LETUPAN berat di PUSAT BANDAR Beirut MEMBUNUH bekas menteri KERAJAAN . . .

JohnnyAdam – Satu letupan besar telah menggoyahkan pusat bandar ibu kota Lubnan, membunuh bekas menteri kerajaan Mohammed Shattah. Televisyen Lubnan menunjukkan rakaman mayat terbaring berhampiran bangkai.

Sekurang-kurangnya 5 orang terbunuh dalam letupan yang pergi hanya beberapa ratus meter dari bangunan parlimen dan lain-lain ibu pejabat pegawai kerajaan,  kata Reuters, memetik sumber-sumber keselamatan.

Ambulans bergegas ke tempat kejadian yang mana Almustaqbal TV Lebanon menyiarkan rakaman Selepas itu, dengan kereta yang tembakar dan runtuhan sampah jalan. Lubnan Perbadanan Penyiaran dilaporkan letupan itu disebabkan oleh sebuah kereta yg tersem-bunyi - terperangkap.

Sebelum Mohammed Shattah telah penasihat kepada bekas Perdana Menteri Fuad Siniora dan Saad Hariri dan juga telah berkhidmat sebagai duta Lubnan ke Washington. Shattah telah dilaporkan dalam perjalanan ke mesyuarat Alliance 14 Mac akibat yang akan diada-kan di ‘Center House’ di kawasan pusat bandar, apabila konvoi beliau telah dilanda oleh letupan itu.

Perikatan adalah terdiri daripada wakil-wakil dari parti-parti politik dan individu yang menentang rejim semasa di negara jiran Syria. Keganasan berterusan di Syria telah merentasi sempadan ke negara jiran Lubnan pada beberapa kesempatan, di mana populasi adalah dibahagikan kerana sokongannya terhadap Presiden Bashar Assad kepe-ritan hidup.

Mohammed Shattah adalah seorang pengkritik lantang terhadap Bashar Assad dan telah secara terbuka menyuarakan penentangannya terhadap pengaruh Hizbullah di Lubnan.

Heavy explosion in downtown Beirut kills 

former govt minister . . .

A large explosion has shaken the downtown area of the Lebanese capital, killing former government minister Mohammed Shattah. Lebanese television showed footage of dead bodies lying near the wreckage.

At least 5 people were killed in the explosion that went off just a few hundred meters from the parliament building and other official government headquarters, said Reuters, citing security sources.

Ambulances rushed to the site of the explosion. Almustaqbal TV Lebanon broadcast footage of the aftermath, with burning cars and rubble littering the street. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation reported the blast was caused by a booby-trapped car.

Mohammed Shattah had previously been advisor to former Prime Ministers Fuad Siniora and Saad Hariri and had also served as Lebanon’s envoy to Washington. Shattah had reportedly been on his way to a meeting of the March 14 Alliance due to be held at the Center House in the downtown area, when his convoy was hit by the blast.

The Alliance is made up of representatives from political parties and individuals who are against the current regime in neighboring Syria. The on-going violence in Syria has spilled over the border into neighboring Lebanon on a number of occasions, where the population is divided over its support of embattled President Bashar Assad.

Mohammed Shattah was an outspoken critic of Bashar Assad and had openly voiced his opposition to the influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Orang berlari untuk membantu seorang lelaki yang cedera asap naik dari tapak letupan di pusat bandar Beirut 27 Disember 2013. (Reuters/Jamal Saidi - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Anggota tentera Lubnan dijalankan pada tapak letupan di pusat bandar Beirut 27 Disember 2013. (Reuters/Steve Crisp - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Kakitangan Pertahanan Awam memadamkan kebakaran pada kereta di tapak letupan di pusat bandar Beirut 27 Disember 2013. (Reuters/Steve Crisp - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/3rhny3

Amerika Syarikat secara rahsia menghantar peluru berpandu Neraka, Drone ke Iraq

JohnnyAdam – Dalam usaha untuk mengalahkan kembali keuntungan oleh pemberontak Al-Qaeda, Amerika Syarikat adalah bergerak “berpuluh-puluh” peluru berpandu Hellfire dan pesawat pengawasan Drone ke Iraq. Menurut laporan oleh New York Times, keputusan datang selepas Perdana Menteri Iraq Nuri Kamal al-Maliki meminta bantuan daripada Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama semasa mesyuarat di Washington pada bulan lepas.

