What Really Happened at the Port of Beirut?

Source: BESA

By Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar

August 7 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred at a warehouse on the waterfront of the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. It killed at least 135 people, wounded at least 5,000, left approximately 300,000 people homeless, and devastated the port region of the city, causing damages estimated between $10 billion and $15 billion. The Lebanese authorities are blaming the explosion on mismanagement by port officials, but there is reason to suspect that it was the result of Hezbollah negligence.


The official report of the Lebanese authorities on the massive August 4 explosion at the Port of Beirut is that a warehouse near the water containing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded. They claim that this material had been in the warehouse for over six years, with the approval of the court, and confirmed this claim with documentation.


With all due respect to the Lebanese authorities, I do not buy this story. I believe that explosives, ammunition, and missile fuel (which are highly volatile and flammable substances) were stored by Hezbollah in this warehouse after being shipped from Iran. There are several reasons why I believe this.


There was a series of at least three explosions, each of which had a different result. The first created a gray column of smoke that remained for several minutes. The second, a column of red smoke, also remained for several minutes, while the third created a white mushroom cloud that dissipated within seconds. This suggests that at least three different materials were stored in that warehouse (see video).


Anyone familiar with how a port operates knows that the front row of warehouses, which are closest to the water, are used for short-term storage. Cargo that is meant to be stored long-term is moved to warehouses further away from the water.


Anyone who ships sensitive cargo and does not want it to be seen, photographed, or targeted by others from air, space, or ground tries to hide it as close as possible to the water. The warehouse that exploded was on the water’s edge.


After Israel (according to foreign sources) attacked the warehouses at Damascus Airport several times, Beirut Seaport replaced Damascus Airport as the destination for Hezbollah’s ammunition and explosives imports from Iran. What used to arrive at Damascus Airport by air is now brought to Beirut by ship. For Hezbollah’s purposes, the warehouses at the port of Beirut have replaced the warehouses of Damascus Airport.


What probably happened on August 4 was an explosion of volatile and flammable materials that were incorrectly stored by Hezbollah for at least a day in a metal, non-airconditioned warehouse. As it is midsummer, temperatures are very high. I believe missile-fuel fumes evaporated from a container and touched the hot wall or ceiling, where they ignited and caused a chain reaction of explosions.


Less than an hour after the explosions, Hezbollah announced that the exploded material was ammonium nitrate. Hezbollah was the first to report it. The reason: Hezbollah was looking for a way to cover up its own negligence and establish an official version that deflected attention away from itself, because no one in the government would dare contradict them.


I suspect that very few people in Lebanon buy Hezbollah’s version of the story. I think Hassan Nasrallah is viewed by the Iranians and, indeed, by his own friends in Hezbollah as personally responsible for this disaster. I would not be surprised to hear that he has suffered a “heart attack” and is thus ending his role as Hezbollah’s secretary general. Perhaps the “heart attack” will be fatal.


Note: This is an edited version of a post from the Facebook page of Mordechai Kedar.


Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence specializing in Syria, Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups, and Israeli Arabs, and is an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups.

Lebanon's Economic Collapse: What Happened?

Lebanese anti-government protesters, some wearing protective masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrate in downtown Beirut against Lebanon's worst financial crisis in decades on May 1 

Source: IBT
May 5 2020
By Layal Abou Rahal

Protest-hit Lebanon has approved an economic rescue plan and requested aid from the International Monetary Fund as it battles its worst financial crisis in decades.

But how did Lebanon become one of the most indebted countries in the world? What's the plan out of this quagmire, and how likely is it to work?

After the 1975-1990 civil war, Lebanon set about rebuilding, launching itself on a path of endless borrowing and ballooning debt.

Successive governments focused on developing an economy built around services and tourism, and fuelled by foreign investment, all dependent on stability.

But they neglected structural reforms, as a political class deeply divided along sectarian lines allowed cronyism and graft.

