MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

AP – “BAGHDAD – A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of Al Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.

The killings in Haditha highlight Al Qaeda’s success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.

By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government’s protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.

The city’s proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to Al Qaeda if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he’s a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.

The killings carried out by Al Qaeda Monday morning demonstrated a high degree of coordination, knowledge of their targets and a boldness that indicated little fear of the local security forces ability to fight back.” Read more.

Huge death toll doubles in Yemen ‘slaughter’ by Al Qaeda affiliated Islamists – “The death toll from a sophisticated attack by Islamic extremists against soldiers in Yemen jumped to 184 Tuesday, three Yemeni officials told CNN. Air raids on militant positions since the attack have left at least 42 militants dead in Abyan province, security officials said. The attack Sunday at an army base by Ansar al-Sharia, which is allied with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), originally claimed the lives of 90 soldiers and wounded many others. A spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington issued a statement giving a much lower death toll, saying ’73 martyrs’ died in the ‘battles in Abyan.’ But officials on the ground in Abyan gave CNN the higher death toll. The attack ‘illustrates AQAP’s complete disregard for human life,’ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.” Read more.

According to Israel’s News 2, US officials believe that Israel has already made the decision to attack Iran and are worried that this attack will precipitate a “Third World War” in which other Arab states will join the fight against Israel “under pressure from the Arab street” …

Google translation: “U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change in the coming weeks or months the Iranian nuclear program. A senior official stressed that the conversation with News 2 there is a dispute between Israel and the United States on the question of ‘day after’, which means the price of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities. Americans warned by various messages, an Israeli attack would cause a regional war and possibly a third world war…

They describe a scenario where an attack will lead to thousands of missiles thousands of deaths. Ben Gurion Airport will be closed and the stock market will collapse, leading to a fatal damage to the economy and this will lead to an arms race in the region such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.” Source (Hebrew) – News 2.

Flashback: NBC’s Engel ‘Worried’ About ‘Ferociously Anti-Israel’ Arab Street and Concludes ‘This Thing Ends in Jerusalem’ – “A clip from NBC’s interview has now been added below. This clip was uploaded to Youtube by a Muslim poster who states, unequivocally, ‘Yes, insha’Allaah, [Allah willing] just like before, we will get back our Al Quds [Jerusalem].’ The Muslim world longs for the battle of all battles to come as soon as possible …” Read more.

“(Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least two civilians Monday after detonating explosives at the gates of the NATO base where copies of the Koran were burned, Afghan officials said.

The bomber targeted a vehicle belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said district governor Kabir Ahmad Rahil, adding there could be foreign casualties, although a NATO spokeswoman said no coalition troops had been harmed in the attack on Bagram airfield.

Four more civilians were wounded in the attack, Rahil said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was ‘revenge’ for the Koran burning, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to media. He added that ‘a number of Americans’ were killed and their tanks destroyed in the attack, although the Islamist group often exaggerate casualties.

Afghanistan’s army chief has said the burning of Korans last month at the NATO base an hour north of Kabul advanced the Taliban’s cause and warned that any repeat of such ‘negligence’ by Western forces could be disastrous.” Read more.

Afghan investigator: US burning of Qurans was intentional – “The burning of copies of the Quran at an American base in Afghanistan was intentional, said a member of the team investigating the incident that triggered widespread and deadly anti-Western protests. ‘We believe it is intentional,’ Maulavi Khaliqdad, a member of the panel established by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Monday. ‘If they burnt one or two copies, then we could have said it could have been a mistake. But they took hundreds of such books to burn. Everyone knew those were religious books.'” Read more.

‘Suicide bombings fair response to Koran burnings’ – “Matihullah, 24, had always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Then news spread that Western soldiers had burned many copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base in Afghanistan. He gave up his studies and embarked on a new mission in life — to become a suicide bomber. “Since the desecration and burnings of holy books of the Koran, I have been burning with the desire of revenge. It is running in my blood,” said Matihullah, wearing the traditional white skull cap worn by many Afghans.” Read more.

Maybe this is the reason why Iran almost seems to want, even provoke, an Israeli attack. Germany’s “Weiner Zeitung” released an article today that has, at the very least, confirmed what I’ve already suspected for quite some time (see here and here and here): It has been revealed that Western intelligence agencies are under the belief that North Korea has been conducting nuclear tests — not (only) for itself — but for Iran. But should this really be a surprise to anyone? Iran has a long history of using proxies to do its dirty work, from Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Hamas in Gaza, and even with Al Qaeda, so North Korea is a logical choice. Why this is only being reported now is anyone’s guess, but if confirmed, widespread dissemination of this news would certainly be a game changer that would cause the markets to rightfully fear — and reflect — a certain, if not imminent, all-out war …

Weiner Zeitung (Google translation): “North Korea on Sunday also caused by a German media report caused a sensation. The ‘Welt am Sonntag’ reported, citing Western security circles, some intelligence agencies assumed that the government in Pyongyang had conducted at least one of these tests for Iran.

