The Airliners Plot

• To date, British authorities are not saying what they have discovered in searches related to the alleged plot to destroy American airliners over the Atlantic. There are, however, quite a few leaks. The latest is that bomb-making equipment has been found in a forest in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Previous leaks claimed that police also found firearms and a 'martyrdom' video recorded by one of the suspects.

• Rashid Rauf's sister-in-law is married to the brother of the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed. Whether they are involved is unclear at this stage. That said, the father of the JeM group says Rauf was a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed before he joined al-Qaeda.

• A Pakistani intelligence source says the bombing was still in the planning phase, and that the bombing was planned by a very senior member of al-Qaeda. He also ruled out any role for the captured Matiur Rehman, of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. (Note: the web of jihadi groups in Pakistan is almost beyond understanding, and includes official figures - particularly in the ISI. That may apply to this source, it may not.)

• Germany is looking at a link to Said Bahaji, who worked with Mohammed Atta's cell in Hamburg.

• One of the suspects is a regular at a Tablighi Jamaat study camp - a jihadist group that (of course) operates legally in the UK).

• Pakistani authorities have arrested 15 more people as a part of the investigation.

• The U.S. has banned all direct flights from Pakistan to the United States.

• While the trail may lead back to Pakistan, the trail also leads back to Britain. Pakistani jihadis recieve funding from donors in the UK, donors known to the UK authorities.

• Polling data indicates that 55% of Brits support profiling passengers, but more interesting is that 28% of Brits don't think most British Muslims are 'moderate' and around a quarter said they weren't sure if they are moderate or not. Demands from some Muslim groups for Sharia law and Muslim public holidays have not gone down well.

• Alas, this plot is one of many in the works.

The Second Lebanon War

• The Lebanese government has decided not to disarm Hezbollah. Donald Sensing has commentary.

• Having pushed hard for a ceasefire, and having said they could send thousands of troops, France is now offering 200 engineering troops for Lebanon. And Germany won't be sending anyone. Secretary Rice says the United States government hopes Hezbollah disarms itself voluntarily, and never really expected an international force to disarm the jihadist militia. And if (if?) they don't the U.S. hopes other countries will decide Hezbollah is a terrorist group. Did France ambush the U.S. and Israel, or didn't the U.S. ever expect an international force to disarm Hezbollah? Shameful stuff, whichever it turns out to be.

• Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has demanded Kofi Annan meet with the families of kidnapped IDF troops, and Annan has agreed. She has also demanded that the UN send 'representatives' to work for their release.

• The Israelis say the IDF killed a senior Hezbollah commander just prior to the ceasefire. Israeli officials say they have 13 live Hezbollah prisoners and dozens of bodies to trade for kidnapped soldiers Goldwasser and Regev.

• Syrian dictator Bashar Assad says Syria will liberate the Golan Heights. To this end, WND reports that Hezbollah will train a Syrian version of Hezbollah to fight Israel.

• Shamefully, the US Congress has blocked an Israeli request to speed up the delivery of cluster-bombs to Israel. The munitions, which have already been paid for, would be used against Hezbollah terrorists operating in Lebanon. Congress objects on the grounds that they could cause civilians casualties.

• Israeli police are searching for remains of 2,000 rockets fired in to northern Israel.

• Lebanese Shi'ites are furious at the Sunni Arab Oil Kings for not supporting Hezbollah.

• Turkey has apparently halted Iranian planes carrying Revolutionary Guards and long-range missiles heading for Lebanon. The report also claims that Israeli and American fighters forced another Iranian plane carrying missiles to return to Iran. True or not, Israel wants Turkey to clamp down hard Iranian transport of arms and terrorists en route to Lebanon.

• Jamestown looks at Hezbollah's use of anti-tank missiles against the IDF. I, for one, would like to know how Hezbollah got TOW missiles made in 2001.

Iran

• Iran, which is already conducting war games, will launch another large military exercise. The exercise is to take place in southeastern Iran.

