Free Republic

For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the November 9, 2005, suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Militant Islamic websites immediately announced: "After the attack in the heart of Jordan, it will soon be possible to reach Jewish targets in Israel." Al-Qaeda operations around Israel are becoming more prominent. In August 2005, an al-Qaeda rocket strike at the Jordanian Red Sea...

Shukhrat Masirokhunov met with Osama bin Laden, was trained by Khattab, recruited mujaheddin and fought Americans in Afghanistan. He also has firsthand knowledge about the situation in Chechnya A Tashkent city court delivered a guilty verdict against members of the Akromiylar movement who took part in the Andizhan events (May, 12-13, 2005). The authorities allege that militants from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were also involved. Shukhrat Masirokhunov, 34, a former chief of the IMU counterintelligence service who was extradited from Pakistan several months ago, is now awaiting trial in Tashkent. He faces 20 years in prison. It is...

TBILISI, Georgia -- Russia's federal minister for Chechnya on Tuesday promised housing and compensation to Chechen refugees if they return home from camps in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. Heading a Russian delegation to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, Stanislav Ilyasov spoke to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and his government about ways to persuade the 3,500 refugees in the Pankisi Gorge to return to Chechnya. Ilyasov said Moscow would pay for the returning refugees to rent apartments and would pay compensation to those whose homes have been completely destroyed in the war. Refugees who cannot find work immediately would receive additional benefits, he...

Attack Russian planes on the throats of Pankissi in Georgia (frontier guards) Friday August 23, 2002 - 6h36 GMT TBILISSI, August 23 (AFP) - Russian fighters attacked in three places in the area géorgienne of the throats of Pankissi, indicated Friday the service of the frontier guards géorgiens by quoting testimonys of inhabitants. The apparatuses, of which the exact number was not specified, penetrated in the airspace of the republic of Georgia towards 04H15 GMT and tackled the zone of Kakhétinsk in the throats of Pankissi, according to the service of the frontier guards. Russia affirms that the throats...

Chechen rebel says Georgian officers helped his group across Russian borderSource: RTR Planeta TV, Moscow, in Russian 2000 gmt 13 Aug 02The militants who crossed into Russia from Georgia at the end of July were acting with the knowledge of the Georgian military. At least, according to one of the bandits arrested in Chechnya, who is now giving evidence to Russian special services. Here is our special correspondent Aleksey Ponomorev reporting from Groznyy: A 25-year-old native of Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District, Ali Duriyev, was detained by a special-task unit of the Defence Ministry on 11 August in Itum-Kalinskiy District. He tried to...