recent developments across the region ‘may offer one last chance to liberate the Lebanese people. The Syrian regime might crumble and, with it, Iranian influence. If so, that moment should not be missed.’

Turkish authorities seized an Iranian arms shipment meant for Syria, a German newspaper reported Thursday. 

 

The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted diplomatic sources as saying the weapons were meant for Hezbollah.

According to the newspaper, Turkish security forces stopped a convoy of trucks carrying a large quantity of weapons and ammunition in the south-central city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Syrian border.

Ankara refused to either confirm or deny the report, which did not detail when the arms were intercepted.

This was not the first time Turkey has been able to foil an Iranian arms shipment to Syria: In March Ankara informed the UN Security Council that it had seized an Iranian cargo plane headed to Syria with a cache of weapons in its belly.

The shipment, which was in clear violation of a UN arms embargo, included some 1,800 mortar shells, 60 AK-47 assault rifles and 14 machine guns.

 

The plane was stopped several days after the IDF intercepted the “Victoria” – an Iranian arms vessel bound for Syria.

 

Reuters contributed to this report

Persian2English – Human rights activist Saeed Jalalifar was arrested on Sunday afternoon (July 31st) and transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison, according to human rights groups.

The court hearing for the human rights activist has not been held yet nor has a date been announced. Informed sources have told the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) that Judge Moghiseh from branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court ordered to keep Saeed Jalalifar in ward 350 of Evin prison until a date is issued for his trial.

Saeed Jalalifar’s mother confirmed her son’s arrest in a brief interview with HRANA and said that he had gone to Evin prison to stop [authorities] from confiscating the bail money.

Saeed Jalalifar was arrested on November 30, 2009 and released on a $100 thousand (USD) bail on March 16, 2010, a few days before the start of the Persian New Year.

Since his arrest he has been summoned by the judicial authorities numerous times. His official charge is: “Engaging in propaganda activities against the regime”.

Saeed Jalalifar is a member of CHRR, a banned student from the University of Zanjan, and also a children’s rights activist.

Persian2English – Human rights activist Saeed Jalalifar was arrested on Sunday afternoon (July 31st) and transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison, according to human rights groups.

The court hearing for the human rights activist has not been held yet nor has a date been announced. Informed sources have told the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) that Judge Moghiseh from branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court ordered to keep Saeed Jalalifar in ward 350 of Evin prison until a date is issued for his trial.

Saeed Jalalifar’s mother confirmed her son’s arrest in a brief interview with HRANA and said that he had gone to Evin prison to stop [authorities] from confiscating the bail money.

Saeed Jalalifar was arrested on November 30, 2009 and released on a $100 thousand (USD) bail on March 16, 2010, a few days before the start of the Persian New Year.

Since his arrest he has been summoned by the judicial authorities numerous times. His official charge is: “Engaging in propaganda activities against the regime”.

Saeed Jalalifar is a member of CHRR, a banned student from the University of Zanjan, and also a children’s rights activist.

A longtime CIA officer who spent 21 years in the Middle East is predicting that Israel will bomb Iran in the fall, dragging the United States into another major war and endangering US military and civilian personnel (and other interests) throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Earlier this week, Robert Baer appeared on the provocative KPFK Los Angeles show Background Briefing, hosted by Ian Masters. It was there that he predicted that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to ignite a war with Iran in the very near future.

Robert Baer has had a storied career, including a stint in Iraq in the 1990s where he organised opposition to Saddam Hussein. (He was recalled after being accused of trying to organise Saddam’s assassination.) Upon his retirement, he received a top decoration for meritorious service.

Baer is no ordinary CIA operative. George Clooney won an Oscar for playing a character based on Baer in the film Syriana (Baer also wrote the book).

He obviously won’t name many of his sources in Israel, the United States, and elsewhere, but the few he has named are all Israeli security figures who have publically warned that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are hell-bent on war.

Most former Mossad chiefs wary of Netanyahu

Baer was especially impressed by the unprecedented warning about Netanyahu’s plans by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Dagan left the Israeli intelligence agency in September 2010. Two months ago, he predicted that Israel would attack and said that doing so would be “the stupidest thing” he could imagine. According to Haaretz:

When asked about what would happen in the aftermath of an Israeli attack Dagan said that: “It will be followed by a war with Iran. It is the kind of thing where we know how it starts, but not how it will end.” The Iranians have the capability to fire rockets at Israel for a period of months, and Hizbollah could fire tens of thousands of grad rockets and hundreds of long-range missiles, he said.

There is much more to this article at the link above.

Following the success of last weekend’s silent protest, when thousands of protesters took to the streets to make the second anniversary of the disputed election, organisers have called for Green Movement activists to turn Tehran and other cities into a “ghost town” on Wednesday by staying at home and leaving the city streets deserted. The organisers say many shops and cafes in Tehran will be either closed or unoccupied, while streets that are normally filled with cars will be mainly free from traffic, apart from a few empty buses.