• The U.S. intends to move quickly on sanctions against Iran 'if' they turn down Western proposals to halt uranium enrichment. Iran is due to respond to proposals on August 22nd.

• A new poll in Iran has found that 56% want more rights for women and 37% see America as a model of freedom. It also found 67% want Israel destroyed and 36% want a more religious country.

• Iranian authorities are systematically destroying satellite dishes in Tehran, apparently to halt the West's "cultural offensive".

The Middle East

• Egypt's al-Azhar Islamic clerical institute has issued a fatwa banning the murder of Israelis - inside Egypt. Very big of them.

• The Egyptians have suggested Israel trade 600 prisoners, with more to follow, in exchange for kidnapped soldier Corporal Shalit. Shalit's father says the Israeli government is willing in principle to do a swap, but requires proof of life.

• Egyptian pro-democracy activists want to "tear up their peace treaty with Israel"http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.331290888&par=0. The 'Kifaya ' movement says the accidental killing of two Egyptians in a border incident three months ago, and Israel's war in Lebanon, are violations of the treaty. Presumably letting the Sinai become a rear-area for palestinian terrorists, and now a base for al-Qaeda, isn't covered.

• The Transatlantic Intelligencer has noticed that the European Union has massively increased its aid to the palestinians, despite Hamas's electoral victory. The annual average was 250m euros p.a. Already, in 2006 the EU has given 309m euros.

• Hamas and Fatah have agreed to start talks on forming a coalition government. Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas says he thinks the unity government would ease international pressure, even though the group will not denounce violence or recognise Israel.

• Hamas says that a Mossad attempt to eliminate chief jihadist Khaled Mishal has failed.

• The Israeli air force has struck a metal workshop in Gaza. A 14 year-old was killed during another clash between Fatah and Hamas thugs.

• MEMRI looks at the increasingly anti-Israel, anti-U.S. stance of Turkey and its Islamist government.

Iraq and the Gulf

• A suicide bomber has killed nine and wounded dozens in an attack targeting a Mosul office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

• Turkish troops made a brief incursion in to northern Iraq. They did not make contact with Kurdish militants. The operation comes as the Turks decide how to handle the threat from the PKK - whether they cooperate with the Iraqis, or act alone.

• Official Iraqi figures say over 110 Iraqis were killed per day in July - 3,438 in total, making July the worst month for Iraqi civilians since the war began.

• Al-Qaeda are thought to be re-gaining strength in Anbar province. Major General William Caldwell has a great briefing on the situation.

• Yet another cache of Iranian arms has been discovered in southern Iraq, this time in the port of Umm Qasr. Hundreds of Katyushas and thousands of personal weapons produced in Iran were found.

The Americas

• A Supreme Court judge has struck down a wire-tapping program targeting terrorists operating inside the United States.

• The United passenger plane diverted to Boston is a lunatic peace activist. She smuggled banned items aboard, told flight crew the air marshals would be interested to know what was in her bag, intimated she was an al-Qaeda associate... and urinated on the floor.

• Mexican leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says his party will make it impossible for the elected president to run the country. One leftist thug said that, even if the recount finds Calderon is the winner, 'will be a president under siege'.

• Minnesota Representative John Kline has apologised for libelling U.S. Marines accused of killing unarmed civilians in Haditha.

• Three Americans of Arab origin have been charged with fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges in Dallas. The three were originally suspected of terrorist offences related to the 1,000 cell phones they bought, but the men will only be charged with 'traditional crimes' and are not thought to be terrorists. Elsewhere, Tuscon authorities are seeking two Middle Eastern men who bought 50-odd cell phones.

• No explosives were found in a suspicious container in Seattle. The scare sparked the evacuation of part of the port.

Europe

• German intelligence believes that two suitcase bombs found on trains in Germany last month were part of a terrorist attack. One source said the bombs would have caused similar death and destruction to the 7/7 bombs.

• Britain and France have signed a new anti-terror agreement, designed to increase cooperation in the fight against terror.

