Yemen’s Houthi fighters say they have targeted two Saudi tanks attempting to cross into the country’s north, where the Shia forces are based.

The fighters said on Thursday the Saudi military continued to attack positions within the Yemeni borders, saying the Saudi forces had fired more than 500 rockets on several cities in the northern Sa’adah province.

The heavy attacks mark a step-up in the joint Saudi-Yemeni offensive aimed at wiping out the Houthis, who took arms in a bid to put an end to what they call the Sunni-dominated central government’s discrimination and repression against the country’s Shia minority.

Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced since the Yemeni government’s latest offensive against the Houthis was launched in August.

The Saudi military forces joined the Yemeni army following cross-border tensions with the Yemeni fighters and engaged in bombarding the Houthi positions.

Houthis have repeatedly accused the neighboring Arab kingdom of using forbidden weaponry to strike the fighters — not on the Saudi soil as Riyadh claims but in villages deep inside the Yemeni territory — and killing civilians.

They also accuse Riyadh of employing al-Qaeda militants and Sunni extremists to help quell the Shia movement.

Yemen said on Wednesday it has ordered the closure of the Iranian hospital and clinic in Sanaa due to what it said was Iran’s support of the facilities and lack of transparency in their accounts.

Both facilities are run by the Iranian Red Crescent.

“The interior ministry has decided to close the Iranian clinic and hospital because of lack of transparency of their accounts and… Iranian financial support to these two institutions,” said a ministry statement.

Yemeni security forces had on October 13 sealed off the hospital when staff were suspected of aiding needy and diseased Shias.

The hospital, a five-storey building which is staffed by 120 employees including eight Iranians, has been operating in the Yemeni capital for four years, while the clinic has existed for 15 years.

The decision to close them came as a demonstration was set to be staged on Wednesday outside the Iranian embassy to protest against “foreign interference,” state media said.

Yemen’s government accuses Iran of supporting the Shia Zaidi in in the country’s north. Tehran denies the false claim.

Israel’s military Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has declared that Israel’s armed forces will have a zero-tolerance policy for insubordinate soldiers.

“We have no tolerance for this type of insubordination, no matter which side of the political spectrum the soldiers are on,” Haaretz quoted Ashkenazi as saying on Monday.

The IOF chief made his comments after several combat soldiers from various units within the Kfir Brigade announced they would not evacuate unauthorized West Bank outposts.

“It is possible that during your service the army will need you for several of our missions, and those who will make the difference are the soldiers on the front line,” said the IOF chief

On Saturday, Israel’s War Minister Ehud Barak had voiced his own pledge to crack down on soldiers who refuse to carry out orders, saying that Israel will not hesitate to crush such a phenomenon.

“A country that wishes to live must end refusal by the right and left with an iron fist,” Barak said.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Army’s chief rabbi had called on military students to “show no mercy” when they fight a war or they will be “damned.”

Malnutrition and the risk of a cholera outbreak are threatening lives at Yemen’s main camp for people fleeing fighting in the north, a U.N. official warned on Monday.

Malnutrition and the risk of a cholera outbreak are threatening lives at Yemen’s main camp for people fleeing fighting in the north, a U.N. official warned on Monday.

Clashes between Yemeni troops and Houthis in the northern Saada province have driven 175,000 people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

More than 10,000 are staying in al-Mazraq camp in neighbouring Hajjah province and twice as many people have settled outside the camp, Thomas Davin, a regional chief for the United Nations’ children’s fund UNICEF, told Reuters.

The majority of the displaced are children and women because men tend to stay behind to protect their homes and to fight, he said.

“Malnutrition is the greatest concern about displaced children,” Davin said.

Severe acute malnutrition — a life-threatening condition — is much more common among children who have fled Saada province than in Yemen in general, which already has very high levels of child malnutrition.

UNICEF is also worried about a possible outbreak of cholera because poor hygiene and overcrowding create perfect conditions for the potentially deadly disease, Davin said.

Few of the displaced are used to washing regularly because water is scarce in Yemen and few use toilets, preferring to leave waste in the open.

“Hygiene is terrible, really, really terrible,” Davin said.

In some cases, parents have given foods meant for treating malnourished children to their animals, which they view as part of the family and take with them when they flee.

“People say ‘if we lose the sheep it’s not the child that dies, it’s the whole family’,” Davin said.

“A number of these people who are making it out are saying that it’s generally at least their second or their third displacement because this is the fifth time that war has broken out in the province since 2004,” he added. “Each time of course they spent more money and more of whatever resources they had going around.”

