Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Summary of DEBKA Exclusives in the Week Ending October 28, 2011
After helping to kill Qaddafi, NATO prepares to end Libya missionDEBKAfile Special Report 21 Oct. Once the fact ofMuammar Qaddafi's abrupt demise on Thursday, Oct. 20, is absorbed, Libya will be left with the same power struggle - with the added horror of blood revenge pursued by his loyalists. Unless proved otherwise, Saif al Islam and his siblings are still around. Their own Qadhafah tribe and its allies, the Qadhafah, Warfalla, Al-Awaqir and Magariha, will not rest until they avenge their leader's death. Furthermore, they remain as hostile as ever to rule over their territory by the National Transitional Council and the tribes of Cyrenaica in eastern Libya which the NTC represents.   DEBKAfile's military sources report mounting indications that a NATO special forces units located and captured Muammar Qaddafi in the Sirte area and handed him seriously wounded to a Misrata militia knowing they would kill him. It was important for his death to be laid at the door of his own people, not NATO. Western alliance leaders figured that as long as Qaddafi was alive and at liberty, the interim government had no chance of establishing its legitimacy and a stable administration and calling an end to the war. October 22, 2011 Briefs: Israeli forces comb through Palestinian villages north of Jerusalem Saturday night for stabbing suspect. The Palestinian may have fled to nearby Beit Iksa after seriously wounding Israel man in Ramot, N. Jerusalem. US Kenya embassy reports credible information of imminent terrorist attack on foreign tourist sites. Six days ago Kenyan soldiers entered Somalia to combat Al Shabaab. Turkish military reports 49 Kurdish rebels killed in southeast in two days. Middle East quartet meets in Jerusalem next Wednesday for another bid to restart peace talks. Saudi Prince Nayef's rise fits in with the Muslim Brotherhood's regional takeover DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis 22 Oct. Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz's passing in New York aged 87 could not have happened at a more auspicious time for his presumed successor, Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, to move up as next in line to the throne after King Abdullah.  Whereas the Muslim clergy backed uprisings against  five other Arab regimes, the Saudi religious establishment is solidly behind the throne – and will especially welcome conservative Prince Nayef. As Sultan lay at death's door in a New York hospital, King Abdullah, aged 89 or 90, summoned an urgent meeting of the princely Allegiance Council, a body he established five years ago for the kingdom's founder's sons and grandsons to manage the transition of power in an orderly and stable manner. Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, Nayef's most vocal opponent was conspicuously absent from the crisis meeting as were representatives of the royal branches which had been out of the line of succession. October 23, 2011 Briefs: Egypt suddenly renews 30 percent of its natural gas supply to Israel Thursday night. The flow was interrupted six times since February by sabotage. Israel counts on Egypt for 43 percent of its gas which powers 40 percent of its electricity. Demobbed Israeli soldiers granted one year's tuition at schools of higher learning by Sunday cabinet meeting. Bodies of Muammar Qaddafi and his son Mutassim remain on public display in Misratah Sunday. Medical autopsy confirms Qaddafi died of gunshot to the head. US pullback to leave 30,000 Iranian Al Qods fighters sitting in Iraq DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis 23 Oct. The US exit from Iraq at year's end leaves in place 30,000 fighters of the Iran's Al Qods Brigades trained in elite guerilla warfare. At least half are disguised as private security personnel for Iraqi ministers and politicians in Baghdad, providing Tehran with a strong lever of manipulation. America's Iraq war therefore draws to a close as thousands of Al Qods operatives take up positions in the Green Zone, the Baghdad enclave built at great cost for US headquarters in Iraq.  Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is so completely in thrall to Iran that he was afraid to accede to Washington's insistent demand for immunity to be extended to at least 5,000 US soldiers remaining in Iraq. The Iranian regime's right hand for achieving those goals was – and is - Al Qods commander Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the man accused by Washington of masterminding the assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador. October 24, 2011 Briefs: Heavy Turkish tank forces with APCs cross into northern Iraq to hit PKK Qandil strongholds. Syria recalls ambassador from Washington after US ambassador Robert Ford pulled out of Damascus over security concern. Jerusalem police calls off imminent terror alert hours after it was imposed Monday afternoon. FM Lieberman: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is biggest obstacle to peace and regional order. If Abbas goes, there is a chance to reignite the peace process. If he were to resign it would be a blessing. Any successor would better for Israel, said foreign minister. All he wants is to inscribe himself in history books for bringing a Palestinian state.  