Keadaan di Iraq telah menjadi satu kebimbangan yang serius sejak tahun lepas, sebagai pemberontak dari Negeri Islam di Iraq dan Syria - affiliate Al-Qaeda serantau - merebak melalui bahagian barat dan utara negara ini, dan juga berhampiran Syria. Lebih 9,000 rakyat Iraq terbunuh pada tahun 2013. Angka itu merangkumi 3 serangan bom yang mengorbankan hampir 40 orang pada Hari Krismas.

Walaupun pergerakan peluru berpandu - 75 peluru berpandu Hellfire yang dihantar ke Iraq bersama 10 pesawat pengawasan ScanEagle - sesetengah pakar percaya tindak balas Amerika Syarikat tidak mencukupi tanpa penggunaan senjata tentera yang lebih kuat, seperti pesawat bersenjata.

Walaupun Menteri Luar Iraq telah mencadangkan satu operasi Drone Amerika dijalankan sebagai kemungkinan, Maliki - yang mungkin berjalan untuk kali yang ke-3 sebagai perdana menteri - belum lagi membuat permintaan tersebut.

“Kami belum menerima permintaan rasmi untuk Amerika Syarikat yang dikendalikan pesawat tentera yang beroperasi ke atas Iraq, dan tidak juga kita merancang untuk mengalihkan ISR bersenjata ke atas Iraq,” Bernadette Meehan , seorang jurucakap Majlis Keselamatan Negara, memberitahu The New York Times.

Menurut Michael Knights daripada Washington Institut Near Dasar Timur, Drone penin-jauan tidak mungkin melawan arus terhadap pemberontak, memandangkan pelbagai kecil ianya.

“Keperluan sebenar hari ini adalah untuk jarak jauh, tinggi daya tahan keupayaan Drone bersenjata,” kata Knights. “Terdapat satu tempat di DUNIA di mana Al-Qaeda boleh menja-lankan affiliate utama tanpa takut kepada Drone Amerika Syarikat atau serangan udara, dan yang ada di Iraq dan Syria.”

Bagi sebahagian, pentadbiran Obama telah menyatakan bahawa penghantaran semasa bekalan tentera akan membantu kerana Iraq telah pada dasarnya digunakan peluru ber-pandu cache, tidak mempunyai operasi udara sebenar, dan mempunyai keupayaan penga-wasan sedikit.

Rancangan lain untuk menyediakan Iraq dengan bekalan juga menghadapi jalan buntu di Kongres, di mana rang undang-undang untuk memajak dan menjual pejuang Apache helikopter negara ke Baghdad adalah meringkuk di kalangan kebimbangan bahawa Maliki akan menggunakan mereka untuk membuli pesaing politiknya. Jika tiada tindakan Amerika, Maliki telah membeli helikopter MI-35 dari Rusia.

Sejak pemergian tentera Amerika Syarikat pada tahun 2011, Al-Qaeda telah dapat mewu-judkan semula kehadirannya di Iraq dengan memberi makan kira-kira kebencian terhadap kerajaan Sunni Syiah Maliki. Melalui pangkalannya di Syria, pemberontak dapat meng-gunakan hampir 40 pengebom berani mati sebulan terhadap Syiah Iraq dan Sunni tidak mahu jatuh di bawah pemerintahan mereka.

Menurut pegawai polis tempatan Ayad Shaker, ia tidak membantu bahawa keupayaan tentera negara itu tidak kuat seperti yang seharusnya. “Saya berjuang Al-Qaeda,” katanya. “Saya sedih hari ini apabila saya melihat mereka mempunyai kuasa tertinggi di Anbar, bergerak dan bekerja di bawah matahari tanpa penghalang.”

