Baghdad Residents Call for U.S. Help to Battle Al Qaeda

BAGHDAD - A battle raged in west Baghdad on Thursday after residents rose up against Al Qaeda and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said.

U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected Al Qaeda gunmen in western Baghdad’s primarily Sunni Muslim Amariyah neighborhood in an engagement that lasted several hours, said the district councilman, who would not allow use of his name for fear of Al Qaeda retribution.

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Israel to ready public for ‘all-out war’

With Iran racing toward nuclear power and IDF preparations for the possibility of a conflict with Syria and Hizbullah in high gear, the Home Front Command plans to launch a publicity campaign to prepare the public for war.

Within a few weeks it intends to inform the public about what people need to do in the event of attack.

The campaign was not connected to a specific event or threat but was meant to brace the public for war in general, senior IDF officers said.

Read more here: jpost.com

Al-Qaida Makes New 9/11 Threat

An American member of al-Qaida warned President Bush on Tuesday to end U.S. involvement in all Muslim lands or face an attack worse than the Sept. 11 suicide assault, according to a new videotape.

Wearing a white robe and a turban, Adam Yehiye Gadahn, who also goes by the name Azzam al-Amriki, said al-Qaida would not negotiate on its demands.

Read more here: newsmax.com

Israel forces in hot pursuit of Fatah defectors to pro-Hamas militia on West Bank.

Tuesday night, May 29, Israeli forces pinned down and killed the breakaway militia’s Jenin chief Muhammad Marai. A few hours later, Israeli troops fought a Hamas squad hurling explosives and grenades in Tulkarm. The Israeli army has gone into action to decapitate the new group, which calls itself the Martyr Abu Amar (Yasser Arafat) Brigades, before it carries out orders from its Hamas chiefs in Gaza to launch mass-casualty, multiple suicide operations in Israeli cities from the West Bank. Israeli units have fanned out in Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarm and Nablus.

Read more here: debka.com

Two militants killed in IAF strike on Hamas rocket crew in Gaza Strip

The Israel Air Force killed two Hamas men early Wednesday in a strike on a group of gunners firing rockets at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip.

Hamas radio said the men killed in attack belonged to its military wing.

An Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said the air force targeted “a group of armed terrorists” in the northern part of the territory near Jabaliya refugee camp.

Read more here: haaretz.com

Mashaal: Rocket attacks will continue

Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal declared on Tuesday that the rocket attacks against Israel would continue, the British newspaper The Guardian reported overnight.

In an interview with the London paper, Mashaal warned that the efforts of the international community to pressure his organization would cause an explosion that would affect the entire Middle East.

Mashaal blamed “negative foreign intervention, especially by the US and Israel,” for the tensions between Hamas and Fatah.

Read more here: jpost.com

Israeli Commandos Target Hamas Militants

Israeli special forces commandos have crossed into Gaza and killed two Hamas fighters in a gun battle near Rafah.

Palestinian medical officials identified the dead men as Abdul Karim Shaath and Mohammed Muamar, both Hamas militants.

 A woman - the wife of another wanted Hamas figure - was injured in the shoot-out and two other men were arrested, the security officials said.

The army said it briefly crossed into Gaza and hit two targets, while arresting a number of militants.

Read more here: news.sky.com

‘Haniyeh is scared of being assassinated by Israel’

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has limited his public appearances because he fears being targeted for assassination by Israel, his spokesman said Tuesday.

“He is frightened by the Israeli forces,” Ghazi Hamad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He’s scared of being assassinated … so he is taking precautions.”

Read more here: jpost.com

Chavez Defends Shutting Down TV Station as Thousands March in Streets

  AP

May 28: Police blast protesters in Caracas with a water cannon during a protest of the government takeover of Venezuela’s only opposition TV station.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez defended his decision not to renew the license of a popular opposition-aligned television network on Tuesday and warned he might crack down on another critical TV station, accusing it of trying to incite attempts on his life.

Chavez said his refusal to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television, which went off the air at midnight Sunday, is “a sovereign, legitimate decision in which there is no argument.”

Read more here: foxnews.com

Venezuela’s Only Opposition TV Station Shut Down by Chavez

 

Television employees cry out against Chavez’s decision.  AP

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela’s oldest private television station was pushed off the air as President Hugo Chavez’s government replaced the popular opposition-aligned network on Monday with a new state-funded channel.

Radio Caracas Television shut down just before midnight Sunday as its broadcast license expired. Chavez refused to renew its license, accusing the channel of “subversive” activities.

Read more here: foxnews.com