A new camp in Yemen for the displaced is due to open over the next few weeks and will be able to host between 10,000 and 12,000 displaced, Davin said.

“There is a plan for another camp to be built just next to this one (al-Mazraq), which is in the process of being built,” he said, adding it will be managed by the Emirati Red Cross.

He said the new camp might be expanded to accommodate more people if needed.

Because of the fighting in Saada province and insecurity in neighbouring areas, aid agencies are managing to reach regularly only a third of the 175,000 displaced people, Davin said.

In addition, aid funds are insufficient.

In September the United Nations called for $23.75 million to help Yemen’s displaced. So far it has raised only half that.

UNICEF, which has raised $3.2 million as part of that appeal, is in discussions with the European Union for another 600,000 euros ($900,000), Davin said.

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WASHINGTON: US prosecutors on Tuesday accused 10 people of having supported the Shia militant group Hezbollah with weapons, fake passports, counterfeit money, stolen laptops and game consoles.

It was the second set of such charges to be brought in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in as many days.

Four of the men were indicted on Tuesday, three from Lebanon and a fourth, Moussa Ali Hamdan, from New York, on charges of ‘conspiring to provide material support to Hezbollah.’ They faced 15 to 30 years in prison.

Another six were charged with related crimes. Forged in the early 1980s in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah has long been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, although it is also a major political party in Lebanon.

According to the indictment, Hassan Hodroj and Dib Hani Harb of Beirut sought to export to the Port of Latakia in Syria about 1,200 Colt M-4 machine guns in June at a price of some 1,800 dollars a piece with the help of a contact who was in fact an undercover federal agent.

With the help of Hamdan and fellow Lebanese Hasan Antar Karaki, Harb is also accused of having sought to support Hezbollah using proceeds from the sale of fraudulent passports, stolen money and about 9,200 dollars in counterfeit US currency hidden inside a photo album.

Harb told the undercover agent that the genuine stolen money came from a string of robberies led by Hezbollah supporters and later smuggled into Lebanon to raise funds for the group.

He also claimed that ‘Iran manufactured high-quality counterfeit US currency for the benefit of Hezbollah,’ the indictment said.

Hamdan and three others, two Americans and a Venezuelan, were charged with having spearheaded the trafficking of over 1,500 cellphones, nearly 150 laptop computers, 400 Sony PlayStation 2 systems and three cars starting around late 2007.

The goods, which the undercover agent presented as stolen and sold to the defendants for a total of over 153,000 dollars in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, were transported to New Jersey, New York, Benin, Lebanon and Margarita Island, Venezuela.

Hamdan, Hamze el-Najjar and Alaa Allia Ahmed Mohamed of Brooklyn, New York, Moustafa Habib Kassem of Staten Island, New York, Maodo Kane of the Bronx, New York and Michael Katz of Plainsboro, New Jersey were charged with having purchased several thousands dollars worth of purportedly counterfeit goods.

Among the merchandise were over 5,500 pairs of Nike shoes and 334 Mitchell & Ness sports jerseys.

‘Today, through the well-coordinated effort of all involved agencies, a blow has been struck to Hezbollah’s efforts to fund its terrorism activities,’ said Special Agent-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Philadelphia division.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris noted that ‘the allegations contained in this complaint demonstrate how terrorist organizations rely on a variety of underlying criminal activities to fund and arm themselves.’

Five Lebanese nationals were charged on Monday for engaging in similar trafficking activities, including dual Slovakia and Lebanon resident Dani Nemr Tarraf, who allegedly sought to ship anti-aircraft Stinger missiles and about 10,000 Colt-M4 machine guns to Syria and other ports.

WASHINGTON: About 200 Kashmiris protested outside the White House on Tuesday, while US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed a joint news conference inside the building.

The rally at the Lafayette Park, which faces the White House, started at noon and ended at 3 pm.

The participants urged Mr Obama to resolve the Kashmir dispute, reminding him that it could trigger a nuclear conflict in one of the world’s most populous regions if left unresolved.

They also chanted slogans that called for a plebiscite in the Indian occupied Kashmir valley and demanded the implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir.

The Kashmiri American Council, which organised the rally, distributed leaflets that reminded Mr Obama that on Sept 25, 2008, he had pledged to ‘continue supporting the ongoing Indian Pakistani efforts to resolve the Kashmir problem in order to address the political roots of the arms race between India and Pakistan’.

