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United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Wednesday that 20 rockets found hidden in a United Nations school in Gaza had gone missing and directed the world body to deploy experts to deal with the situation, Reuters reports. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, found the rockets in one of its vacant schools a week ago. It found a second batch in a vacant school on Tuesday, but said in a statement that because staff were withdrawn quickly, they were “unable to confirm the precise number.” […] Ban “expresses his outrage and regret at the...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Tuesday that using only military means to fight the threat of Islamic State in Syria could radicalize more Sunni armed groups and spark greater violence. “Our long-term strategic objective in Syria remains a political solution,” Ban told the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations is spearheading efforts to end a civil war sparked by President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests more than three years ago. “A purely military response to the vicious new threat posed by (Islamic State) could ultimately contribute to the radicalization of other Sunni armed groups and spark a...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed Sunday for restraint to avoid an escalation in the Syrian conflict, expressing "grave concern" over Israeli air strikes, AFP reported. "The secretary-general calls on all sides to exercise maximum calm and restraint, and to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Nesirky said the United Nations was unable to independently verify the Israeli strikes, and had no details about them, but Ban "expresses grave concern over reports of air strikes in Syria by the Israeli Air...

Lebanon-based Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has rejected a call by visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his terrorist organization to disarm, saying "The resistance is here to stay." Ban told a news conference Friday after meeting with Lebanese leaders, "I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hizbullah and... the lack of progress in disarmament," referring to the requirement for the terrorist group to disarm set forth in the ceasefire agreement with Israel that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Instead, Hizbullah has increased its weapons arsenal to a level beyond that which it had prior to the...

Lapid: Israel-US relations in 'crisis' After Ynet learns White House officials prevented defense minister from meeting Kerry and Biden, Lapid says 'We need to act with more respect. We must remember that US funds and technology helped Gaza operation.' "There is a crisis with the Americans and it needs to be addressed as a crisis," Finance Minister Yair Lapid said Saturday after ongoing tensions between Washington and Jerusalem led US officials to block Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon from meeting with senior administration officials during his current US visit.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday that airstrikes against Islamist militants in Iraq could be counter-productive unless moves were made to create an inclusive government.

Revealed: U.S. Cut Off Arms Supply to Israel During Gaza WarPosted By P. David Hornik On October 22, 2014 @ 12:50 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 11 Comments Last August 14 the Wall Street Journal reported that, in July, after Israel had launched Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Washington had surprised Israel by turning down an Israeli request for “a large number of Hellfire missiles.” Hellfires are an important air-to-surface precision weapon, suited to the kind of warfare Israel was waging against Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.But as Amir Rapaport, a veteran Israeli military-affairs writer and editor...

TEL AVIV — The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to reduce military coproduction with the United States. A leading Israeli analyst asserted that the Defense Ministry and the military agreed to reduce production of Israeli weapons and platforms in the United States. The analyst, Amir Rapaport, said the decision was based on the U.S. suspension of arms deliveries during the 50-day war with Hamas in July and August 2014. “The Israeli defense establishment will reduce the production of weapon systems in the USA in the context of joint Israeli-American projects, and will rely more heavily on Israeli-made products,”...

To be sure, the information provided by Steve Emerson regarding a decision by the U.S. government to stand down on an ongoing attempt to provide the Israeli government with critical information regarding an Israeli soldier whom Hamas claimed it had in its custody during this summer’s conflict was shocking. But perhaps just as shocking – or it should be – was a politically driven smear by Haaretz of Emerson’s credentials and his alleged political friendships, suggesting that was all that was driving Emerson’s claims. Although the Haaretz article claimed Emerson was wrong about the facts that he alleged, its portrayal...

For the IDF, it was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war with Hamas. On July 19 and 20, only days after Israel began the ground offensive against Hamas, an Israeli armored personnel carrier, with nine soldiers inside from the Golani Brigade, crossed into the Hamas stronghold of Shejaia in Gaza City. It was an older APC, built in the 1970s, and was in dubious mechanical condition. The armor protecting the APC was several inches less thick than the newer models in the IDF. That such an older, outdated and unprotected APC was sent into battle would become...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists said Tuesday they have discovered a large stone with Latin engravings that lends credence to the theory that the reason Jews revolted against Roman rule nearly 2,000 ago was because of their harsh treatment. Israel's Antiquities Authority said the stone bears the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian and the year of his visit to Jerusalem, a few years before the failed Bar Kochba revolt in the second century A.D. The inscription backs up historical accounts that Rome's Tenth Legion was present in Jerusalem in the run-up to the revolt. The cause of the Jewish...

