Amid Rising Tensions, IDF Closes Roads Along Lebanon Border-Tanks join Iron Dome batteries along Israel's northern border, following airstrike which killed senior Hezbollah, Iranian commanders.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 1/20/2015, 8:58 PM-israelnationalnews
The IDF has closed the old road between the towns of Avivim and Dovev in the northern Galilee, due to their close proximity to the border with Lebanon, in the latest sign of rising tensions in northern Israel.
Likewise the road between the moshav Zar'it and the Lebanese border was closed as well.IDF forces have been on high alert since Monday, when an IAF airstrike in the Syrian Golan Heights killed a senior Hezbollah commander and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general, along with several other Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.Iran has since vowed revenge for the strike, and Israeli soldiers stationed along the northern borders with Syrian and Lebanon have been placed on a heightened state of alert. Later on Monday, Iron Dome missile defense batteries were deployed along the Syrian border.Apart from the road closure, on Tuesday tanks and armored personnel carriers were also deployed along the northern border, and Lebanese media outlets are reporting Israeli jets and helicopters over the Har Dov area along the Lebanese border.Earlier in the day, a senior IDF official told Reuters news agency that airstrike - which Israel has not officially claimed - was never intended to take out the two senior Iranian and Hezbollah commanders.The official claimed IDF forces were responding to what they thought was a squadron of low-level Hezbollah terrorists preparing to launch an attack against Israeli soldiers stationed at the border, and ordered a preemptive airstrike to stop them in their tracks."We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general. We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence," the source related."We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation."But another senior Israeli official remained tight-lipped, saying only that "the State of Israel will not relate to the incident in Syria or to reports concerning it - reports which did not come from qualified sources.""Israel's policy was always and will remain to thwart any attempted terrorist attack against her," he continued.
British Jihadist with Severed Head 'Faked His Own Death'-ISIS helped Imran Khawaja, who had appeared in a recruiting video, fake his own death, to help him slip back into UK undetected.By Arutz Sheva Staff-First Publish: 1/20/2015, 10:15 PM-israelnationalnews
A British jihadist identified by police as a "trained terrorist" who is believed to have faked his own death while fighting in Syria in an attempt to return home undetected, has admitted terror charges.Imran Khawaja, 27, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism, attending a training camp and possessing firearms in a hearing last year, but reporting restrictions were in place until Tuesday.Khawaja, from Southall in west London, spent the first half of last year fighting alongside jihadists in Syria's civil war and at one point posted an image of himself holding a severed human head on social media.He left from Heathrow Airport in January last year, travelling to a training camp in Syria.Once there, he joined Rayat Al-Tawheed (Banner of God) - a group which became aligned with the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) group, according to Britain's Metropolitan Police."Khawaja is also seen in a disturbing video posted on social media which includes a bag of severed heads," said the Scotland Yard statement."The description posted with the video is 'British ISIS fighter Abu Daigham al-Britani with government soldier's head'."He also appeared in one of the group's promotional videos, 'Five Star Jihad', which portrays daily life at the training camp.The militant group falsely announced on social media that he was later killed on the battlefield. Police believe the reports were part of a plan to throw authorities off his trail."In May 2014, the group put out a message on social media, designed to deliberately mislead authorities, claiming that Abu Daigham al-Britani had been killed alongside an image of two masked men holding a flag associated with Islamic State," said Scotland Yard.In reality, he was making his way to Bulgaria, where he had asked his cousin Tahir Bhatti, 44, to pick him up.Details of the case were not made public until his cousin's pleas were heard in court.The pair were arrested on June 3 last year as they reached the port of Dover in southern England."He was a senior figure in Rayat Al-Tawheed, a group aligned to Islamic State that celebrated its terrorist acts through social media back to the UK," Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said on Tuesday."This is a man who has chosen the path of terrorism. We don't know why he came back. We don't know what he was planning." Bhatti, a taxi driver from near London, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to assisting an offender, but previously pleaded not guilty to preparing a terrorist act.A third man, Asim Ali, pleaded guilty to entering into a funding arrangement for the purposes of terrorism after making £300 ($455, 394 euros) available to Khawaja.All three face sentencing on February 5 and 6, with Khawaja facing a lengthy jail term, possibly a life sentence.
