sources report « The Irate Nation

Syria partially mobilizes reserves as tensions rise on Israel’s northern border

Friday, Jan. 22, Damascus ordered a Level 4 mobilization of Syria's army reserves for deployment to the Golan Heights on the Israeli border, to meet what it calls "IDF plans of attack." DEBKAfile's military sources interpret Level 4 as referring to Syrian armored and commando brigades.

In Lebanon, too, Hizballah has placed "all its forces" on a state of military preparedness. Our intelligence sources report that this order applies to the Iranian proxy's strongholds across southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, but not to its command posts in Beirut and other Lebanese cities.

Iran Pushes Ahead Peaceful Nuclear Weapons Program

clipped from www.debka.com

German intelligence reports that Iranian scientists have successfully simulated the detonation of a nuclear warhead in laboratory conditions, in an effort to sidestep an underground nuclear test like the one that brought the world down on North Korea's head earlier this year. DEBKAfile's Iranian and intelligence sources report that this development is alarming because detonation is one of the most difficult technological challenges in the development of a nuclear weapon. Mastering it carries Iran past one of the last major obstacles confronting its program for the manufacture of a nuclear warhead.

Captured Iranian arms ship tip of the iceberg of vast weapons sealift to Hizballah

clipped from www2.debka.com

DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report that a mammoth arms train has been running to Hizballah for months via Egypt. They identify the ship which offloaded the arms shipment at the Egyptian port of Damietta, where it was picked up by the Francop as the Iranian Visea, which is now on its way from the British port of Felixtowe to Hamburg, Germany. An international operation is afoot to apprehend the Iranian ship as of Wednesday, Nov. 4, when Israeli naval forces commandeered the Francop with hundreds of tons of Iranian arms bound for the Lebanese Hizballah near Cyprus. The arms were unloaded at the Israeli naval base at Ashdod port.

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US and Israel officials have been instructed to warn Moscow that the military option is still on the table if Iran’s nuclear program is not halted by diplomatic means.

clipped from www2.debka.com

DEBKAfile's US intelligence sources report indications of impending war preparations against Iran after Tehran's rejections of the UN-brokered proposal to ship its enriched uranium overseas for further enrichment. These sources reveal that the administration is seeking congressional authorization to open America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Furthermore, the US-Israeli joint US-Israel Juniper Cobra ballistic exercise is in full swing. Finally, US and Israel officials have been instructed to warn Moscow that the military option is still on the table if Iran's nuclear program is not halted by diplomatic means.

Israel requests two German MEKO A-100 Corvette (Frigate)

clipped from www2.debka.com

DEBKAfile's military sources report that the two corvettes are needed to meet the build-up of Iranian submarines and Syria warships in the Mediterranean Sea and defend coastal infrastructure facilities such as power stations and naval bases which Israel intelligence fears will be at risk in a regional war.

The German corvette is a 2,200-tonner, 91 meters long and 13.4 meters wide. It carries a crew of 94, a medium-sized helicopter on its deck and 24 weapons systems - 16 sea-to-shore and 8 ship-to-ship launchers adapted to US-made missiles, as well as missile defenses and automatic cannons. It has a range of 7,400 kilometers and maximum speed of 30 knots. The corvette's great advantages for the Israeli navy are its formidable firepower and advanced radar-evading capabilities, making it extremely hard to spot by shore- or ship-based radar.