Iran

• Iran is to hold a large-scale naval exercise in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, starting with (I kid yout not) a Shihab-2 missile launch “to show Iran’s desire for peace and friendship with neighbouring countries”. 17,000 soldiers, with 1,500 vessels, will take part in the exercise, due to start March 31st and finish April 6th.

• The UNSC has issued a toothless statement regarding the Iranian nuclear arms program. Steve Schippert: China and Russia refused to accept the language that labeled the Iranian duplicitous nuclear quest as a “threat to international peace and security,” on the grounds that such language was a precursor to sanctions. Which means we'll have to convince them to call it that before we even get close to discussing santcions...

• Ali Khamenei says Iranian ideology 'has reached Islamic countries of the region, Palestine, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent'.

• Ahmadinejad says that, after Iran claims victory against the West on the nuclear issue, it will claim compensation for the period during which Iran supposedly shut down its nuclear program.

• The planned Iran-U.S. talks on Iraq have been postponed after the Iraqi government requested the U.S. not negotiate with Iran over their heads.

• The Iranian government is cracking down on universities. Student groups say that the regime is burying soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war on campus grounds as a means of holding extremist 'martyrs' ceremonies'.

• The Revolutionary Guards have been put on alert along the Iran-Iraq border.

• Despite Iranian involvement in the killing of British soldiers, and terrorism everywhere, Britain will continue selling military equipment to the mullahs.

• Two Swedes are being held after photographing an Iranian naval base. Said the Swedish charge d'affaires in Tehran, "They didn't realize the severity of the photo ban".

The Middle East

• The Petra news agency has a copy of the Arab League's declaration. It includes a commitment to fund the Hamas-run PA.

• Islamic Jihad fired a Katyusha rocket in to Israel from Gaza on Tuesday. It is the first time anything bigger than a Qassam has been fired from Gaza by Arab terrorists. Four Bedouin were killed in two incidents on Tuesday by unexploded Qassam rockets.

• The trial of those accused of carrying out the Sinai bombings in 2004 and 2005 are claiming they were 'severely tortured' by Egyptian authorities. Egyptian authorities say the men belonged to a group called "Tawhid and Jihad", but deny it is linked to al-Qaeda.

• Hamas has taken full control of the PA, after a vote in the parliament approving Hamas's cabinet choice. Of course, it wouldn't be a palestinian meeting without the customary declarations of war against Israel. The U.S. has banned all contact with the PA, as has Canada.

• Hamas has a lot to learn about PR - the new suits aren't going to cut it. Case in point: OK, yes, it happened, we did suicide attacks but now there is a truce. We deplore any action where civilians are killed, yes, including Israeli civilians. We are a moderate Islamic movement. We are not terrorists. We are freedom seekers. Please, tell your readers, please help us secure this goal Makes you want to pull out your cheque book, right?

• The Israeli navy has joined in the shelling of empty fields as a completely ineffective means of deterring rocket attacks. Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley arrested a teeanger wearing a bomb-belt.

• A PA source says that the PA is also beholden to Egypt - 'It is correct to say that major decisions are not taken without Egypt's approval...'

• Syria's most well-known internal dissident group has refused all foreign funding, including a $5 million donation from the State Department.

Iraq and the Gulf

• U.S. commanders contend that a 'massacre' of Shi'ite in a Sadr-run mosque compound was staged.

• American reporter Jill Carroll has been released in Iraq. She says she was treated well.

• Bulgaria is sending 154 troops to Iraq to guard a refugee camp of Iranians, most of whom belong to the terrorist MEK. The troops will be armed with non-lethal weapons, aka, mace, tasers and flashbangs.

• A Saudi paper says that Iran is threatening Qatar with terrorist attacks, due to their ties with the U.S. and (supposedly) Israel.

• The Saudis have arrested 40 terrorist suspects, including 8 thought linked to the attack on the Abqaiq oil facility. Dozens of small-arms and over 100 grenades were also seized.

• Mariwan Halabjayee - the Salman Rushdie of Iraqi-Kurdistan - has fled to Sweden, after an arrest warrant was issued in his name. Halabjayee wrote a book claiming Islam abuses and oppresses women.

• Four Yemenis convicted of kidnapping Italian tourists in January 2005 have been sentenced to 20 years. The defence says that the four men, plus two given lesser sentences, were treated unfairly because tribesmen traditionally take hostages to put pressure on the government.

• Cruch Time in Iraq - militias, specifically the Mehdi Army, and the problematic question of the Sunnis. Good reading.

• Infantry being issued the new, improved, 26lb Interceptor body armour are rejecting it as dangerous. The vests now have side protection (previous vests only protected front and back). While popular with soldiers who either guard convoys or spend most of their time in vehicles, the troops who spend their time on their feet, sometimes maneouvering through confined spaces, are less keen.