Gareth Porter, seorang wartawan dan . Amerika Syarikat keselamatan negara ahli sejarah, memberitahu RT bahawa peristiwa ini memaksa tentera Amerika untuk menjelaskan kedudukannya berhubung dengan Timur Tengah. Amerika Syarikat telah mampu menye-diakan jet pejuang F-16 ke Iraq, tetapi secara konsisten memilih untuk tidak.

“Saya berfikir bahawa terdapat satu tahap yang tidak konsisten di sini dan saya berfikir bahawa apa yang berlaku adalah bahawa Amerika Syarikat tidak pernah benar-benar mempunyai strategi yang jelas mengenai apa isu utama, ancaman utama adalah di Timur Tengah,” kata Porter.

“Ia di satu sudut telah terus menganggap dirinya sebagai sebahagian daripada jajaran yang luas terhadap Iran dan pengaruhnya di rantau ini dan di sisi lain ia telah cuba untuk membuat sedikit usaha terhadap pengaruh dan ancaman kumpulan jihad Al -Qaeda berorientasikan, terutamanya di Iraq dan Syria tetapi juga di Lubnan juga.”

Porter berkata, keputusan ini boleh berdasarkan kesilapan kebelakangan ini, terutamanya memandang rendah kumpulan pelampau di rantau tu “Saya rasa mereka telah gagal untuk mengambil cukup serius sejauh mana Amerika Syarikat tidak stabil Iraq - agak serius.

“Dan telah menyebabkan masalah pasti meluas dan jangka panjang,” katanya lagi. “Saya fikir ada tahap penafian, jika anda akan, dengan mengambil kira dasar Amerika Syarikat terhadap Iraq. Mereka telah cuba untuk membuat tuntutan bagi tahun sekarang bahawa keadaan itu sedang stabil, bahawa tahap keganasan telah pergi ke bawah. Saya fikir mereka benar-benar menyangkal soalan itu.”

US secretly sends Hellfire missiles, drones to Iraq

In an attempt to beat back gains by Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, the United States is moving “dozens” of Hellfire missiles and surveillance drones into Iraq. According to a report by The New York Times, the decision comes after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki requested help from US President Barack Obama during a meeting in Washington last month.

The situation in Iraq has become a serious concern over the last year, as insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - Al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate - spread through western and northern parts of the country, as well as nearby Syria. More than 9,000 Iraqis have been killed in 2013. That figure includes three bombings that killed nearly 40 people on Christmas Day.

Despite the movement of missiles – 75 Hellfire missiles are being sent to Iraq alongside 10 ScanEagle surveillance drones – some experts believe the US response to be insufficient without the deployment of more powerful military weapons, such as armed drones.

While Iraq’s foreign minister has suggested an American-run drone operation as a possibility, Maliki - who is likely running for a third term as prime minster - has yet to make such a request.

“We have not received a formal request for US-operated armed drones operating over Iraq, nor are we planning to divert armed I.S.R. over Iraq,” Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told The New York Times.

According to Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the reconnaissance drones aren’t likely to turn the tide against the insurgents, considering their small range.

“The real requirement today is for a long-range, high-endurance armed drone capability,” Knights said. “There is one place in the world where Al-Qaeda can run a major affiliate without fear of a US drone or air attack, and that is in Iraq and Syria.”

For its part, the Obama administration has stated that the current shipment of military supplies will be helpful because Iraq has essentially used up its cache of missiles, has no real air presence, and has little surveillance capability.

Other plans to provide Iraq with supplies have also stalled in Congress, where a bill to lease and sell the country's Apache helicopter gunships to Baghdad is languishing among concern that Maliki would use them to bully his political rivals. In the absence of American action, Maliki has purchased MI-35 helicopters from Russia.

Since the departure of US forces in 2011, Al-Qaeda has been able to re-establish its presence in Iraq by feeding off of Sunni resentment towards Maliki’s Shiite government. Through its base in Syria, the insurgents are able to deploy nearly 40 suicide bombers a month against Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis unwilling to fall under their rule.

According to local police officer Ayad Shaker, it doesn’t help that the country’s military capabilities aren’t as strong as they should be. “I fought Al-Qaeda,” he said. “I am sad today when I see them have the highest authority in Anbar, moving and working under the sun without deterrent.”

