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BEIRUT: The U.S. has omitted Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terror threats, according to an annual security assessment published by the Times of Israel Monday.
The unclassified report, titled ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ was presented to the U.S. Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence on February 26.
The report has excluded Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terror threats to U.S. interests, after both had been included as threats in previous years.
In a 2014 report the National Intelligence director said that Iran and Hezbollah continue to directly threaten the interests of U.S. allies. The report claimed that Hezbollah had increased its “global terrorist activity.”
In the latest report, the terrorism section focuses exclusively on the rise of militant groups like ISIS and The Nusra Front.
“Sunni violent extremists are gaining momentum and the number of Sunni violent extremist groups, members, and safe havens is greater than at any other point in history,” read the report. “These groups challenge local and regional governance and threaten US allies, partners, and interests.”
Hezbollah, labeled as a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and the European Union, was mentioned once.
“Sunni extremists are trying to establish networks in Lebanon and have increased attacks against Lebanese army and Hezbollah positions along the Lebanese-Syrian border,” the report said. Hezbollah and the U.S. have become de-facto allies in Syria, with the common objective of combating ISIS and preventing its spread into Lebanon.
In a rare interview with the New York Times Last September, Hezbollah’s newly appointed public relations chief, Mohammed Afif, implicitly acknowledged the rise of an indirect coordination in the fight against terror between the party and Washington, though their broader goals and views sharply diverge.
“All have an interest to keep the peace” in Lebanon, Afifi told the NYT, but added that each had its own ways to combat their common enemy.
The U.S. paper suggested that American intelligence had indirectly shared information with Hezbollah that helped the party stop suicide attacks in its stronghold in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Meanwhile, The United States and Iran are getting closer to a political deal that would set the stage for a landmark nuclear agreement.
The sides have twice extended the talks on a long-term accord. They signed an interim deal in November 2013 that gave Iran limited sanctions relief in exchange for some limitations on sensitive nuclear work.
That's because Obama has reached the position of favorable negotiations with Iran so look for sold diplomacy between Iran and the US after the March 17, 2015 elections in Israel.
Hillary Clinton was trying to sabotage Obama's efforts with Iran so Obama's closest adviser, Valerie Jarret, blew the whistle on Clinton's private email use. The email server Clinton used are located in the British Virgin Islands...
Too bad Israel, there will be no bombing runs over Iran anytime soon...
Published on 16 Mar 2015
Israel's Prime Minister recently warned the US Congress he is convinced Iran is on the path to building a nuclear weapon. But the international community has long known there is another state in the region that has a nuclear weapons program- that is Israel itself.
how will this come across to Israel,
originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: crazyewok
What the difference between a terrorist/Rebel and Freedom fighter?
rebel and freedom fighters that truly want freedom attack governments and fight against military targets.
terrorists mainly target civilians, and hide among them.
originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: crazyewok
What the difference between a terrorist/Rebel and Freedom fighter?
rebel and freedom fighters that truly want freedom attack governments and fight against military targets.
terrorists mainly target civilians, and hide among them.
“UN troops monitoring the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria have witnessed interactions between members of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Al Nusra Front who have taken over a large part of the Golan Heights,” said the report, titled “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 4 September to 19 November 2014.” The UN Disengagement Observer Force first detected contacts between Islamist rebels militias and the Israeli military in March 2013. The report said Israel began admitting injured rebels for medical treatment.
originally posted by: buster2010
Seeing how Israel has been providing aid to The Nusra Front why aren't they included on this list?
UN report cites contacts between Israel, Nusra Front in Golan Heights
“UN troops monitoring the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria have witnessed interactions between members of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Al Nusra Front who have taken over a large part of the Golan Heights,” said the report, titled “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 4 September to 19 November 2014.” The UN Disengagement Observer Force first detected contacts between Islamist rebels militias and the Israeli military in March 2013. The report said Israel began admitting injured rebels for medical treatment.
People want to label Iran as a terrorist state for giving aid to terrorist but turn a blind eye when Israel does it. If people want to put one on the list then by all rights they have to put both on the list.
originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
rebel and freedom fighters that truly want freedom attack governments and fight against military targets.
terrorists mainly target civilians, and hide among them.
The right of any community to use force as a means of gaining its political ends is riot admitted in the British Commonwealth. Since the beginning of 1945 the Jews have implicitly claimed this right and have supported by an organized campaign of lawlessness, murder and sabotage their contention that, whatever other interests might be concerned, nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of a Jewish State and free Jewish immigration into Palestine. [..]
Nevertheless, the Jewish community of Palestine still publicly refuses its help to the Administration in suppressing terrorism, on the ground that the Administration's policy is opposed to Jewish interests. The converse of this attitude is clear, and its result, however much the Jewish leaders themselves may not wish it, has been to give active encouragement to the dissidents and freer scope to their activities.
Zionism, however, does not content itself with mere propaganda in favour of the fulfilment of its expansionist projects at the expense of the Arab countries. Its plan involves recourse to terrorism, both in Palestine and in other countries. It is known that a secret army has been formed with a view to creating an atmosphere of tension and unrest by making attempts on the lives of representatives of the governing authority and by destroying public buildings . . .
This aggressive attitude, resulting from the mandatory Power's weakness in dealing with them, will not fail to give rise in turn to the creation of similar organizations by the Arabs. The responsibility for the disturbances which might result therefrom throughout the Middle East will rest solely with the Zionist organizations, as having been the first to use these violent tactics." It was declared at the same meeting that "against a State established by violence, the Arab States will be obliged to use violence; that is a legitimate right of self-defence
The consequent rising tension between the Administration and the Jewish community was in no way eased by the announcement of the Biltmore Programme adopted by the Zionist Conference in New York on 11 May 1942, which, inter alia, called for unlimited immigration and for Palestine to be established as a Jewish Commonwealth. From 1945 onwards, the Jewish resistance to the enforcement of the White Paper was accompanied by increasing acts of violence, culminating in 1946-1947 in the underground activities of the Irgun Zvai Leumi and the so-called Stern Group. Since the July 1946 attack by terrorists on the headquarters of the Administration Secretariat in the King David Hotel, Jerusalem, representatives of the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi have from time to time condemned terrorist activities, and there have been some signs of active opposition to such methods on the part of the Haganah.92/ By June 1946, however, the breach had widened so far that the Administration found it necessary to arrest and detain on grounds of public security some 2,600 Jews, including four members of the Jewish Agency Executive.