• Why the Future is Fallujah - StrategyPage takes a look at the lessons learned during the campaign to clear the city of terrorists in 2004.

• Humvees still suck, but apparently the U.S. is lookng at several off-the-shelf replacements.

The Americas

• Congressional investigators managed to smuggle enough radioactive materials to make two dirty bombs across both the Canadian and Mexican borders.

• Congress has been told of the successful apprehension of large numbers of illegal immigrants by troops using Stryker armoured vehicles, National Guard helicopters and UAVs, working with Border Patrol. There was a 60% increase in the number of illegals caught.

• Zacarias Moussaoui, on a mission to talk himself in to a lethal injection, has testified that he was to fly a 5th airliner in to the White House - with shoebomber Richard Reid. Steven Emerson notes that there is no evidence to support his claims.

• The prosecutor in the seriously screwed-up trial of four North African immigrants accused of operating a terrorist cell in Detroit will be charged with conspiring to conceal evidence.

• An American Muslim who planned to hijack an airliner and use it to kill President Bush has been sentenced to 30 years.

• Bone fragments have been founded near the World Trade Center site. The remains were found on the roof and 38th floor of a nearby building.

• President Bush is believed to have won the support of Mexican President Vicente Fox for his controversial immigration reforms.

• FARC aren't doing too well these days. The Colombian army is seizing numerous FARC towns and camps.

Europe

• Mohammed Junaid Babar, the American al-Qaeda terrorist-turned-informant, has said that he met with Abu Hamza in 2003 while plotting an attack. Babar has also described how he handled weapons, poisons and bomb-making equipment destined for attacks in Europe.

• Christian convert Abdul Rahman has arrived in Italy, where he has been granted asylum.

• Italy has a new policy for terrorist suspects: deport them before enough evidence can be amassed to press charges. It is that policy that led to Italy expelling 20 terrorist suspects, seven of whom planned to bomb a church in Bologna and a railway line in Milan in the days before the election (due to take place April 9-10).

• The Germans have raided several companies after discovering they had been shipping nuclear components to Iran.

• Mohamed Sifaoui, a Muslim journalist who has gone undercover to expose Islamic extremists and terrorists several times, has been interviewed in the Danish Politiken newspaper.

• Rachid Ramda has been sentenced to 10 years for financing the Paris metro bombings of 1995. Ramda faces a second trial over his involvement in the bombings themselves.

• Dutch politicians have reported 121 threats in the last year. Most of those were made against MPs Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

• You've probably heard of the antisemitism in Arab textbooks, but how about the anti-Americanism in French textbooks?

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• According to Russian forces, a house in Dagestan in which several terrorists were hiding, caught fire during a firefight between the soldiers and extremists. I guess no-one thought to call the fire brigade, 'cause everyone in that house was 'destroyed' (to use the police source's term).

• The Regional Anti-Terror Agency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has its own figures on how many terrorist attacks were thwarted in 2005: 250, in Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

• Russia faces a dilemma - the militias that used to work for the state are now freelance.

• Russia is refusing to build a light-water reactor intended to burn 34 tons of plutonium, as agreed in 2000 with the United States, unless the U.S. pays for it. Both Russia and the U.S. are bound to burn 34 tons of plutonium to keep it out of terrorist hands.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh

• Two soldiers, one American, one Canadian, were killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban claims that the recent increase in attacks is the beginning of their spring campaign.

• You'll be saddened to hear that the leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahadeen, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, a former bin Laden aide and career terrorist, is fighting for his life. He was beaten and suffocated, before being left for dead outside an Islamabad mosque.

• StrategyPage discusses special forces in Afghanistan. The so-called 'Commando Olympics' underway since late 2001 have seen countries from all over the world contributing teams under the radar, including several Arab countries.

• Supporters of two feuding imams in northwestern Pakistan have clahsed again, leaving 24 people dead.

• Pakistani forces arrested three Kashmiri terrorists in Waziristan (225 miles from Indian Kashmir) carrying explosives, arms and bomb-making instructions. Probably lost.

• Indian troops killed five terrorists, including a 'key member', in Kashmir on Monday.

• Ghaziabad, India, is on alert after two terror groups said they would attack the train station and other targets on April 11th.

• 69 Afghans accused of fighting for radicals in Waziristan have been deported.

• Last week, we reported on a list of suggestions from a Paksitani Islamic groups as to how to stop terrorism. One of their ideas was to stop teaching jihad in schools. Well, the Pakistani education minister has decided that's not going to happen.

