Watchman Newsletter

50 mortar shells fired into Israel, 2 injured

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Yaakov Lappin (March 19, 2011)

Civilian areas in southern Israel were heavily shelled by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza on Saturday morning, when more than 50 mortars were fired at the regional councils of Sha’ar Hanegev, Eshkol and Sdot Hanegev.

Two Israelis sustained light injuries by shrapnel and were transferred to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for a dozen of the mortars fired.

The IDF responded to the barrage of mortars with tank shells and helicopter attacks. Six Palestinians were reportedly injured in the strikes.

Following the attacks, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed diplomats in New York to lodge a complaint with the United Nations over the mortar barrage.

Yemen imposes state of emergency after bloody crackdown

USA Today (Link) - Douglas Stanglin (March 18, 2011)

More than 30 people were killed and 200 injured when Yemeni forces fired on protesters in the capital, Sanaa, Al-Jazeera reports.

The Associated Press, which initially put the death toll at two, says shots came from rooftops and nearby houses as protesters filled the square near the university after Friday prayers.

Demonstrators have camped out in squares across Yemen for over a month to demand that President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave office.

Government forces and supporters have used live fire, rubber bullets, tear gas, sticks, knives and rocks in an increasingly deadly crackdown, the AP says.

Update at 8:35 a.m. ET: The New York Times, which initially reported a death toll of at least 10, says government supporters in plainclothes fired down on the demonstration from rooftops and windows almost immediately after the protesters rose from their noon prayers.

Update at 8:47 a.m. ET: The Associated Press quotes Yemeni doctors as saying at least 31 people have been killed by police shooting at anti-government protesters.

Update at 11:22 a.m. ET: Yemen’s president has declared a nationwide state of emergency as the government intensifies a crackdown on protesters demanding his ouster. The move comes after more than 30 demonstrators were killed by Yemeni police following Friday prayers in downtown Sanaa, the capital.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh says the decision was made by the country’s Highest Defense Council, but there was no immediate word on how long the emergency laws would be in place, the AP reports. †

Analysis: Israel’s shadow war against Iran

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Yaakov Katz (March 16, 2011)

The seizure of the ‘Victoria’ cargo ship is just another chapter in the larger covert war that Israel is waging against Iran.

Israel waged war against Iran on Tuesday. No Iranians were present and not a single shot was fired, but make no mistake – the seizure of the Victoria cargo ship is part of Israel’s battle against Iran, one that is fought in the shadows and sometimes in the most unlikely places.

When the commandos from the navy’s Flotilla 13 approached the ship under cover of darkness late Monday night, they still did not know what to expect. Only as they made their final approach toward the ship, some 320 km. west of Israel, did Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu give his final approval to board the vessel.

In such cases, the risk is huge, and for this reason the Foreign Ministry was on standby with officials ready to contact Germany and Liberia. A German company owns the ship, and it was flying a Liberian flag.

After contacting the captain of the ship by radio, the commandos climbed aboard and, encountering no resistance, began a brief search of the cargo. They went to the “suspicious” containers, the ones that were loaded at the Syrian port of Latakia and were slated to be unloaded at the Egyptian port of Alexandria, according to the cargo manifest.

U.S. Debt Jumped $72 Billion Same Day U.S. House Voted to Cut Spending $6 Billion

CNS News (Link) - Terence P. Jeffrey (March 16, 2011)

The national debt jumped by $72 billion on Tuesday even as the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to fund the government for just three weeks that will cut $6 billion from government spending.

If Congress were to cut $6 billion every three weeks for the next 36 weeks, it would manage to save between now and late November as much money as the Treasury added to the nation’s net debt during just the business hours of Tuesday, March 15.

At the close of business on Monday, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt [2], the total national debt stood at $14.166 trillion ($14,166,030,787,779.80). At the close of business Tuesday, the debt stood at $14.237 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69), an increase of $71.9 billion ($71,921,489,118.89).

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2011--which began on Oct. 1, 2010--the national debt has climbed from $13.5616 trillion ($13,561,623,030,891.79) to $14.2379 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69) an increase of $676.3 billion ($676,329,246,006.90).

Congress would need to cut spending by $6 billion every three weeks for approximately the next six and a half years (338 weeks) just to equal the $676.3 billion the debt has increased thus far this fiscal year. †

Bahrain’s King Orders Three-Month State of Emergency

Fox News (Link) - AP (March 15, 2011)

Frenzied clashes swept Bahrain Tuesday, a day after a Saudi-led military force entered the country to defend its Sunni monarchy from a Shiite-led protest movement. Hundreds of demonstrators were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs, a doctor said.