"The economic crisis is, at its core, a governance crisis emanating from a dysfunctional sectarian system that hindered rational policymaking and permitted a culture of corruption and waste," experts wrote in a January report published by Carnegie Middle East.

Over the years, Lebanon was also rocked by a wave of assassinations, the 2006 war with Israel and then a series of attacks after war broke out in Syria in 2011.

Repeated political deadlocks stalled decision-making, with lawmakers on one occasion failing to elect a new president for more than two years.

The debt grew as spending increased, including to subsidise a loss-making electricity sector dependent on fuel imports and to pay high interest rates on the loans themselves.

The balance of payments deficit also deepened as growth slowed, while an oversized banking sector offered huge interests on deposits.

By late 2019, Lebanon had racked up a debt equivalent to 170 percent of its GDP.

The pound has plummeted from 1,507 to more than 4,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the parallel market in recent weeks, and inflation has soared.

Banks imposed crippling capital controls in the autumn, while deteriorating living conditions sparked mass cross-sectarian protests.

An economic reform plan the cabinet approved on April 30 aims to unlock foreign aid, restructure the debt, and cut back on spending including in the electricity sector.

Lebanon aims to drum up $10 billion in financial support, on top of $11 billion in grants and loans pledged by international donors in 2018.

The economic reform plan approved by Lebanon's cabinet on April 30 aims to unlock foreign aid, restructure a debt equivalent to 170 percent of GDP and cut back on spending

But the five-year austerity plan includes measures likely to be unpopular such as a freeze on recruitment in the public sector.

It has also been calculated according to an exchange rate of 3,500 pounds to the dollar.

Nasser Yassin, associate professor of policy and planning at the American University in Beirut, said the plan was a good "diagnosis" of the situation but not complete.

"It's an attempt to solve this thorny crisis through financial and accounting tools to obtain foreign aid through the IMF, yet it imposes harsh conditions when it comes to social benefits and austerity measures," he said.

"The poorest levels of society and the middle class are the ones who will pay the price, with high inflation and the contraction of the economy expected."

Up to 45 percent of Lebanon's population already lives in poverty, official estimates show.

Yassin said such a plan to "redesign the state's financial management" could have benefitted from more consultations on how to break away from the old model of a free-market economy to attract foreign capital.

Its implementation is expected to run up against the interests of political parties in the public sector, he added.

Mohammad Faour, a research fellow in banking and finance at University College Dublin, agreed much depended on "how cooperative the political class will be in enacting them in parliament".

"There's always this worry that political bickering will get in the way," he said.

MPs will need to approve many parts of the plan, including accepting foreign aid, restructuring the debt, and imposing new taxes.

President Michel Aoun has invited the leaders of all parliamentary blocs to discuss the plan Wednesday.

The government, formed in January after protests ousted its predecessor, does not enjoy huge popular support.

But it is backed by key political forces including Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has seats in parliament despite the United States -- and now Germany -- labelling it as "terrorist".

"It will be a hard slog, but Lebanon can get back on its feet with a solid reform plan that is front-loaded with international support," Faour said.

"But the main concern is whether internal politics will permit the implementation of a credible plan."

Israeli Airstrike in Syria Targets Arms Convoy, U.S. Says

In East Jerusalem, Israelis distributed gas masks on Wednesday as worries about security spread.

Πηγή: New York Times
By ISABEL KERSHNER and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Jan 30 2013

JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes carried out a strike deep inside Syrian territory on Wednesday, American officials reported, saying they believed the target was a convoy carrying sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry on the outskirts of Damascus that was intended for the Hezbollah Shiite militia in Lebanon.

The American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saidIsrael had notified the United States about the attack, which the Syrian government condemned as an act of “arrogance and aggression.” Israel’s move demonstrated its determination to ensure that Hezbollah — its arch foe in the north — is unable to take advantage of the chaos in Syria to bolster its arsenal significantly.

The predawn strike was the first time in more than five years that Israel’s air force had attacked a target in Syria. While there was no expectation that the beleaguered Assad government had an interest in retaliating, the strike raised concerns that the Syrian civil war had continued to spread beyond its border.