Former MI6 Chief Says West Shouldn't Insult Islam-Ex-UK spy chief agrees with Pope's controversial comments over Paris attack; says Mohammed cartoonists should expect 'an angry response'.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 1/20/2015, 10:48 PM-israelnationalnews
The former head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency has said that he "agrees with the Pope" that people should avoid drawing pictures of Mohammed, and that if they do they can expect to provoke a terror attack.Speaking for the first time since stepping down as head of MI6, Sir John Sawers told an audience in the Philippines that "There is a requirement for restraint from those of us in the West," according to Sky News."I rather agree with the Pope that, of course, the attacks in Paris were completely unacceptable and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever, but I think respect for other people's religion is also an important part of this," he continued."If you show disrespect for others' core values then you are going to provoke an angry response. That doesn't justify anything, but I think we just need to bear it in mind."Sawer's remarks were relating to a controversial speech by Pope Francis last week, in which he appeared to sympathize with - if not outright justify - the motives of the terrorists who murdered 12 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.Saying there are limits to free speech, the pope referred to Alberto Gasbarri, who organizes his trips abroad."If my good friend Dr. Gasbarri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," the pope said half-jokingly, proceeding to throw a mock punch at him. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.""There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said."They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasbarri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit," opined the pope.A Vatican spokesman later responded to the backlash that followed by insisting Pope Francis had not meant to justify the attacks.In his talk, Sawer also emphasized the limits of the capabilities western intelligence and security services have in preventing terrorist attacks, saying it was impossible to catch every single terror plot."If I was to sit here and say will the goalkeepers of the security services and the police keep every single attempt to get the ball into the net, out? No. At some point these threats will get through and there will be another terrorist attack in this country."He also weighed into the debate over internet and information privacy, warning that blocking intelligence agencies from certain areas would harm their ability to protect against attacks."If the technology companies allow to be developed, areas that are simply impenetrable, you're inviting problems," he said.
The IDF has closed the old road between the towns of Avivim and Dovev in the northern Galilee, due to their close proximity to the border with Lebanon, in the latest sign of rising tensions in northern Israel.
Likewise the road between the moshav Zar'it and the Lebanese border was closed as well.IDF forces have been on high alert since Monday, when an IAF airstrike in the Syrian Golan Heights killed a senior Hezbollah commander and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general, along with several other Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.Iran has since vowed revenge for the strike, and Israeli soldiers stationed along the northern borders with Syrian and Lebanon have been placed on a heightened state of alert. Later on Monday, Iron Dome missile defense batteries were deployed along the Syrian border.Apart from the road closure, on Tuesday tanks and armored personnel carriers were also deployed along the northern border, and Lebanese media outlets are reporting Israeli jets and helicopters over the Har Dov area along the Lebanese border.Earlier in the day, a senior IDF official told Reuters news agency that airstrike - which Israel has not officially claimed - was never intended to take out the two senior Iranian and Hezbollah commanders.The official claimed IDF forces were responding to what they thought was a squadron of low-level Hezbollah terrorists preparing to launch an attack against Israeli soldiers stationed at the border, and ordered a preemptive airstrike to stop them in their tracks."We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general. We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence," the source related."We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation."But another senior Israeli official remained tight-lipped, saying only that "the State of Israel will not relate to the incident in Syria or to reports concerning it - reports which did not come from qualified sources.""Israel's policy was always and will remain to thwart any attempted terrorist attack against her," he continued.
