Last year we heard reports that Russia planed to build permanent bases on Syrian soil as part of a large arms deal between the two countries. Defense establishment officials fear Russian ships may try to spy on Israel's weapon systems. Today we have this: Heavy storm exposes Russian Syria-based spy ship off Israel shore. With the reports that Iran continues on a nuclear path, this is very bad news for the United States and Israel.
DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that the Russian Amur 1 Class PM 138 naval boat, caught up in the heavy storm raging across the Middle East and Mediterranean last week, flashed a distress signal Tuesday Feb. 19. The vessel was on its way from a Syrian port to Sevastopol on the Black Sea when it was thrown off course by the high seas. A Greek Navy frigate responded to the call and escorted the PM 138 to the island of Chios.
The Russian Navy spokesmen said the ship’s crew numbered 99. It was unarmed and was heading for home port after a long stay at one of the Syrian Navy’s Mediterranean bases.
Certain facts were accidentally disclosed as a result of the storm, DEBKAfile’s military sources point out:
1. Russian naval vessels are spending long periods running into months at the Syrian military bases of Latakia and Tartous.
2. Witnesses in Greece say the vessel, described officially as an auxiliary repair craft, boasted an unusual number of antennas for gathering intelligence. Its mission was clearly to gather information on Israeli military and naval movements while cruising opposite the Israeli coast.
Our sources add that, in recent months, the Russian Admiral Kutznetsov carrier with 47 Su-33 fighter-bombers and 10 helicopters on its decks visited one of the Syrian naval bases, along with the huge Moskva missile cruiser.
Israel officials prefer to ignore this mounting Russian naval presence to the north so as not to mar relations with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Rescued Russian spy ship in Greek port.
Russia has hitched her star to Iran, her agents Syria, and by this relationship to Hamas, Hezbollah and terrorism. Russia is headed down a serious path, turning away from any relationship it could have had with the United States and the West. Russia's Vlad Putin is ticked off at the US for several petty reasons. We need to WATCH HIM and Russia very closely.
The following is background and experts who will be writing in the coming week on the IAEA's latest findings and what the West can do to stop them (thanks to Insights Into Today's Middle East)
On Friday, 22 February, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report concerning Iran’s nuclear program. Contrary to Iranian public insistence that its nuclear program is non-military in nature, the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council has unanimously adopted binding resolutions that calls on Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities, as such activities have virtually no civilian use. [1].
For further information about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme: Background & Experts List
Background Information:
Timeline: Iran's Nuclear Programme, 31 Jan 2008
The IAEA-Iran Agreement (Work Plan), 15 Nov 2007
Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator: Saeed Jalili, Oct 2007Dr. Sami Al Faraj
President of the Kuwait Centre For Strategic Studies, the oldest private think tank in the Gulf region dedicated to the study of and research in strategic issues pertaining to Gulf security from actual policy-making perspective, he is a consultant on national security and strategic planning to different governmental, parliamentary and private agencies, an international lawyer, and a frequent writer and TV and radio guest on Gulf Security, strategy, the strategic history of the Muslims, and international law issues.Simon Henderson
Baker fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Institute's Gulf and Energy Policy Programme, specialising in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf. He served as a foreign correspondent with the Financial Times and BBC in Pakistan in 1977-78, and reported from Iran during the 1979 Islamic revolution.Claude Moniquet
Claude Moniquet is an expert on counter-terrorism and extremism and a specialist on Near and Middle East issues. He is the director of the European Strategic and Intelligence Center. Moniquet focuses on terror networks and their European connections. He has published several books and studies including: "The Faceless War" (2002); "Jihad. Secret History and European Networks" (2004); and "Jihad and Islamism in Belgium" (2005).
Frédéric Encel
Frederic Encel is a Middle East expert and author. Encel earned a Ph.D. in Geo-policy at the University of Paris VII and teaches International Relations at the International Institute of Public Administration and at the Institute of Political Studies in Rennes. He is a prolific author and has published several books including: "The Art of War: Strategies and Battles" (2000); "Geopolitics of Israel" (2004) "Understanding the Middle-East: A Necessity for the Republic" (2006). He also works in the field of risk-analysis.
Dr. Matthias KüntzelMatthias Küntzel, Ph.D., is an author and a political scientist from Hamburg, Germany. Küntzel has been researching, writing and publishing on the threat of Islamic Fundamentalism and Iran. In 2006, his work on Ahmadinejad, the Bassiji movement, and Germany's policy towards Iran was published in Internationale Politik, and in The New Republic. Küntzel is also a member of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
Dr. Victor MizinDr. Victor Mizin, Vice-President of the Moscow based Center for Strategic Assessments, member of the Center for Political and Military Prognosis of the Russian Academy of Science IMEMO Institute, and the board of the Russian NGO Committee on Critical Technologies and Nonproliferation. Dr. Mizin formally served as a member of Russia 's Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he concentrated on arms control, non-proliferation and global security.
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Reference
[1] "IAEA declines comment on Iran nuclear weapons claims," Middle East Times , 20 February 2008
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