On Oct 23, 2008, Mr Obama had said he would be ‘working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way’. He noted that ‘Kashmir in particular is an interesting situation where there is obviously a potential for diplomatically’ resolving this issue.

The council also reminded the US president that Kashmir was recognised by the United Nations as a disputed territory.

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For the sixth consecutive year, the Business and Economics Committee (BEC) of the Muslim Council of Britain will be drawing together a high-powered delegation of leading professionals, thought leaders and community representatives to the  World Islamic Economic Forum (the WIEF) to be held next year in Malaysia, it was announced Tuesday The WIEF is an annual conference that acts as an international business platform where the business sectors of the Muslim world meet.
With attendance from government leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers and academics, the WIEF also acts as a forum where policy proposals on economic development can be formulated.

Around the main programme of the WIEF, the BEC has organised a series of workshops on Islamic finance and thought leadership with local institutions, to share delegation’s experiences and technical expertise. The BEC is also preparing a publication entitled “Nurturing the Future” that will feature the latest thinking in Islamic finance and thought leadership.

“The MCB organises the largest non-OIC delegation to the WIEF and we look forward to building on our successes at previous conferences with our delegation to Malaysia in 2010,” noted Sir Iqbal Sacranie, leader of the MCB delegation and member of the International Advisory Panel of the WIEF Foundation.

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari, MCB Secretary General, stated “The MCB exists to serve the common good. Initiatives such as the delegation to the WIEF demonstrate how the wide array of talent in the British Muslim community can benefit all citizens by expanding business opportunities for the UK with Muslim majority countries.”

More than 1500 delegates are expected to attend the 6th edition of the forum.

System of training and education in Shia seminary schools will be reviewed during a scientific meeting to be held on November 26 in Hojjatiyye School in Iran/ holy Qom.

The meeting will open at 8:30 am local time with presence of Hojjat-ol-Islam A’rafi, head of Al-Mostafa International University.

It is organized with the aim of investigating the training and education system of the seminaries from the day of their establishment up until now.

Research deputy of the school will also deliver a speech as the secretariat of the meeting.

Selected articles regarding the theme of the meeting will also be presented.

Around 2.5 million or more Muslims from all over the world have headed to Saudi Arabia. Under heightened monitoring by some 20,000 medical staff and more than 100,000 security personnel, the world’s largest annual Islamic pilgrimage Hajj is taking place from November 25 to 29 in western Saudi Arabia in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

A Saudi man, wearing a mask for protection against swine flu, walks past Turkish and Iranian Muslim pilgrims at Jeddah airport upon their arrival in the Saudi Red Sea port city for the annual pilgrimage to nearby Mecca.

On Sunday, Lebanese celebrated their annual Independence Day…

A grand military parade was held to mark the 66th anniversary of the country’s independence. Six Hawker Hunter jets took part in the parade, performing low-level acrobatics. Columns of soldiers and officers, military tanks, armored personnel carriers and missile launchers have paraded through Shafiq Wazzan Ave. Then, President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri took part in the nearly two-hour festivities.

This is, in brief, how Lebanon officially celebrated the 66th Independence Day: the President, the Speaker and the Prime Minister standing, smiling and receiving “congratulations.”

Sixty-six years have passed on the Independence… Yet, nothing has changed and the same “slogans” are heard every year, raising lots of “question marks” about the “true independence.”

Sixty-six years of ‘independence’ have passed, and Lebanese seem to be always awaiting the non-achieved ‘true independence’…

Indeed, what independence is that when a part of the Lebanese territory is still under occupation? What independence is the independence that doesn’t prevent occupation and even more doesn’t put an end to the Israeli continuous threats? How do Lebanese celebrate ‘independence’ when they pledge to ‘liberate’ their occupied territories by all possible means at the time some Lebanese are still ‘seeking’ to prevent the ‘legitimization’ of the principle of Resistance?

How do Lebanese celebrate 66 years of ‘independence’ while acknowledging their ‘failure’ in administering their own affairs? How do they celebrate independence at the time they admit they’re unable to resolve any internal crisis without the world’s interference? Did they forget how they lived without a Head of State for months just because they were ‘divided’? Did they forget how they failed to organize “dialogue” and waited for French, Qatari, Saudi and Syrian initiatives to resolve their internal crises?

What independence is that when external powers are insisting on interfering and meddling in every Lebanese detail? What independence is that when the external powers are “promising” to intensify visits to Lebanon during the few coming months? What independence is that when Lebanese are acknowledging they still need international initiative to solve a Lebanese government and still betting on external reconciliations to produce a policy statement?