In a statement, the Syrian military denied that a convoy had been struck. It said the attack had hit a scientific research facility in the Damascus suburbs that was used to improve Syria’s defenses, and called the attack “a flagrant breach of Syrian sovereignty and airspace.”

Israeli officials would not confirm the airstrike, a common tactic here. But it came after days of intense security consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the possible movement of chemical and other weapons around Syria, and warnings that Jerusalem would take action to thwart any possible transfers to Hezbollah.

Thousands of Israelis have crowded gas-mask distribution centers over the last two days. On Sunday, Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defense system in the north, near Haifa, which was heavily bombed during the 2006 war with Lebanon.

Syria and Israel are technically in a state of war but have long maintained an uneasy peace along their decades-old armistice line. Israel has mostly watched warily and tried to stay out of Syria’s raging civil war, fearful of provoking a wider confrontation with Iran and Hezbollah. In November, however, after several mortars fell on Israel’s side of the border, its tanks struck a Syrian artillery unit.

Several analysts said that despite the increased tensions, they thought the likelihood of retaliation for the airstrike was relatively low.

“It is necessary and correct to prepare for deterioration — that scenario exists,” Danny Yatom, a former chief of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, told Ynet, a news Web site. “But in my assessment, there will not be a reaction, because neither Hezbollah nor the Syrians have an interest in retaliating.”

Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, “is deep in his own troubles,” Mr. Yatom said, “and Hezbollah is making a great effort to assist him, in parallel with its efforts to obtain weapons, so they won’t want to broaden the circle of fighting.”

In the United States, the State Department and Defense Department would not comment on reports of the strike.

The episode illustrated how the escalating violence in Syria, which has already killed more than 60,000, is drawing in neighboring states and threatening to destabilize the region further.

Iran has firmly allied itself with Mr. Assad, sending personnel from its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force to Syria and ferrying military equipment to Syria through Iraqi airspace.

Hezbollah, which plays a decisive role in Lebanese politics and has supported Mr. Assad during the uprising by providing training and logistical support to his forces, has long relied on Syria as both a source of weapons and a conduit for weapons flowing from Iran. Some analysts think Hezbollah may be trying to stock up on weapons in case Mr. Assad falls and is replaced by a leadership that is hostile to the militia.

One American official said the trucks targeted on Wednesday were believed to have been carrying sophisticated SA-17 antiaircraft weapons. Hezbollah’s possession of such weapons would be a serious worry for the Israeli government, said Matthew Levitt, a former intelligence official who is at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“Israel is able to fly reconnaissance flights over Lebanon with impunity right now,” Mr. Levitt said. “This could cut into its ability to conduct aerial intelligence. The passing along of weapons to Hezbollah by the regime is a real concern.”

While some analysts said the Assad government might be providing the weapons to Hezbollah as a reward for its support, others were skeptical that Syria would relinquish such a sophisticated system.

Hezbollah has boasted that it has replenished and increased its weapons stocks since the 2006 war with Israel. During that war, Israeli bombardments destroyed some of its arms, and other missiles were used in a barrage that killed Israelis as far south as Haifa and that drove residents of northern Israel into shelters.

The Syrian statement, carried by state television, said an unidentified number of Israeli jets flying below radar had hit the research facility in the Jimraya district, killing two people and causing “huge material damage.” It cast the attack as “another addition to the history of Israeli occupation, aggression and criminality against Arabs and Muslims.”

“The Syrian government points out to the international community that this Israeli arrogance and aggression is dangerous for Syrian sovereignty,” the statement said, “and stresses that such criminal acts will not weaken Syria’s role nor will discourage Syrians from continuing to support resistance movements and just Arab causes, particularly the Palestinian issue.”

The Lebanese Army said in a statement on Wednesday that Israeli warplanes had carried out two sorties, circling over Lebanon for hours on Tuesday and before dawn on Wednesday, but made no mention of any attacks.

