T-72 tanks and an undisclosed number of S-300 antiaircraft missiles.

Chavez, a leftist firebrand who often rails against the "imperialist" United States, said Venezuela needed to guard its vast oil and mineral wealth. "We do not seek war with anyone, but we have to defend our country."

Israel, Gaza Trade Strikes After Attacks

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories - Gazan rockets hit southern Israel on Aug. 19 after a long night of air strikes as Israel sought to smash the militants behind desert attacks that killed eight Israelis.
As the air force pounded targets across the Gaza Strip, militants there lobbed 12 rockets at south Israel early on Aug. 19, injuring two - one seriously and one moderately - in the city of Ashdod, police said.

Several hours earlier, one Gazan was killed and 17 injured as Israel pounded targets across the strip following a day of violence in which gunmen unleashed bloody mayhem on a desert road near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
Six Israeli civilians, a soldier and a police officer were killed in several hours of attacks on a desert road some 12 miles north of Eilat.
Israeli warplanes responded immediately, attacking targets in southern Gaza which killed six people, including five militants from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - the group it said was behind the violence.
The PRC vowed bitter revenge for the attack, which killed its leader and three other top cadres, and on Friday claimed responsibility for firing at least seven rockets and mortars into Israel.
Overnight, the Israeli air force hit seven targets in Gaza, including two training camps for Hamas militants, a weapons factory, two smuggling tunnels and a "terror tunnel."
Palestinian sources reported two more raids on Aug. 19, lightly injuring one person.
"The Israeli Defense Forces will not tolerate any malicious attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers and will not hesitate to respond with strength and determination to any element that uses terror against the State of Israel and until calm is restored," a statement said.
In Egypt, state television said two "unidentified Egyptians" had been killed by Israeli gunfire on Aug. 18 in an area near the site of the attacks; overnight security officials said three Egyptian policemen were also killed in the same area when an Israeli Apache fired a rocket at militants.
Israel officials were quick to point the finger at Gaza, although the territory's Hamas rulers denied any connection to the attacks.
But the Israeli military said it held the Islamist group ultimately responsible for violence coming from the territory it controls.
"If Hamas wants an escalation, it will pay a high price," Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai told public radio on Aug. 19, saying some form of ground operation in Gaza was not out of the question.
"All options are open, including a pin-point (ground) operation," he said.
Both sides were burying their dead on Aug. 19, with funerals in Jerusalem for the soldier and the police officer and a burial procession due to take place in southern Gaza for the five militants and the toddler.
As Israeli police went on high alert across Israel, the country's main newspapers painted a much clearer picture of how events unfolded on Aug. 18 involving an estimated 15 to 20 gunmen, some wearing Egyptian army fatigues.
The first attack saw three gunmen open fire on a packed bus heading to Eilat, injuring seven people. Shortly afterwards, they opened fire on a civilian car in the same area, killing four people.
Then one of the militants detonated an explosives-packed belt he was wearing as an empty bus drove past, blowing himself up and killing the driver.
Further gunfire was directed at another car, killing one man. The soldier and the police officer were killed in two separate gun battles with the attackers which lasted into the evening, the papers said.
Six of the attackers were killed by Israeli troops and special police forces, while the seventh blew himself up; others are believed to have fled across the Egyptian border.
Egypt's state television on Aug. 18 showed footage of rifles, grenades and army uniforms seized during an ongoing security operation in northern Sinai, while in a separate development, security officials said they had uncovered a workshop capable of producing suicide belts.

Turkey Continues Bombing Northern Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey kept pressure on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatists in northern Iraq on Aug. 19, with a rebel spokesman saying Turkish jets were carrying out air strikes for a third straight day.
"The attacks started again this morning against Qandil only," Dozdar Hammo said, referring to an area of north Iraq close to the border with Turkey.

He added that bombings by the Turkish air force lasted for around three hours on the night of Aug. 18 against Qandil and other bases close to the Iraq-Turkey border.
The Turkish military said its jets had bombed 28 targets on a second day of attacks on bases in northern Iraq used by PKK.
Following bombing raids on 60 targets on Aug. 17, the air force launched an "effective" operation Aug. 18 against 28 targets in the Qandil, Hakurk, Avasin-Basyan and Zap regions of northern Iraq, the military said in a statement on its website.
In coordination with the air strikes, 96 more targets in the region were kept under intense artillery fire, the statement said.
"The targets were positively identified as belonging to the PKK, and the necessary sensitivity is paid to protect civilians," it said.
"The actions under the struggle against terror will go on with determination inside and outside the country based on the requirements of military needs," it added.
The military launched a first wave of bomb attacks on Aug. 17 against rebel targets in Iraq in response to a deadly attack by the rebel group against a military unit in Cukurca town in southeast Turkey, killing nine security officials.
It is the first time in more than a year that the Turkish military has carried out air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
The second bombing raid by Turkey also followed a new rebel attack earlier on Aug. 18 in the southern province of Siirt, killing two soldiers, media reports said.
The escalation in violence came as the National Security Council (MGK), which brings together top civilian and military officials, met for five hours on Aug. 18 before pronouncing support for a tougher stance against the PKK.
The council, led by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, spoke of the need for "better coordination" of military and police resources in suppressing the Kurdish rebels.
The council's statement also called on Turkey's neighbors "to accept their responsibilities" to eradicate the PKK from their territory, without naming any countries.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms in the Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.