These are legitimate questions that should be raised on the Independence Day in Lebanon, especially that when annexed to other days of Resistance, Liberation and Victory…

But one question remains obligatory… When would True Independence happen?

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You are requested to inform your friends, colleagues, family members, neighbors who are eligible to the internship criteria. Below is the extract of the Advertisement Published in Dawn with extended on 13 November 2009 page # 13.

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THE LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION IS 20 NOVEMBER This E-mail is confidential. It may also be legally privileged. If you are not the addressee you may not copy, forward, disclose or use any part of it. If you have received this message in error, please delete it and all copies from your system and notify the sender immediately by return E-mail. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be timely, secure, error or virus-free. MCB Bank does not accept liability for any errors or omissions.

GAZA CITY: Three Palestinians were wounded early on Tuesday as Israel carried out three air strikes on Hamas-run Gaza in response to rocket fire from the enclave, witnesses, medics and the army said.

Two of the raids struck smuggling tunnels on the border between Gaza and Egypt and one hit east of Gaza City, witnesses and medics said. The three wounded were caught in the tunnels’ strikes, medics said.

An army spokesman said the air strikes were carried out in response to two rockets that were fired from the territory late on Monday, without causing injuries or damage.

He said the strike near Gaza City targeted a ‘weapons manufacturing facility.’

It marked the latest violence along Gaza’s border, which has been mostly quiet since a war that Israel launched on Hamas in Gaza on December 27 in response to rocket fire ended with mutual ceasefires on January 18.

The ceasefires have largely held despite violations by both sides.

Since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off to all but basic goods following Hamas’s seizure of the territory in June 2007, a vast trade in goods through hundreds of tunnels has developed along the border.

More than 130 Palestinians have died in cave-ins or been killed by Israeli operations targeting the network since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, medics say.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has huddled with his war cabinet for what officials indicated could be the final time before he decides whether to dispatch tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.

Top officials at the two-hour meeting on Monday night, the ninth gathering of Obama’s national security team to review Afghan strategy since August, included Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The meeting began just before 8:15 pm (0115 GMT Tuesday) and lasted around two hours.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that a decision on troops could be announced as early as next week.

‘It’s not going to happen this week,’ he said. ‘Obviously the first possible time would be some time next week.’ National Public Radio, citing unnamed sources, said that the president plans to make the announcement in an address to the nation on December 1.

An administration official said Monday could ‘possibly’ be the last time Obama will consult his team before making an announcement, though he cautioned ‘that’s not something we can say definitively.’ Attending the war meeting via videoconference were two men very much at odds over the decision: General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, US ambassador in Kabul.

McChrystal has asked for around 40,000 more US troops, cautioning that the intensifying Taliban insurgency could win out if he does not get the reinforcements within a year.

Currently, there are 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

In diplomatic cables leaked earlier this month, Eikenberry — a retired army general who commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007 — warned against sending more troops until Afghan President Hamid Karzai gets a grip on the rampant corruption in his administration.

While Karzai has earned the opprobrium of the international community since a fraud-tainted election in August highlighted the massive levels of official graft in Afghanistan, his inauguration speech Thursday generally won praise.

He pledged to clean up corruption, eradicate drug production and trafficking, work towards ending a Taliban-led insurgency, and see that Afghan security forces can take over from international forces in five years.

Clinton, attending the inauguration, sought to turn the page and hailed the speech as a ‘new starting point’ for the war-torn country.

But some of America’s allies in the war, now in its ninth year, are no longer willing to wait for the tide to turn: Canada and the Netherlands have announced plans to pull their troops out in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Gates in a speech in Canada Friday said US forces could provide a ‘sustainable’ replacement in the south for the departing Dutch and Canadian troops.

But he called on other allies to step forward, saying the Afghan effort will ‘require more commitment, more sacrifice, and more patience from the community of free nations.’ Those tensions now look set to dominate a December 3-4 meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

But Obama also faces opposition to the dispatch of more troops from members of his own Democratic Party who question the wisdom of deploying additional soldiers.

Polls show the American public is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the war, and some fear a deepening military commitment could dominate his presidency, as Vietnam did Lyndon Johnson’s in the 1960s.

But the military strongly favors a so-called surge, and Obama risks being denounced by Republican critics as weak on national security if he refuses McChrystal’s request.

More than 800 US soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan and the number of casualties is rising. October was the deadliest month for US forces there since 2001 and another four US fatalities were reported Monday. –

Riyadh Al Ashqar, head of the media department at the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees in Gaza, stated that Zionist regime is currently holding captive more than 370 child detainees under the age of 18.