• Two men in north Wales have been arrested under the Terrorism Act. No details as to why.

• 80% of Brits want to ditch the U.S. in the war on terror. However, 53% want a more aggressive foreign policy, despite terrorist threats.

Russia and Central Asia

• Chechnya Weekly is here: Kadyrov's problems grow, fighting continues and the future of Russia's army in Chechnya.

• IEDs planted in southern Russia killed one man and wounded 13. The target is said to have been a local prosecutor - his brother was killed in the attack.

• A 15-person medical team of doctors and nurses has been kidnapped whilst travelling to a Taliban-dominated region of Afghanistan. Nothing is known about their fate.

• Not surprisingly, Afghanistan wants a strategic partnership with India.

• A Taliban suicide bomber has wounded 8 Afghan policemen in Uruzgan province.

• U.S. warplanes accidentally struck Afghan police, killing 12 men the east of the country.

Pakistan and the Indian Subcontinent

• Indian forces killed five terrorist infiltrators entering their part of Kashmir. Three Indian police officers were shot and critically wounded in Srinagar. Pakistan continues to deny Indian allegations that it allows terrorists to operate from the territory.

• Unknown terrorists threw a grenade in to a Hindu temple during a religious festival in northeastern India, killing four and wounding over 30. There are over 20 insurgent groups in the province, with demands ranging from secession to autonomy.

• Pakistani forces arrested 29 Taliban including a commander in a raid on a private hospital in Quetta, Balochistan. Hospital officals say the wounded Taliban were hurt during clashes around Kandahar, Afghanistan.

• Pakistan's ambassador to Sri Lanka escaped death after his convoy was targeted by terrorists armed with two claymore mines. Four soldiers and three civilians died. Sri Lanka blames the Tamil Tigers, and suggest that the LTTE targeted the ambassador due to Pakistan's decision to supply Sri Lanka with weapons.

• Pakistan's Interior Minister says all terror camps closed prior to 9/11, but the Kashmir 'struggle' will continue - a subtle hint that anti-India groups are tolerated.

Asia

• JI are still training recruits in Mindanao, despite the MLF peace agreement, and the Filipino army is expecting more attacks.

• Abu Sayyaf have beheaded a hostage on Jolo. Related, Jamestown has a profile of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani.

• Filipino authorities arrested a man trying to smuggle 6,000 detonators to Jolo.

• A South Korean aid group says nearly 55,000 people drowned in flooding in North Korea, and left 2.5 million homeless. NK's media says 'hundreds' died.

• It is Indonesia's independence day, so the authorities are releasing one of the Bali bombing cell members early and reducing sentences for several others.

• Thai intelligence is concerned that Muslim terrorists may begin to target the as-yet mostly untouched province of Songkhla. Some 1,400 people have died since the terror campaign began in 1994, the majority in the last three years.

• Jamestown's latest China Brief is out: China and the Lebanon crisis, China's relationship with Japan, the PLA Navy's scenarios for Taiwan and more besides.

Africa

• Jihadists in Somalia have increased their control. They've seized the vital port of Hobyo, north of Somalia. In Dhusomareb, a sheikh called on villagers to attack Ethiopian troops protecting the Somali 'interim government'. More militiamen are defecting to the Islamic Courts. Punishments meted out thus far including lashes for selling pot -

• Buoyed by Hezbollah's non-destruction, Sudan's leaders say they will defeat any UN force sent to prevent them exterminating Darfur's population. Aid agencies said July was their worst month, with 8 workers murdered.

• Zimbabwean dictator Mugabe says his army will pull the trigger on anyone seeking to topple his corrupt, murdering regime. Opposition leaders have called for protests, but no protests have taken place.

No, seriously...

• Doctors who treated a woman wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack say her breast implants saved her life.

• 84 Hollywood stars have signed a petition in the LA Times, denouncing the terrorism of Hamas and Hezbollah. Good on them.

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