• The central Bangladesh Bank has asked commercial banks to report any financial dealings of 68 named terrorists by April 6th. Also relevant, three more members of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh were arrested on Tuesday.

• The leaders of JMB are still being interrogated. They have reportedly admitted to involvement in 'militant activities', as well as in the series of bombings on August 17th last year.

Far East & South East Asia

• Abu Sayyaf have killed nine people in Jolo in a bombing attack on a Church-run cooperative store. Their preferred target was a Cathedral, but security measures led them to change their plans. A bombing two days later wounded 17 people on a Mindanao bus.

• South Korea is demanding that Japan retract its claims to two disputed islands.

• Relatives of Abu Sayyaf terrorists killed by police during a prison siege last year are going to sue the officials in charge of the police response.

• The Filipino military is going to form more counter-terrorist units to combat Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah. The announcement was made two days after the Jolo bombing.

• The Sri Lankan army is going to establish a Muslim unit, amid Tamil Tigers claim that Sri Lankan intelligence is sponsoring an anti-LTTE Muslim paramilitary group called Jihad. However, B. Raman and other Indian analysts claim that the more likely sponsors of Jihad are Pakistan's ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

• Thai authorities have arrested 19 Islamic teacher in southern Thailand for involvement in the two-year campaign of terrorism, which has thus far killed 1,100.

Africa

• After his brief escape, Charles Taylor has been re-arrested. The Dutch say they've been asked to try him in The Hague by the UN-backed court in Sierra Leone. Pressure is mounting on President Bush to skip a meeting with Nigerian premier Obasanjo, thought to be complicit in Taylor's escape. Besides his war crimes, Taylor has long-standing ties to al-Qaeda.

• SITE has a statement from the Islamic Eritrean Reform Movement, describing five attacks carried out between Feb 18th and March 17th. The statement claims that a total of 22 Eritrean soldiers were killed, vehicles and military buildings destroyed, and arms and intelligence documents seized.

• The GSPC has murdered a local mayor and four farmers. In another attack, six soldiers were wounded by a bomb. There's some background on the cell thought to be behind the mayor's killing over at Regnum Crucis.

• Hassan Khattab, one of the GSPC's founders, has called on the group to stop murdering civilians and to accept the government amnesty.

• A suspected GSPC arms dump has been discovered. Besides the usual assortment of arms and munitions, soldiers apparently found huge quantities of medical drugs and electricity cables.

• In Somalia, the Islamic Courts attempt to take Mogadishu has failed. A UN-negotiated ceasefire is in effect, but it is thought it won't last due to the increasing popularity of the Islamic Courts. The Islamic Courts are a grass-roots 'law-and-order' movement opposed to the various warlords who rule Somalia.

• The Arab League has agreed to fund African Union troops in Darfur. What's the catch? Well, first, they're not saying how much they're willing to give. Second, they've decided to start funding the AU the day after it finishes its mandate. The AU is due to finish in September, while the Arab League funding will begin October 1st. Without knowing how much money they will get, it is difficult to see how the AU can commit to keeping forces in Sudan.

• President Bush has called for a NATO peacekeeping force in Darfur. In his words, genocide needs to be stopped. But NATO isn't interested.

The Global War

• And why isn't NATO not discussing a role in Darfur? I sure as hell hope it has nothing to do with the conference in Rabat, Morocco with several Arab states (plus Israel). NATO officials told UPI that they face an uphill battle demonstrating to the 'Arab street' that NATO isn't an American-dominated organisation that sees radical Islam as its first priority.

• Blackwater, the private security firm that made a name for itself in Iraq, has offered to provide counter-insurgency forces anywhere the U.S. wants to send them.

• The International Maritime Bureau has reported an increase in piracy since December. While piracy is at the lowest level since 1999, Somalia and Iraq have become new hotspots, prompting warnings to merchantmen to stay at least 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast.

• How peaceful is Islam? Investors' Business Daily has some tough questions - here are some answers. Related, an Open Letter to Reformist Muslims.

• Just how many bad guys are there? Number-crunching time.

• The Battle of Khartoon isn't over. Yehudit outlines the self-censorship still ongoing.

• While not strictly war-related, this is so damn awful it had to get in here somewhere. Ayaan Hirsi Ali reports that anywhere between 113-200 million women are 'demographically missing' at any one time.

• A tale of two transcripts - MEMRI vs. 'Aqoul. A dispute over the translations of Wafa Sultan's righteous diatribes.

And finally:

• The toy everyone wanted, and someone finally made: a remote-controlled helicopter, complete with automatic shotgun.

• Ace of Spades discovers the world of online Muslim dating. I have good domestic skills including cooking, cleaning,sewing, and raising farm animals. I’m an excellent conversationalist, of course only if you want me to be. Very subservient!

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