The Al Aqsa TV reported that child detainees are sent to courts that prosecute cases of adult detainees an issue which directly violates the International Law.

Dozens of child detainees received harsh sentences by the courts while military judges never dealt with them as minors.

Similar to the case with adult detainees, children in Zionist regime’s detention camps are also fined and subjected to torture and abuse.

Al Ashqar demanded the International Red Cross and human rights groups to intervene and stop the Zionist regime’s violations against underage detainees.

He also called for ensuring that Zionist regime complies with the International Law by stopping the violations against the detainees, especially children and women.

BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah hailed on Monday Hizbullah’s “military exploits” against Israel during the summer 2006 war.

He added that the party’s performance achieved great victories not only at the Lebanese level but across the Muslim world. Speaking to a delegation of clerics, Fadlallah urged Sunni-Shiite unity, and cautioned the leaders of the two Muslim sects not to succumb to foreign plots to sow discord among them.

Houthi Shias in northern Yemen announced that Saudi forces have launched a major cross-border ground and air attack against them on Monday.

Though Millions of Muslims are performing Hajj rituals, Saudi Wahhabi forces severely attack Yemeni Shias and other innocent civilians in the border of Yemen. The war is going on in spite we are in the month of Zel Hajjah. Zel Hajjah is one of the Harram month, it means any war or violence is forbidden and called Haram during Islamic order.

Houthi Shias in northern Yemen announced that Saudi forces have launched a major cross-border ground and air attack against them on Monday.

“The Saudis began an attack along many fronts on the Yemeni border,” Huthis said in a statement.

The Saudis are using “all types of ground and air weapons,” including tanks, artillery, rocket launchers, Apache helicopters and jet fighters, they said.

Saudi jets bombed villages within the border on Sunday and through the night, following a failed Saudi incursion into the border.

“The (Saudi) air force began bomb and missile attacks on various villages in the Malahidh, Shedah, Hidan and Razah areas” of northwest Yemen, they said in a separate statement.

Saudi aircraft also bombed Saqin near the city of Saada, they said, as well as Saada suburbs and a central security building inside the city. Dahyan had likewise been targeted.

Sunday’s attack was led by “around 50 Hummers” supported by helicopters and fighter jets, before the Saudis were repelled and “the aggressors suffered heavy losses,” the Shiite fighters said.

Yemeni government launched a major attack dubbed “Operation Scorched Earth,” on Houthis on August 11.

Saudi forces joined the Yemeni government on November 4.

Saudi fighter jets regularly bomb Houthi villages using phosphorus bombs.

UPDATE

The Shia Houthi fighters say that Saudi Arabian forces along with Yemeni military have carried out a fresh ground incursion into Yemeni territory using tanks, artillery and aircraft.

The attacks on Tuesday were taking place in the border districts of Malahiz and Shada provinces. In the incursion, the Saudi army had been using all kind of weapons; land, air, tanks, and artillery, they added.

The Houthis have already said they inflicted heavy damage on Saudi troops.

Witnesses from the northern border town of Razah also said that the Saudis had begun an offensive on Monday.

“The Saudi army launched a vast offensive against Houthi positions in the border region,” one witness, who asked not to be identified, said.

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The Houthi Shais have reportedly seized control of three mountains in a move that could give them notable strategic upper hand.

The fighters conquered Mounts Al-Dukhan, Al-Ramih and Al-Doud on Saturday, the Yemeni news outlet Shamar Press reported.

The Shias’ new positions will allow them to take the Saudi and Yemeni movements under scrutiny and afford visibility over several kilometers farther.

Sana’a has launched a military offensive codenamed Operation Scorched Earth against the Houthi fighters, accusing them of violating the terms of a ceasefire by taking foreign tourists hostage.

The Houthis, however, reject the allegations saying they only seek to put an end to the Yemeni government’s discriminatory policies against Shias.

The Saudi Wahhabis  have recently joined Yemen’s armed campaign against the country’s Shia minority. Saudi Arabia’s army has been pounding Houthi positions for over two weeks, charging that the fighters had attacked one of its border checkpoints.

The Houthis, however, have firmly rejected the allegations, saying that they are fighting other battlefields and are not interested in opening another front.

According to the fighters, Riyadh has stepped up the offensive shelling northern villages using illegal phosphorous bombs, which are capable of inflicting severe burns.

The Yemeni agency said the anti-Shia fight is recently joined by auxiliary forces outfitted with advanced equipment.