Gareth Porter, a journalist and US national security historian, told RT that these events are forcing the American military to clarify its position with regards to the Middle East. The US has been capable of providing F-16 fighter jets to Iraq, but has consistently chosen not to.

“I think that there is a degree of inconsistency here and I think that what has been happening is that the United States has never really had a clear-cut strategy with regard to what the primary issue, the primary threat is in the Middle East,” Porter said.

“It has on one hand continued to regard itself as part of a broad alignment against Iran and its influence in the region and on the other hand it has tried to make some efforts against the influence and the threat of Al-Qaeda oriented jihadist groups, particularly in Iraq and Syria but also in Lebanon as well.”

Porter said that this decision could be based on recent mistakes, particularly an underestimation of extremist groups in the region. “I think they have failed to take seriously enough the degree to which the United States destabilized Iraq - quite seriously.

And has caused problems certainly far-reaching and long-term,” he continued. “I think there's a degree of denial, if you will, with regard to US policy toward Iraq. They have been trying to claim for years now that the situation is being stabilized, that the level of violence had gone down. I think they were really in denial on that question.”

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/dtbmqt

Drone laut berkuasa untuk tentera laut 

BerPERANG dalam air . . .

Slocum Glider (Image from whoi.edu - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

JohnnyAdam – Walaupun pesawat Amerika rondaan langit di negara-negara yang dilan-da perang seperti Afghanistan, Amerika Syarikat juga ingin mewujudkan kehadiran yang sama di lautan di DUNIA - dengan menggunakan pesawat di bawah air.

Lautan - faring pesawat baru, yang dipanggil “Peluncur Slocum,” tidak perlu bahan api berfungsi seperti rakan-rakan udara mereka lakukan. Sebaliknya, ianya kuasa diri dengan arus laut itu sendiri, senyap-senyap mengimbas kawasan sekitar dan memberi maklumat kembali ke kapal-kapal tentera lain.

Menggunakan proses digelar “keapungan hidraulik,” yang Glider boleh melaraskan ketum-patan berdasarkan air di sekelilingnya. Ini membolehkan Drone untuk tenggelam lebih rendah atau menaikkan dirinya di kalangan arus lautan, bergerak pada kelajuan sehingga satu batu (1.6 km) sejam.

Menurut laporan oleh Time, Tentera Laut kini sedang merancang untuk menghantar salah satu glider ini pada ujian jangka lima tahun. Drone dinamakan selepas Kapten Joshua Slocum, yang menjadi orang pertama belayar sendirian di seluruh DUNIA pada tahun 1800-an.

Pada masa ini, glider mengumpul data yang berkaitan dengan air di sekitar, yang boleh digunakan dengan berkesan menentukurkan sonar. Baru kontrak $ 203,000 dengan Penye-lidikan Teledyne Webb, bagaimanapun, mempunyai potensi untuk menambah lebih banyak keupayaan untuk mesin. Akhirnya, Tentera Laut berharap bahawa sekumpulan glider akan dapat mengesan lombong bawah air dan kapal selam musuh sekiranya berlaku peperangan.

“Membawa pelbagai sensor, ianya boleh diprogramkan untuk membuat rondaan selama beberapa minggu pada satu masa, permukaan untuk menghantar data ke pesisir semasa memuat turun arahan baru secara berkala, merealisasikan penjimatan kos yang besar ber-banding dengan kapal-kapal permukaan tradisional,” baca lanjut Slocum halaman Glider pada website Teledyne ini.

Glider telah mula ditugaskan oleh Tentera Laut pada tahun 2009 , apabila ia melabur hanya lebih $ 56 Juta untuk sehingga 150 “Littoral Battleship-Sensing” glider. Ini dijadual tiba pada tahun 2014, dan menurut Masa, Tentera Laut berharap ianya akan digunakan “untuk langkah-langkah tindakan saya dan tugas-tugas lain yang penting untuk ekspedisi peperangan . . . akhirnya mengurangkan atau menghapuskan keperluan untuk pelayar dan Marin untuk memasuki cetek berbahaya air hanya di luar pesisir pantai dalam usaha untuk membersihkan periuk api dalam persediaan untuk operasi ekspedisi.”