Israel has long maintained a policy of silence on pre-emptive military strikes. In October, officials refused to discuss an accusation by Sudan that Israeli airstrikes had destroyed a weapons factory in Khartoum, its capital. Israel also never admitted to the bombing of a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007; Syria kept mum about that attack, too, and the ambiguity allowed the event to pass without Damascus feeling pressure to retaliate.

Amnon Sofrin, a retired brigadier general and former Israeli intelligence officer, told reporters here on Wednesday that Hezbollah, which is known to have been storing some of its more advanced weapons in Syria, was now eager to move everything it could to Lebanon. He said Israel was carefully watching for convoys transferring weapons systems from Syria to Lebanon.

Israel has made it clear that if the Syrian government loses control over its chemical weapons or transfers them to Hezbollah, Israel will feel compelled to act. Avi Dichter, the minister for the home front, told Israel Radio on Tuesday that options to prevent Syria from using or transferring the weapons included deterrence and “attempts to hit the stockpiles.”

“Everything will have ramifications,” Mr. Dichter said. “The stockpiles are not always in places where operative thinking is possible. It could be that hitting the stockpiles will also mean hitting people. Israel has no intention of hitting residents of Syria.”

UPDATE 1-Cyprus seeks gas supplies until 2018

Πηγή: Reuters
Sept 27 2012

The public natural gas company of Cyprus, Defa, said it had approved tender documents for the supply of natural gas to the island until September 2018, when its own reserves were expected to come on stream.

"The process will move very fast, with the objective of reaching a decision by the end of 2012," Defa said in a statement on Thursday.

Cyprus relies on heavy fuel oil to fire its power stations. It reported a significant natural gas find offshore in late 2011 of between 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

The cost of electricity has become almost prohibitively high since an accidental blast virtually levelled the largest generation facility at Vassilikos in July 2011, coupled with elevated prices of fuel.

Defa said the supply of gas from third parties was an interim solution, and said it was not an end in itself. It added that it would only proceed with the supply option if the prices would guarantee a significant reduction in the cost of generating electricity.

In its announcement, the company did not specify the amounts Cyprus may require, though past estimates have put the island's needs as up to 1 bcm per year.

No technology would be excluded, Defa said. "Interested parties can propose any means of supply and transport of natural gas; liquefied, compressed or other," it said.

Significant natural gas discoveries have been reported over the past three years in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Neighbouring Israel has reported two major finds offshore, and Lebanon on Monday reported up to 12 tcf of gas lie off its southern coast.

Surveys have suggested over 100 tcf of reserves could lie untapped throughout the region, a potential that has sparked investor interest but also revived decades-old border disputes.

As Israel And Cyprus Ally Over Energy, The Rest Of The Region Feels The Aftershock

The Homer Ferrington gas drilling rig is seen during President Demetris Christofias' visit to the east Mediterranean island of Nicosia.

Πηγή: International Business Times
By Palash R. Ghosh
June 2 2012

In February, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voyaged to the Greek-Cypriot capital of Nicosia (the first such visit ever by an Israeli leader) to expand and formalize trade pacts between the two unlikely partners.

To a large degree, it was an interesting development but a relatively straightforward pact. That is, except for one aspect of the agreement, which was keenly watched by capitals in the Near East as it represented yet another wrinkle in the jockeying for power and sovereign rights in the region affecting Greece, Turkey and even Lebanon.

It all began with the discovery last year of huge natural gas reserves off the coast of the Greek-dominated Republic of Cyprus, which comprises the southern portion of the tiny Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

This attracted the interest of nearby Israel, which itself made two stunning gas discoveries of its own -- Tamar and Leviathan -- in recent years. The two countries began to discuss how they could help each other take advantage of their new finds, which could make both states energy independent, if not exporters of natural gas.

From Israel's perspective, Cyprus is appealing because it is an EU member, a stable democracy and has a highly developed infrastructure and untapped natural resources. Also, its relationships with former allies Turkey and Egypt are strained and Israel needs new friends in the region.