As the government’s crackdown intensified, the Bahraini king declared a three-month state of emergency Tuesday that gave his military chief wide authority to battle protesters demanding political reforms and equal rights for Shiites. One demonstrator was shot in the head and killed, and a Saudi official said one of his country’s soldiers was shot dead by a protester.

The force of more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops from several Gulf nations saw its first day of action to help prop up the U.S.-backed regime in Bahrain. Its intervention was the first major cross-border military action to challenge one of the revolts sweeping across the Arab world.

Further underlining the regional implications of the unrest in Bahrain, Shiite power Iran denounced the foreign intervention as “unacceptable” and predicted it would complicate the kingdom’s political crisis.

Will A Nuclear Caliphate Rise From Unrest In The Mideast?

Investor’s Business Daily (Link) - Paul Sperry (March 15, 2011)

With the Muslim world reaching a boiling point, U.S. intelligence fears that the unrest could create a power vacuum exploited by al-Qaida and its parent, the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Both share a goal of bringing the Mideast under a single Islamic ruler, who could control world oil supplies and possibly even nuclear weapons.

The Obama administration finds the idea of such a “caliphate” preposterous. It isn’t even concerned about the prospect of Islamist regimes emerging from the revolts. Many of the Mideast protesters are “secular,” the White House believes.

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough called it a “lie” that Muslims want a universal Islamic state. “People across the Arab world are proving the point,” he said, by calling for free elections.

Still, 61% of Americans believe the emergence of an Islamic caliphate is “likely” in the next 10 years, according to the latest IBD/TIPP poll, and intelligence officials say the call for a caliphate, while once fringe, has developed over the past few years into a global movement spanning many Muslim countries.

Navy: Anti-ship missiles, Farsi manual found on seized vessel

YNet News (Link) - Boaz Fyler (March 15, 2011)

IDF estimates some 50 tons of weapons found on Gaza-bound ‘Victoria’ vessel intercepted by commandoes; Rear Admiral Ben-Yehuda says Chinese-made C-704 anti-ship missiles would have threatened Israeli sea-based strategic installations, navy vessels had they reached Strip. Containers were loaded after Iranian ships docked in Syria two weeks ago, he adds.

IDF commandoes who seized the “Victoria” vessel some 200 nautical miles off Israel’s coast found 50 tons of weapons in containers that were meant to hold cotton and lentils, roughly the same amount that was found on the Karin A, the army said Tuesday evening.

During a briefing on the takeover of the Gaza-bound ship, Deputy Navy Commander Rear Admiral Rani Ben-Yehuda said the Iranian ships that had crossed the Suez Canal a few weeks ago were connected to the arms smuggling attempt.

Japan earthquake magnitude increased to 9.0 from 8.9: USGS

National Post (Link) - Reuters (March 14, 2011)

The U.S. Geological Survey Monday raised the magnitude of the deadly earthquake that struck offshore northern Japan Friday to 9.0 from 8.9.

Independently, Japanese authorities had also updated their estimate of the quake to 9.0, the USGS said on its website.

“This magnitude places the earthquake as the fourth largest in the world since 1900 and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago,” it said in a message posted at 5:35 p.m.

The agency said revisions of magnitude were common after earthquakes and happened as more data became available and more analysis was performed.

Officials say at least 10,000 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami that followed it. †

PM visits Itamar: ‘They shoot, we build’

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon (March 13, 2011)

Netanyahu goes to homes of Fogel parents to give condolences; promises those responsible for terror attack will be found.

The terrorists shoot, and we build, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the parents of Ehud and Ruth Fogel on Sunday night during a shiva call, hours after the government’s settlement committee decided to approve the building of 400 -500 housing units in large settlement blocks.

“They say Eretz Yisrael is acquired through pain and suffering,” Netanyahu told the grieving parents, “but we didn’t think the pain and suffering would be so great. This heinous act has led all of us to say, ‘Enough.’ The security services are doing everything they can to find the murders, and we will find the criminals. They are not people, but beasts.”

Even as Netanyahu and the government devoted most of the cabinet’s discussion on Sunday to the attack and hearing briefings from Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz and the deputy head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the decision to approve a few hundred houses in the settlement blocs became the major story in the international media.

Japan volcano resumes eruption amid earthquake and tsunami aftermath

Oregon Live (Link) - AP (March 13, 2011)

The weather agency in Tokyo says a volcano in southern Japan is spewing ash and rock again as the country struggles with the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in the north.

The Meteorological Agency issued a warning Sunday saying that Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after a couple of quiet weeks.

The mountain is on Kyushu island, 950 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the epicenter of Friday’s magnitude 8.9 earthquake and resulting tsunami, which devastated much of the country’s northeastern coast.

It was unclear if the eruptions were linked to quake. Japan lies on the “Ring of Fire” -- an arc of seismically active zones where earthquake and volcanic eruptions are common. †