The US is weighing military intervention to break the standoff between Muammar Qaddafi's army and rebel forces over the towns commanding the roads to the capital Tripoli where Qaddafi is barricaded. Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan stated Monday, Feb. 28 that the US "is repositioning its naval and air forces around Libya." His reference to "various contingency plans" related to the USS Enterprise and USS Kearsarge with 1,800 marines aboard soon to be redeployed off Libya.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
The White House strongly condemned Iran's "intimidation campaign and blatant violation of its citizens' universal rights," Sunday night, Feb. 28 after a human-rights group said two opposition figures had been taken to an unknown location. They were too late: debka
DEBKAfile Special Report
Hours after the UN Security Council unanimously imposed sanctions on Col. Muammar Qaddafi and his regime, his reactivated air force was flying troop and tribal reinforcements from the south and landing them at the military airfields of Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte, debka
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji, 180 kilometers north of Baghdad, was blown up early Saturday, Feb. 26, by an Al Qaeda cell activated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades, debka
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
Israel's security leaders ought not to have been surprised when Hamas fired two long-range Iranian-made Grad missiles Wednesday night, Feb. 23 at the Negev cities of Beersheba and Netivot. The attack occurred exactly when Iranian Navy commander Adm. Habibollah Sayyari was due in Syria's Latakia port to attend the welcoming party for the two Iranian warships which made it through the Suez Canal without US or Israeli interference. It also marked a fresh, redoubled Hamas offensive against Israel.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
In a long, fiery speech broadcast by Libyan state TV Tuesday, Feb. 22, Libya's ruler Col. Muammar Qaddafi declared war on his enemies at home and abroad. He accused the Cyrenaicans of the East of conspiring to establish an Al Qaeda emirate that would bring the Americans over and create the same situation in Libya as in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Straight after his speech, Tripoli announced that Libyan oil and gas exports were blocked to Europe, causing pandemonium and Libyan missile ships began pounding Benghazi from the sea.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
The delays and uncertainty surrounding the two Iranian warships' transit of the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean are the result of a standoff between them and five US warships deployed in recent days at and around the waterway, debka
DEBKAfile Special Report
The two Iranian warships transited the Suez Canal and have reached the Mediterranean, Iran state TV announced Sunday, Feb. 20. Cairo is still saying they will sail only Monday. debka