Israel bank interest remains at 3 percent. Defecting Syrian army officers and soldiers set up anti-regime brigade in Deir al-Zour. Grenade injures 16 in Kenya nightclub. US and UK warned visitors of terror threat after Kenyan forces entered Somalia to fight al Shabaab.	US and NATO allies vie over "kudos" for Qaddafi's terminationDEBKAfile Special Report 24 Oct. After Muammar Qaddafi's death Thursday, Oct. 20, a quiet contest is afoot between the US, France and Germany over the credit for his termination and the ending of the alliance's military role in Libya. The episode demonstrated that in the Middle East and North Africa, the Western allies have no compunctions about terminating dictatorships abruptly nor about liberated societies shifting to fundamentalist Islamic regimes committed to Sharia law. Libya's transitional leader Mustafa Abdul-Jaliladdressing a crowd of celebrants in Benghazi announced: "Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its basic source." He promised to revoke the Qaddafi code which outlawed polygamy and restore the Islamic banking laws banning interest on loans.  He was not bothered by the delay in burying Qaddafi in violation of Islamic law so that the public could view his body for three days. NATO managed to finish Qaddafi off but its leaders are far from controlling the transition. October 25, 2011 Briefs: Turkey belatedly accepts foreign aid for earthquake survivors, including from Israel. Plane left  Israel Wednesday with mobile homes for survivors in near freezing conditions. World leaders attend funeral of Saudi heir to the throne Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz in Riyadh Tuesday. Among them US VP Biden, UAR rulers, Pakistani and Afghan presidents. Iran was represented by FM Salehi. Present too was the Syrian president's estranged uncle and opposition leader Rifaat Assad. The procession of mourners led by Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz expected to succeed him as crown prince amid tight security. Sixty Israeli drones produced in Azerbaijan for Baku DEBKAfile Special Report 25 Oct. Azerbaijan's election to a UN Security Council non-permanent seat brings to the world body a government with lively relations with Israel. It also highlights the rivalry between the Israeli and Turkish military industries for the Baku market. Russia, Iran and Armenia, too, are looking askance at the rapid arming of Azerbaijani armed forces with Israeli drones, 60 of which roll out of Azerbaijan factories in two months. The partners are now discussion the co-production of missile-bearing drones and spy satellites. Both Moscow and Tehran are actively looking for ways to torpedo this expanding military partnership. Turkey, for its part, made an unsuccessful effort to freeze Israel out of the Azerbaijan drone market by offering its own product which was refused because it is still in the prototype stage. October 26, 2011 Briefs: Grad missile from Gaza explodes near Ashdod Wednesday night. Several shock victims. Rehovot, Rishon Lezion, Kiryat Malachi, Gedera on high rocket alert. Explosive device damages IDF vehicle in Gush Etzion, West Bank. No casualties. Arab foreign ministers arrive in Damascus to persuade Assad to negotiate with the opposition. Syrian opposition leaders refuse to meet Assad until he promises to step down. At least 9 Syrian soldiers killed by rebel RPG hit on their truck near Homs. French FM Juppe: Syrian government fall is unavoidable but could take time. Russia sells Iran mobile radar-jammers against air or missile attack DEBKAfile Special Report 26 Oct.Moscow has sold Iran the highly-advanced Avtobaza truck-mounted systems capable of jamming airborne radar and the electronic guidance instruments of attacking missiles. This deal, announced in Moscow Tuesday, Oct. 25, substantially boosts Russian military assistance to the Islamic Republic, especially of defensive weaponry.  The US and Israel suspect the Avotbaza jammers are only the first installment of the complete  ELINT-electronic signals system for disabling planes and missiles over the entire Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. DEBKAfile’s military sources describe the Avrobaza jamemrs as able to simultaneously detect and electronically jam 60 targets within a 150-kilometer radius at angles ranging 360 degrees on 20 minutes notice from an alert. October 27. 2011 Briefs: Hundreds of Qataris fought with Libyan rebels in every region, the Qatari chief of staff revealed. Three wanted Palestinians detained near Bethlehem. American-Israeli Ilan Grapel held in Egypt as suspected spy is flown from Cairo to Tel Aviv Thursday. Israel simultaneously handed over 25 jailed Egyptians, most Sinai Bedouin, at Taba crossing. At least 27 people killed, 11 of them soldiers, general strike paralyzed parts of Syria - as Arab envoys in Damascus sought dialogue. Syria sows mines along its borders DEBKAfile Exclusive Report 28 Oct. In the last 48 hours, the Syrian engineering corps has laid minefields along the Jordanian, Turkish borders to cut down on the influx of weapons and armed manpower supporting the anti-Assad opposition and the outflow of army deserters.  DEBKAfile's military sources add: By this action, Syria also aims to seal itself off against foreign military intervention by Arab or NATO troops. Since Muammar Qaddafi's death Bashar Assad fears he is facing Arab military intervention backed by NATO.