Meanwhile, Israel is attractive to Cyprus due to its scientific know-how; relative economic stability, strong defense for the protection of gas reserves, and robust capital markets hungry to finance energy ventures and companies.

Netanyahu said at the signing that the gas could be liquefied in either Cyprus or Israel, and subsequently exported either to Europe (through Cyprus) or to Asia (through Israel).

“Israel has offshore discoveries close to Cyprus, as well as already-producing fields, so it would make sense to create commercial synergies for Israeli and Cypriot energy development given the close proximity of the two countries,” said Peter Kiernan of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London.

With a GDP of about $23-billion (about one-tenth that of Israel) and living under the threat of Greece's debt crisis reaching its shores, Cyprus eagerly needs the bounty that would be provided by a giant gas project and the foreign investments that would trigger.

Israel is already exporting about €300 million of goods to Cyprus annually, and this figure is bound to keep climbing.

Indeed, Cyprus' low corporate tax rate (10 percent versus 25 percent in Israel) has already attracted scores of Israeli business-people to set up shop on the island.

These developments represent a dramatic about-face since the 1990s when the Jewish state enjoyed warm relations with Turkey and cool ties with the Cypriots. In retaliation, at that time, Nicosia expressed support for the Arab cause and even invited Palestinian refugees onto the island. Relations worsened after Antroulla Vasiliou, the wife of then-Cypriot President George Vasiliou, tried to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and two alleged Israeli spies were expelled from Cyprus.

Turkey's Looming Shadow

Today, though, Turkey is clearly not pleased.

Since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded Cyprus (in response to an attempt by Greek Cypriot officers to unite with mainland Greece) and formed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (an entity recognized only by Ankara), the island has been hopelessly and perhaps permanently partitioned.

Turkey subsequently sent thousands of poor immigrants onto the island, precluding any hopes of re-unification.

Ankara keeps a close eye on Cypriot affairs and became alarmed when Greek-Cypriots commenced oil drilling activities off the coast last September. In response, the Turks signed their own energy development pact with their allies on the northern part of the disputed island.

Now, the involvement of Israel in Cypriot's oil-and-gas projects has further irritated the Turks. Ankara has formally declared that the Greek-Cypriots had no authority to sign gas deals with Israel, without the participation and permission of Turkish-Cypriots.

"Turkey views energy development on Cyprus' territorial waters as illegitimate under international laws, while status issues from the 1970s remains unresolved, but there isn't much Ankara can really do about it," Kiernan said.

Relations between Israel and Turkey (once strong allies) have deteriorated since Israeli commandos killed Turkish activists who boarded a flotilla challenging the blockade of Gaza in 2010. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since taken a decidedly anti-Israeli stance in his public pronouncements, thereby earning admiration across the Muslim world.

In mid-May, the Turks were further enraged by the entry of Israeli air force jets onto northern Cypriot airspace - a provocation that spurred Turkish jets to patrol the area, but did not lead to any confrontations.

In a particularly inflammatory gesture, Turkey even accused Israel of planning to deploy 20,000 troops in Cyprus to protect the gas projects – an assertion immediately denied by Israel’s foreign ministry (Turkey stations about 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus).

Turkey's claims concerning territorial waters appear to be based upon the assertion of illegitimacy -- or at least non-recognition -- of the state administered from Nicosia, the capital of Greek Cyprus. But Turkey’s claims have little validity beyond Ankara, and besides, its navy is really no match for the Israeli military, said Robert Cutler, senior research fellow in the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University in Canada.

“[Turkey] recently threatened to shut out any firms participating in Cyprus's offshore gas development from projects in Turkey,” said Cutler. “However, no major international firms fall into that category.”

Kiernan cautions, however, that regardless of how Turkey views things, the Israel-Cypriot partnership is still in its embryonic stages.

“Nothing concrete has been decided on yet between any of these countries in terms of energy development,” he noted.

If and when Cyprus begins producing gas, its first priority will be to supply its domestic market, Kiernan said, but there will likely be enough left over for export markets.