This would mean that Tehran has been built with North Korean help, and ignited a nuclear warhead. According to the newspaper ‘Welt am Sonntag’, this assumption is based on data from the Organization of the contract for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban. Accordingly, the Swedish nuclear physicist Lars-Erik De Geer is based on data from monitoring stations in South Korea, Japan and Russia believe that North Korea instead of the two secret uranium tests as in two earlier tests in 2006 and 2009 used plutonium. In January, reported the journal ‘Nature’ in advance of de Geer research results.

The longtime director of the Policy Planning Staff in the German Defense Ministry, Hans Rühle, writes in the ‘Welt am Sonntag’ that ‘some of which now go out intelligence that North Korea has actually conducted a nuclear test in 2010, at least for Iran.'” Read more.

Flashback: Hundreds of North Korean Nuclear and Missile Experts Working in More Than 10 Locations Across Iran – “Hundreds of North Korean nuclear and missile experts have been collaborating with their Iranian counterparts in more than 10 locations across the Islamic state, a diplomatic source said Sunday. The revelation lends credence to long-held suspicions that North Korea was helping Iran with a secret nuclear and missile program. It also represents a new security challenge to the international community as it seeks to curb the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang and Tehran, and thwart trading of nuclear and missile technology. North Korea has long been suspected of being behind nuclear and missile proliferation in Iran, Syria, Myanmar and Pakistan.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran Warns World of Coming Great Event, ‘Islam Will Be Victorious’ – “Amid crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, Iran is continuing to prepare itself for war against the West, and now is warning of a coming great event. ‘In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,’ Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning. Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that ‘Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.’” Read more.

Flashback: Tehran’s deputy defense minister warns Jerusalem that Iran is ‘ready and willing to wipe Israel off the map’ – “As speculations over a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities grow, the Islamic Republic is exacerbating its rhetoric. Deputy Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Friday warned Israel against mounting such an attack: ‘Any act by the Zionist regime against Iran will bring about its destruction.’ … ‘Iran’s warriors are ready and willing to wipe Israel off the map,’ he declared.” Read more.

Is the London Telegraph over-interpolating? Is WND misinterpreting Israel’s UN ambassador? Or do two seemingly contradictory articles mean something else is in play? …

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel National News – “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will deliver President Barack Obama an ultimatum that if the United States does not attack Iran soon, Israel will, the London Telegraph reported Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last month that there is a ‘strong likelihood’ of an Israel attack by June. If Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers an ultimatum, it would give the United States 2-3 months to act or face the reality of an Israeli attack that would almost certainly require the United States coming to its aid, if necessary.

Israeli officials have said that in several months, Iran will have buried so many of its nuclear facilities deep under concrete bunkers in mountains that an attack would not be effective.

The Israeli Prime Minister ‘has the upper hand,’ claims the Telegraph’s correspondent Adrian Blomfield.

‘Exuding confidence, Mr. Netanyahu effectively brings with him an ultimatum, demanding that unless the president makes a firm pledge to use U.S. military force to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb, Israel may well take matters into its own hands within months,’ wrote Blomfield.” Read more.

Israel Shelves Iran Military Option, WorldNet Daily – “Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations says Jerusalem believes diplomacy is the preferred course to resolve the current nuclear standoff with Iran. ‘We should really pursue and focus on the sanctions and the diplomatic elements in trying to bring the regime in Tehran to reassess the way they want to go forward,’ explained the Israeli diplomat. The emphasis on the diplomatic option would appear to be a shift toward the position of the Obama administration which has stressed stepping up the diplomatic and economic pressure on the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” Read more.

By Elad Benari – “Syrian President Bashar Assad has ordered the heads of his military to hit Israel with a barrage of missiles should there be any foreign intervention in Syria, a Jordanian news website reported on Saturday.

According to the site, Our Country’s News, Assad gave the order in a secret meeting with the heads of the Syrian army last Thursday, in light of his fear of a U.S. military strike in Syria.

The report said that Assad ordered that if any military action is started against Syria, the Syrian army should respond by firing missiles in Israel, with a particular emphasis on Israeli military airports.

The report added that an operations room has been opened in Damascus and that it is continuously manned by officers from Syria and Iran, as well as by Hizbullah terrorists, all of whom coordinate their military operations in the event of external military intervention in Syria.

A similar operations room has been opened in Tehran, said the report, and is manned by Iranian as well as by Hizbullah terrorists.” Read more.

Shhhh: State Department Quietly Warning Region About Syrian Weapons of Mass Destruction – “The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria’s neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad’s extensive WMD assets if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned. This week, the State Department sent a diplomatic demarche to Syria’s neighbors Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, warning them about the possibility of Syria’s WMDs crossing their borders and offering U.S. government help in dealing with the problem, three Obama administration officials confirmed to The Cable.” Read more.