Besides combat, what’s happening in northern Syria around the town of Kobani offers some interesting indications about the nature of the conflict with ISIS amid the Muslim world. I’m glad to see some dedicated U.S. air strikes in that area, but ISIS reinforcements are pouring in and the Kurdish forces aren’t receiving much in the way of supplies or weapons support. But what I find most interesting are the pictures of the Turkish Army tanks just sitting on a hilltop taking it all in – as interested bystanders. Furthermore, we know the Turks are now bombing the Kurdish people in...

BAGHDAD, July 21 (UPI) -- Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday. The official daily al-Sabah quoted the sources as saying the missiles were discovered in trenches near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "The three missiles were discovered by chance when the Iraqi security forces captured former Baath party official Khoder al-Douri who revealed during interrogation the location of the missiles saying they carried nuclear heads," the sources said. They pointed out that the missiles were actually discovered in...

Egypt has told the United States that Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas is not in the country, contrary to some media reports, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday. Boucher said: "This is a dangerous man. I don't know the exact legal status, but certainly he's not a person that we believe should be allowed safe harbor or easy passage." Abu Abbas, also known as Mohammed Abbas, is the leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, which hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean in 1985. A disabled elderly American, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed during the...

Mohammed Abbas, the mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on proposals to stop terrorist attacks against civilians in Israel. Abbas was invited to Cairo by Gen. Omar Sulieman, the head of Egyptian intelligence, to convince various Palestinian groups to work out a joint strategy regarding the future of the uprising. Sulieman has met over the past few weeks with representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Peoples [Communist] Party, in addition...

JERUSALEM, Israel -- The Associated Press is facing some heat for its offensive headline following Thursday's terror attack in Jerusalem. The AP's initial headline read, "Israeli Police Shoot Man in East Jerusalem," with no mention that police were responding to a terror attack. The vehicular attack injured seven people and killed three month-old Chaya Zissel Braun, who held dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. After repeated complaints, AP changed the headline to "Car Slams Into East Jerusalem Train Station. And finally, AP acquiesed to complaints, changing it to "Palestinian Kills Baby at Jerusalem Station." But there are still calls for the wire service...

The Palestinian Authority has launched a campaign for the release of a Palestinian terrorist captured in Iraq. PA Local Authorities Minister Saeb Erekat said the arrest of Abul Abbas, head of the Palestine Liberation Front, violates the 1995 accord with Israel that granted amnesty for all Palestinian insurgents. Erekat said the agreement was also signed by then-President Bill Clinton. "The Palestinian-Israeli interim agreement signed on September 28, 1995 stated that members of the Palestine Liberation Organization must not be detained or tried for matters they committed before the Oslo peace accord of September 13, 1993," Erekat said. "This interim agreement...

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LANDPalestinians honor Achille Lauro hijackerTerrorist responsible for killing Jewish American 'great national fighter' Posted: March 26, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Known globally for ordering an attack in which a wheelchair-bound Jewish American tourist was shot and thrown overboard from a cruiseliner, Muhammad Abbas nevertheless was eulogized by Palestinians this week as a "great national fighter." Abu Abbas The leader of the Palestine Liberation Front terrorist group, who died in a U.S. prison in Baghdad, was buried Tuesday in Syria. He was responsible for the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro in Italy in which Leon Klinghoffer...

U.S. convicts "Prince of Marbella" of arms deal Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:17pm EST By Edith Honan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. federal jury convicted a Syrian arms dealer and a co-defendant on Thursday of conspiring to sell $1 million in weapons...Monzer al-Kassar, 62, a longtime resident of Spain known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town... Kassar has been selling weapons since the 1970s to the Palestinian Liberation Front and clients in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia. In 1995, Kassar was tried and acquitted of supplying arms that were used...

One of the Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed an American Jewish passenger in 1985 has been released after more than 23 years in jail, officials said Thursday. Youssef Magied al-Molqui left prison in Palermo, Sicily, on Wednesday and was transferred to a holding center for immigrants in nearby Trapani while officials work to expel him, police in the Sicilian capital said.