“Eventually, there may be some kind of cooperation between Israel and Cyprus over supplying each respective market, or developing liquefied natural gas [LNG] capability jointly, but this is a long way down the road,” he indicated.

In the most optimistic scenario, Cyprus would not even begin exporting LNG until the end of this decade.

Enter Greece, Stage Left

Turkey's historic enemy and the motherland for most Cypriots, Greece, is also a player in this unfolding drama.

Not surprisingly, Israel's relationship with Greece has also improved as its ties with Turkey have weakened.

Prior to the 21st century, Israel and Greece endured strained relations due to a number of factors - among them, Israel's resentment over Athens' support of the Palestinians, as well as Israel's (once) close ties with Turkey.

But last summer, Netanyahu and former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou signed mutual defense pacts. And despite Greece’s massive economic crisis, Quantum Energy, a consortium that includes Greece's state-controlled power utility Public Power Corp. of Greece, plans to construct the world's longest sub-sea power cable, between Israel, Cyprus and Greece - to be called the EuroAsia Interconnector project.

Still, its historical and cultural ties to Cyprus notwithstanding, Greece's role in the natural gas agreement between Israel and Cyprus energy endeavor is likely to be limited, given its crippling fiscal problems and lack of natural resources.

Lebanon's Futile Play

The right to explore for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean is complicated by the fact that Israel is not recognized by most of its neighbors.

For example, Lebanon has complained that the Cyprus-Israel energy agreement infringes on its sovereign rates since it claims some territory in the area of the gas finds.

"There is an issue between Israel and Lebanon as the nautical boundary has not been formally agreed to between these states, which is a symptom of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict," Kiernan said.

"Of course, Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic relations which makes boundary issues even more problematic."

But, there is little that Beirut can do about this quandary.

Exclusive Economic Zones, or EEZs, give nations the right under international laws to tap resources in an area up to 200 nautical miles from a country's coastline.

"What [gas reserves] Israel and Cyprus have discovered so far [falls] within these respective zones, and any resources within that boundary belongs to the country concerned," Kiernan said. "For any third party [like Lebanon] to claim differently would be a long stretch that wouldn't get very far in a court of law."

A New Energy Paradigm In The Eastern Mediterranean?

In a survey of the Eastern Mediterranean maritime region, the U.S. Geological Survey said there were potential resources of 122 trillion cubic feet (3.45 trillion cubic meters) of gas, more than twice Libya’s proved reserves, and a potentially enormous amount of resources in a world increasingly hungry for energy. Indeed, said Avraam Zelilidis, a professor of geology at the University of Patras in Greece, the European Union is excitedly building a pipeline between Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan to carry 1.3- trillion cubic meters of gas, a drop in the bucket compared to what is believed to be in the southern Cypriot basin.

“The Eastern Mediterranean is still a frontier region and there is still a lot to learn, but the recent discoveries made so far in Israel and Cyprus last year are definitely encouraging,” Kiernan added.

Well, at least to Israel and Greece; Turkey and other countries in the region would have something else to say about it.

Lebanon presses Cyprus to revise Israeli EEZ agreement

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour appears during a meeting in Beirut.

Πηγή: The Daily Star
April 4 2012

BEIRUT: Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Tuesday that contacts with Cyprus are ongoing in an effort to make it reconsider its Exclusive Economic Zone agreement with Israel.

“Contacts are ongoing with Cyprus; there is hope and we should reach [positive] results,” Mansour told The Daily Star.

Israel and Cyprus signed their own EEZ agreement in December 2010.

Under the agreement, Israel’s EEZ boundary with Cyprus begins at point 1, 17 kilometers northeast of point 23, where Lebanon proposed its maritime border with Israel when delineating its EEZ with Cyprus in 2007.

In other words, Israel’s EEZ infringes on a roughly 850-square-kilometer stretch of sea that Lebanon considers within its EEZ.

Two massive offshore natural gas fields were discovered near Haifa, a city in northern Israel, in 2009 and 2010. In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the Levantine Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus, could hold as much as 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 34.5 trillion cubic meters of gas.

