An anonymous Saudi computer hacker identifying himself as 0xOmar who has been leading a large scale hacker campaign of harassment against Israeli websites sent an email to the Jerusalem Post on Sunday declaring that he’d been joined by a previously unknown group called “Nightmare” who planned on helping him take down the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al, the national airline of Israel. Both sites were indeed down for several hours on Monday. In response, a Jewish pro-Israel hacker named “Hannibal” has posted information which will allow other hackers to break into the Facebook accounts of thousands of citizens of Arab countries. Hannibal has threatened to release other information about bank accounts in Iran and Saudi Arabia if attacks on Israel continue. Meanwhile, the Islamist terror militia Hamas applauded the attacks and urged hackers to carry out more. “Penetrating Israeli websites means opening a new field of resistance and the beginning of an electronic war against Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement e-mailed to reporters in the Gaza Strip.
Iran promises to aid Syria in crackdown
A senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told pan-Arab Al Arabiya news channel Monday that his organization would send soldiers and other help to embattled Syrian president Bashar Assad if his regime appeared to be losing its grip on power due to an “attack by external forces.” The officer, who spoke anonymously, also denied reports that Iran has already deployed troops in Syria, along with gunman from its Lebanese proxy terror militia Hezbollah. The remarks were probably in response to Qatar's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who announced on Saturday that his government was considering a military intervention to stop the violence in Syria. The idea was endorsed by some Arab leaders but others worried that it would lead to a wider conflict. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that an additional 32 civilians were slaughtered by Assad’s security forces on Sunday, the latest casualties in a conflict which has claimed close to 8,000 lives over the last ten months, according to various reports.
Bulgaria and Israel sign defense cooperation accords
In the latest setback to international efforts to isolate Israel, Bulgarian defense officials signed accords for close cooperation and training with their Israeli counterparts on Sunday. The accords cover a wide array of issues from joint military training exercises to cooperation in the industrial production of defense products.
Chaotic Iranian leadership row continues
In another sign of the deepening rift within Iran’s senior leadership, a court in Teheran has reportedly sentenced President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's press adviser to one year in prison for insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ali Akbar Javanfekr was also “stripped of membership of political parties, groups, associations, and media activities for five years" according to press reports. Javanfekr, whose duties included editing the official IRNA news agency, previously received a one-year sentence and was banned from journalism activities for three years on charges of "publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms."
Nasrallah rejects UN demand to disarm
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denounced UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Saturday for a statement Ban made at a conference in Beirut on Friday that Hezbollah should give up its weapons . “Our concern is that our people are comforted that there is a resistance in Lebanon and we will not allow a new occupation or another violation,” Nasrallah thundered in a video message to a Shi'ite religious event. “The resistance is here to stay. Its power and its readiness will continue to grow."
ElBaradei quits presidential race in Egypt
Former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced on Saturday that he was withdrawing his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt, citing the lack of progress towards democracy in the country as exemplified by the former regime’s continued hold on power. “My conscience does not permit me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless it is within a real democratic system,” ElBaradei said. Despite his often harsh criticism of Israel, the 69 year old ElBaradei was widely viewed in Israel and the West as the least bad option, with ultra-nationalist but secular former Arab League General Secretary Amr Mousa, who was leading in recent polls and is widely popular for his fierce denunciations of the Jewish State, still slightly better than candidates from Islamist parties.
Hezbollah terrorist arrested in Thailand
Israeli and Western embassies in Bangkok Thailand warned of a heightened danger from terrorism over the weekend as Thai police arrested a Lebanese man suspected of belonging to the Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah. The suspect led police to a warehouse where explosives were stored and admitted to a plot to attack Israeli targets in the city, the latest effort by Hezbollah to avenge the 2008 assasination of their military leader, Imad Mughniyeh. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said, "At first we were told the Palestinians were behind it, but it turned out to be Hezbollah."
Chinese leaders signs agreements with Saudi Arabia
In a development which could have broad reaching consequences on the developing Iranian crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, whose country has long been one of the Islamic Republic’s foremost customers for oil and natural gas, signed a series of cultural and economic agreements over the weekend with the government of Saudi Arabia. According to the Xinhua Chinese news agency trade between China and Saudi Arabia reached $58.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2011, and the new agreements included cooperation on the "peaceful use of nuclear energy," raising eyebrows in some quarters since China has previously supplied Saudi Arabia with intermediate range missiles which could, theoretically, be armed with nuclear warheads. The deals could be a subtle signal to Iran by China that it has other options in the Gulf.