Sementara itu, laporan NATO dari tahun lepas diterokai kemungkinan bahawa glider boleh dilancarkan secara langsung dari kapal selam bukan kapal permukaan.

“Glider operasi daripada kapal selam merupakan satu langkah ke hadapan untuk mene-rapkan teknologi ini ke dalam operasi tentera laut,” kata laporan itu. “Tidak seperti kapal-kapal permukaan, kapal selam adalah platform stealth yang boleh transit menafikan kawasan semasa melepaskan satu kumpulan peluncur,” laporan itu dinyatakan.

Walaupun Amerika Syarikat memperluaskan keupayaan pengawasan di bawah laut, ia juga menggunakan lautan untuk meningkatkan armada pesawat udara. Awal bulan ini, RT melaporkan bahawa Tentera Laut berjaya melancarkan Drone udara ke langit dari kapal selam.

Navy’s ocean-powered drones to wage underwater war

While American drones patrol the skies in war-torn countries like Afghanistan, the United States is also looking to establish a similar presence in the world’s oceans – by using underwater drones.

The new ocean-faring drones, called “Slocum Gliders,” won’t need fuel to function like their aerial counterparts do. Instead, they’ll power themselves with the ocean current itself, stealthily scanning the surrounding area and feeding information back to other military vessels.

Using a process dubbed “hydraulic buoyancy,” the Glider can adjust its density based on the water around it. This allows the drone to sink lower or raise itself up among the ocean currents, moving at a speed of up to one mile (1.6 km) an hour.

According to a report by Time, the Navy is currently planning to send one of these gliders on a five-year test run. The drones are named after Captain Joshua Slocum, who became the first man to single-handedly sail around the entire world in the late 1800s.

Currently, the gliders gather data related to the surrounding water, which can be used to effectively calibrate sonar. A new $203,000 contract with Teledyne Webb Research, however, has the potential to add more capabilities to the machines. Eventually, the Navy hopes that a group of gliders will be able to detect underwater mines and enemy submarines in the event of war.

“Carrying a wide variety of sensors, they can be programmed to patrol for weeks at a time, surfacing to transmit their data to shore while downloading new instructions at regular intervals, realizing a substantial cost savings compared to traditional surface ships,” reads the Slocum Glider page on Teledyne’s website.

The gliders were first commissioned by the Navy in 2009, when it invested just over $56 million for up to 150 “Littoral Battleship-Sensing” gliders. These are scheduled to arrive in 2014, and according to Time, the Navy is hoping they will be used “for mine countermeasures and other tasks important to expeditionary warfare...ultimately reducing or eliminating the need for sailors and Marines to enter the dangerous shallow waters just off shore in order to clear mines in preparation for expeditionary operations.”

Meanwhile, a NATO report from last year explored the possibility that gliders could be launched directly from submarines instead of surface ships.

“Operating gliders from submarines represents a step forward to embedding this technology into naval operations,” the report said. “Unlike surface ships, submarines are stealth platforms that could transit denied areas while releasing a glider fleet,” the report stated.

Even as the US expands its surveillance capabilities under the sea, it is also using the ocean to boost its fleet of airborne drones. Earlier this month, RT reported that the Navy successfully launched an aerial drone into the sky from a submerged submarine.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/2aex8z

Firman Allah Ta’ala: “Telah timbul berbagai kerosakan dan bala bencana di darat dan di laut dengan sebab apa yang telah dilakukan oleh tangan manusia; (timbulnya yang demikian) kerana Allah hendak merasakan mereka sebahagian dari balasan perbuatan-perbuatan buruk yang mereka telah lakukan, supaya mereka kembali (insaf dan bertau-bat)”.  (Ar Rum QS30:41)

GOD Almighty Say in the HOLY 'QURAN: “Mischief has appeared and disaster on land and sea because of what was done by the hand of man; That (Allah) may make them taste a part of the consideration of the bad deeds they have done, that they might turn (repent and repent)”. (Ar Rum QS30:41)