“It [Cyprus] should resolve the matter. It demarcated its maritime border with Israel at the expense of Lebanon,” Mansour said.

In its Tuesday issue, Lebanon’s As-Safir newspaper quoted Lebanese sources as saying that Cypriot officials responded positively during discussions with the Lebanese side.

The sources said that in its demarcation agreement with Israel, Cyprus considered that point 1 would not be finalized before gaining the consent of all concerned parties, including Lebanon.

According to the sources, U.S. Special Coordinator for Regional Affairs Frederic Ho’s visit to Lebanon, Israel and Cyprusin March gave the impression that U.S. oil companies are not willing to make any investment before maritime disputes are resolved.

Mansour also said that Brazil’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Cesario Melantonio Neto had expressed to officials during a visit to Lebanon this week the willingness of his country to help in offshore drilling for gas and oil in Lebanon’s EEZ.

Official: Iran issues indictments on 15 CIA spies

Πηγή: Trend
By D.Khatinoglu

Dec 13 2011

Indictments has been issued on 15 people charged in spying for the CIA and Mosad, Mehr News Agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Jafar Dolatabadi as saying on Tuesday.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said on Nov.28 that the 12 CIA spies who were recently arrested in Iran ran espionage operations in all various grounds. Answering a question about the operations of these 12 agents recently arrested in Iran, Moslehi said "these individuals were spying in all fields," Fars News Agency reported.

Several foreign spies working for the CIA had been captured by Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent months as well.

On May 21, Iran's Intelligence Ministry issued a statement saying that it had uncovered and dismantled an espionage and sabotage network and arrested 30 individuals suspected of spying for the United States.

The Intelligence Ministry also stated that 42 CIA operatives were identified in connection with the spy network.

According to the statement, the CIA operatives had gathered information from universities and scientific research centers and the nuclear energy, aerospace, defense, and biotechnology industries.

AP Exclusive: Spies outed, CIA suffers in Lebanon

Πηγή: AP
By ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO

Nov 21 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA's operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.

Hezbollah's longtime leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, boasted on television in June that he had rooted out at least two CIA spies who had infiltrated the ranks of Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group closely allied with Iran. Though the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon officially denied the accusation, current and former officials concede that it happened and the damage has spread even further.

In recent months, CIA officials have secretly been scrambling to protect their remaining spies - foreign assets or agents working for the agency - before Hezbollah can find them.

To be sure, some deaths are to be expected in shadowy spy wars. It's an extremely risky business and people get killed. But the damage to the agency's spy network in Lebanon has been greater than usual, several former and current U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about security matters.

The Lebanon crisis is the latest mishap involving CIA counterintelligence, the undermining or manipulating of the enemy's ability to gather information. Former CIA officials have said that once-essential skill has been eroded as the agency shifted from outmaneuvering rival spy agencies to fighting terrorists. In the rush for immediate results, former officers say, tradecraft has suffered.

The most recent high-profile example was the suicide bomber who posed as an informant and killed seven CIA employees and wounded six others in Khost, Afghanistan in December 2009.

Last year, then-CIA director Leon Panetta said the agency had to maintain "a greater awareness of counterintelligence." But eight months later, Nasrallah let the world know he had bested the CIA, demonstrating that the agency still struggles with this critical aspect of spying and sending a message to those who would betray Hezbollah.

The CIA was well aware the spies were vulnerable in Lebanon. CIA officials were warned, including the chief of the unit that supervises Hezbollah operations from CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., and the head of counterintelligence. It remains unclear whether anyone has been or will be held accountable in the wake of this counterintelligence disaster or whether the incident will affect the CIA's ability to recruit assets in Lebanon.

In response to AP's questions about what happened in Lebanon, a U.S. official said Hezbollah is recognized as a complicated enemy responsible for killing more Americans than any other terrorist group before September 2001. The agency does not underestimate the organization, the official said.