British Jihadist with Severed Head 'Faked His Own Death'-ISIS helped Imran Khawaja, who had appeared in a recruiting video, fake his own death, to help him slip back into UK undetected.By Arutz Sheva Staff-First Publish: 1/20/2015, 10:15 PM-israelnationalnews
A British jihadist identified by police as a "trained terrorist" who is believed to have faked his own death while fighting in Syria in an attempt to return home undetected, has admitted terror charges.Imran Khawaja, 27, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism, attending a training camp and possessing firearms in a hearing last year, but reporting restrictions were in place until Tuesday.Khawaja, from Southall in west London, spent the first half of last year fighting alongside jihadists in Syria's civil war and at one point posted an image of himself holding a severed human head on social media.He left from Heathrow Airport in January last year, travelling to a training camp in Syria.Once there, he joined Rayat Al-Tawheed (Banner of God) - a group which became aligned with the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) group, according to Britain's Metropolitan Police."Khawaja is also seen in a disturbing video posted on social media which includes a bag of severed heads," said the Scotland Yard statement."The description posted with the video is 'British ISIS fighter Abu Daigham al-Britani with government soldier's head'."He also appeared in one of the group's promotional videos, 'Five Star Jihad', which portrays daily life at the training camp.The militant group falsely announced on social media that he was later killed on the battlefield. Police believe the reports were part of a plan to throw authorities off his trail."In May 2014, the group put out a message on social media, designed to deliberately mislead authorities, claiming that Abu Daigham al-Britani had been killed alongside an image of two masked men holding a flag associated with Islamic State," said Scotland Yard.In reality, he was making his way to Bulgaria, where he had asked his cousin Tahir Bhatti, 44, to pick him up.Details of the case were not made public until his cousin's pleas were heard in court.The pair were arrested on June 3 last year as they reached the port of Dover in southern England."He was a senior figure in Rayat Al-Tawheed, a group aligned to Islamic State that celebrated its terrorist acts through social media back to the UK," Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said on Tuesday."This is a man who has chosen the path of terrorism. We don't know why he came back. We don't know what he was planning." Bhatti, a taxi driver from near London, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to assisting an offender, but previously pleaded not guilty to preparing a terrorist act.A third man, Asim Ali, pleaded guilty to entering into a funding arrangement for the purposes of terrorism after making £300 ($455, 394 euros) available to Khawaja.All three face sentencing on February 5 and 6, with Khawaja facing a lengthy jail term, possibly a life sentence.
Former MI6 Chief Says West Shouldn't Insult Islam-Ex-UK spy chief agrees with Pope's controversial comments over Paris attack; says Mohammed cartoonists should expect 'an angry response'.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 1/20/2015, 10:48 PM-israelnationalnews
The former head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency has said that he "agrees with the Pope" that people should avoid drawing pictures of Mohammed, and that if they do they can expect to provoke a terror attack.Speaking for the first time since stepping down as head of MI6, Sir John Sawers told an audience in the Philippines that "There is a requirement for restraint from those of us in the West," according to Sky News."I rather agree with the Pope that, of course, the attacks in Paris were completely unacceptable and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever, but I think respect for other people's religion is also an important part of this," he continued."If you show disrespect for others' core values then you are going to provoke an angry response. That doesn't justify anything, but I think we just need to bear it in mind."Sawer's remarks were relating to a controversial speech by Pope Francis last week, in which he appeared to sympathize with - if not outright justify - the motives of the terrorists who murdered 12 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.Saying there are limits to free speech, the pope referred to Alberto Gasbarri, who organizes his trips abroad."If my good friend Dr. Gasbarri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," the pope said half-jokingly, proceeding to throw a mock punch at him. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.""There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said."They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasbarri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit," opined the pope.A Vatican spokesman later responded to the backlash that followed by insisting Pope Francis had not meant to justify the attacks.In his talk, Sawer also emphasized the limits of the capabilities western intelligence and security services have in preventing terrorist attacks, saying it was impossible to catch every single terror plot."If I was to sit here and say will the goalkeepers of the security services and the police keep every single attempt to get the ball into the net, out? No. At some point these threats will get through and there will be another terrorist attack in this country."He also weighed into the debate over internet and information privacy, warning that blocking intelligence agencies from certain areas would harm their ability to protect against attacks."If the technology companies allow to be developed, areas that are simply impenetrable, you're inviting problems," he said.
