MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Saudi Arabia will try, but she will not succeed. Unless the Ayatollahs are already one step ahead with a few A-Bombs of their own up their sleeve, I don’t believe that Tehran would be careless enough to conduct any tests on Iranian soil. Besides, it seems to me that North Korea has already conducted most of Iran’s nuclear tests for them, with one more possibly in store …

By HUGH TOMLINSON – “SAUDI Arabia could acquire nuclear warheads within weeks of Iran developing atomic weapons as the threat from Tehran triggers an arms race across the Middle East.

In the event of a successful Iranian nuclear test, Riyadh would immediately launch a twin-track nuclear weapons program.

Warheads would be purchased off the shelf from abroad, with work on a new ballistic missile platform getting under way to build an immediate deterrent, according to Saudi sources.

At the same time, the Saudi kingdom would upgrade its planned civil nuclear program to include a military dimension, beginning uranium enrichment to develop weapons-grade material in the long term.

Saudi officials emphasise that Riyadh has no military nuclear program at present and will continue to lobby for nuclear disarmament across the region.

But the Saudi government accepts privately that there is no chance of Israel surrendering its undeclared arsenal of warheads, and Riyadh is determined to match Tehran if its arch enemy in the Gulf goes nuclear.” Read more.

Flashback: Former Ambassador John Bolton: Iran May Be Much Closer to a Nuclear Bomb Than the World Realizes – “A report that Iran is about a year away from having the capability to build a nuclear bomb may be too optimistic, contended John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. ‘I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along,’ Bolton said today in a radio interview. Bolton was on ‘Aaron Klein Investigative Radio’ on New York’s WABC Radio… Reacting to the one-year timeline, Bolton stated, ‘I think it can be even less than that.’” Read more.

Another seed has been planted just in time to go along with this story. Will the Sunni Al-Qaida call upon Muslims to support the opposition against pro-Shiite Syria take root? …

“The head of al-Qaida is calling on Muslims across the Arab world and beyond to support rebels in Syria who are seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, and says they cannot depend on the West for help.

In a new videotaped statement, Ayman al-Zawahri calls on Muslims in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to join the uprising against Assad’s ‘pernicious, cancerous regime.’

The 8-minute video was posted on extremist websites late Saturday. A copy of the video was provided Sunday by the SITE Intel Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors militant messages.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official says al-Qaida-linked fighters already are flowing from Iraq to Syria.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to brief the media.

On Saturday, U.S. publication McClatchy cited U.S. officials as saying that al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq carried out two recent terrorist attacks in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and was likely responsible for the bombings in Aleppo on Friday that killed at least 28 people.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria’s Choice: Murderous Secular Regime or Islamic Fundamentalists – “As Syrian dictator Bashar Assad continues to slaughter his people, there are growing indications that the Islamists are increasing their efforts to replace his regime. What started as a secular Facebook revolution against the Assad regime is now beginning to look more like a jihad [holy war] led by Muslim fundamentalists. The Muslim Brotherhood is clearly seeking to hijack the anti-Assad protests, in both the political and military fields. In the past few months, there have been many signs of a ‘return to Islam’ in Syrian society.” Read more.

Apparently, the seeds of this Sunni uprising in Lebanon may have been planted by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organization seeking the reestablishment of the Caliphate in the Muslim world. If this gains momentum in Tripoli and elsewhere it has the potential to become a huge problem for Hezbollah, a pro-Assad Shiite terror organization and the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon today. What happens next is anyone’s guess …

“Three people died and 23 were wounded during fierce clashes on Saturday between Lebanese Sunni Muslims hostile to Syria’s regime and Alawites who support it, a Lebanese security official said.

‘A Sunni and an Alawite were killed and 23 people were wounded in clashes that continued since Friday between people from the neighbourhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh’ in the northern city of Tripoli, the official told AFP.

A 17-year-old girl died of her wounds later.

Ten soldiers were among those wounded in the fighting, among them a sergeant whose wounds were critical, the official added.

The two sides fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the bloodiest clashes since last June when six people were killed in the wake of demonstrations against the Syrian government.

Sunni-majority Tripoli has in the past few years been the scene of intense clashes between Sunni supporters of the anti-Syrian opposition and Alawite Muslims loyal to a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Iran and Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting an unprecedented revolt against his regime, is from the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.” Read more.

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Brig. Gen. Issa al-Khouli

By BASSEM MROUE – “BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen assassinated an army general in Damascus Saturday in the first killing of a high ranking military officer in the Syrian capital since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in March, the country’s state-run news agency said.

The attack could be a sign that armed members of the opposition, who have carried out attacks on the military elsewhere in the country, are trying to step up action in the tightly controlled capital, which has been relatively quiet compared to other cities.

SANA news agency reported that three gunmen opened fire at Brig. Gen. Issa al-Khouli Saturday morning as he left his home in the Damascus neighborhood of Rukn-Eddine. Al-Khouli was a doctor and the chief of a military hospital in the capital.

Capt. Ammar al-Wawi of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group that wants to bring down the regime by force, denied involvement in the assassination, which came a day after two suicide car bombers struck security compounds in Aleppo.” Read more.

Syrian elites looking for way out, officials say – “Obama administration officials suggested Friday that Syrian elites are starting to prepare exit plans as violence in the country escalates. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland would not go into detail when asked about the movement of elite Syrians, including those considered to be backers of President Bashar Assad. However, she said, ‘At this point, let me just assert that we are beginning to see this trend accelerate.’ Two U.S. officials also told The Associated Press on Friday that one Assad family member has moved large amounts of money out of the country to avoid U.S. and other sanctions on the country and provide a nest egg for a life in exile. Similarly, a senior member of Assad’s national security circle has very recently left the country and appears to have settled abroad, they said.” Read more.