Middle East Headlines for 7 Oct. 2015

The FBI and Moldovan investigators have broken up a major effort by Eastern European organized crime gangs to sell radioactive materials for a “dirty bomb to ISIS.” A "dirty bomb" can contaminate a city and kill thousands of people. The smugglers were arrested in Moldova after they provided the undercover agents with samples of the radioactive material and expressed their intention to peddle bomb-grade materials to ISIS and other Islamic extremist groups. 

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Moscow is putting its ties with Ankara at risk. "Our positive relationship with Russia is known. But if Russia loses a friend like Turkey, with whom it has been cooperating on many issues, it will lose a lot, and it should know that," he said at a news conference in Brussels with the Belgian prime minister. Erdogan also said that his country would not stay patient regarding future intrusions by Russia. 

Four Russian warships in the Caspian Sea Tuesday fired at least 26 cruise missiles against 11 Islamic State targets in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has just disclosed. The missiles flew 1,500 kilometers to their targets over Iran and Iraq, after coordination between Moscow and both governments. “All targets were destroyed and no civilians hurt,” the Russian minister said.

The terror attacks in Israel are getting worse. PM Binyamin Netanyahu has reduced his scheduled trip to Berlin Thursday to a few hours in order to return home to deal with the terror crisis. He will only open the annual two-day government-to-government session attended by senior German and Israeli ministers taking place this week, before flying home. The session will continue without him. The meeting was to have been one of the events this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of German-Israel diplomatic ties.

Another miracle occurred in Israel when an Israeli soldier was stabbed by a terrorist as he got off a bus in the city of Kiryat Gat early Wednesday afternoon. The terrorist then grabbed the soldier's assault rifle and fled into a nearby building, where he tried to shoot a woman. But the weapon jammed. He was shot and killed by police who arrived on the scene. The soldier, who was lightly wounded, was taken to a local hospital along with another Israeli injured in the attack. 

Another miracle occurred when two Israeli drivers were wounded on Wednesday when Palestinians stoned their vehicles on the road between Jerusalem and Tekoa, adjacent to Beit Sahour. One of them, a woman in her late 30s, said she was ambushed by a group of Palestinians who broke through the windows of her car, started kicking her and attempted to pull her out by force, but she was able to escape.

The spokesperson of the upper house of Russia’s parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said Wednesday that Moscow will contemplate carrying out airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq if a formal request is made by the Iraqi authorities, but no such request has been made yet. The spokesperson, who is currently visiting Jordan. My military sources reported that Russia and Iraq reached an agreement under which the Russian air force may use the Al Taqaddum Airbase, 74 kilometers west of Baghdad, for airlifts of forces to Syria as well as the bombing of ISIS targets in northern areas of Syria and Iraq.