The CIA's toughest adversaries, like Hezbollah and Iran, have for years been improving their ability to hunt spies, relying on patience and guile to exploit counterintelligence holes.

In 2007, for instance, when Ali-Reza Asgari, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran, disappeared in Turkey, it was assumed that he was either killed or defected. In response, the Iranian government began a painstaking review of foreign travel by its citizens, particularly to places like Turkey where Iranians don't need a visa and could meet with foreign intelligence services.

It didn't take long, a Western intelligence official told the AP, before the U.S., Britain and Israel began losing contact with some of their Iranian spies.

The State Department last year described Hezbollah as "the most technically capable terrorist group in the world," and the Defense Department estimates it receives between $100 million and $200 million per year in funding from Iran.

Backed by Iran, Hezbollah has built a professional counterintelligence apparatus that Nasrallah - whom the U.S. government designated an international terrorist a decade ago - proudly describes as the "spy combat unit." U.S. intelligence officials believe the unit, which is considered formidable and ruthless, went operational in about 2004.

Using the latest commercial software, Nasrallah's spy-hunters unit began methodically searching for spies in Hezbollah's midst. To find them, U.S. officials said, Hezbollah examined cellphone data looking for anomalies. The analysis identified cellphones that, for instance, were used rarely or always from specific locations and only for a short period of time. Then it came down to old-fashioned, shoe-leather detective work: Who in that area had information that might be worth selling to the enemy?

The effort took years but eventually Hezbollah, and later the Lebanese government, began making arrests. By one estimate, 100 Israeli assets were apprehended as the news made headlines across the region in 2009. Some of those suspected Israeli spies worked for telecommunications companies and served in the military.

Back at CIA headquarters, the arrests alarmed senior officials. The agency prepared a study on its own vulnerabilities, U.S. officials said, and the results proved to be prescient.

The analysis concluded that the CIA was susceptible to the same analysis that had compromised the Israelis, the officials said.

CIA managers were instructed to be extra careful about handling sources in Lebanon. A U.S. official said recommendations were issued to counter the potential problem.

But it's unclear what preventive measures were taken by the Hezbollah unit chief or the officer in charge of the Beirut station. Former officials say the Hezbollah unit chief is no stranger to the necessity of counterintelligence and knew the risks. The unit chief has worked overseas in hostile environments like Afghanistan and played an important role in the capture of a top terrorist while stationed in the Persian Gulf region after the attacks of 9/11.

"We've lost a lot of people in Beirut over the years, so everyone should know the drill," said a former Middle East case officer familiar with the situation.

But whatever actions the CIA took, they were not enough. Like the Israelis, bad tradecraft doomed these CIA assets and the agency ultimately failed to protect them, an official said. In some instances, CIA officers fell into predictable patterns when meeting their sources, the official said.

This allowed Hezbollah to identify assets and case officers and unravel at least part of the CIA's spy network in Lebanon. There was also a reluctance to share cases and some files were put in "restricted handling." The designation severely limits the number of people who know the identity of the source but also reduces the number of experts who could spot problems that might lead to their discovery, officials said.

Nasrallah's televised announcement in June was followed by finger-pointing among departments inside the CIA as the spy agency tried figure out what went wrong and contain the damage.

The fate of these CIA assets is unknown. Hezbollah treats spies differently, said Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism and intelligence expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies who's writing a book about the terrorist organization

"It all depends on who these guys were and what they have to say," Levitt said. "Hezbollah has disappeared people before. Others they have kept around."

Who's responsible for the mess in Lebanon? It's not clear. The chief of Hezbollah operations at CIA headquarters continues to run the unit that also focuses on Iranians and Palestinians. The CIA's top counterintelligence officer, who was one of the most senior women in the clandestine service, recently retired after approximately five years in the job. She is credited with some important cases, including the recent arrests of Russian spies who had been living in the U.S. for years.

Officials said the woman was succeeded by a more experienced operations officer. That officer has held important posts in Moscow, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Balkans, important frontlines of the agency's spy wars with foreign intelligence services and terrorist organizations.