NATO

By Reuters : Beirut | 11 Oct 2011

Syria's most senior Sunni Muslim cleric has warned the United States and Europe that his country would unleash suicide bomb attacks in their countries if they launched military strikes against Syria.

Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, whose son was shot dead by gunmen in the northern province of Idlib a week ago, made the comments to a visiting Lebanese delegation late Sunday.

By Declan Walsh : The Guardian | Islamabad / 07 Oct 2011

One of America's most celebrated generals has issued a harsh indictment of his country's campaign in Afghanistan on the 10th anniversary of the invasion to topple the Taliban.

The US began the war with a "frighteningly simplistic" view of Afghanistan, the retired general Stanley McChrystal said, and even now the military lacks sufficient local knowledge to bring the conflict to an end.

The US and Nato are only "50% of the way" towards achieving their goals in Afghanistan, he told the Council on Foreign Relations.

By Agencies | Brussels/Tripoli / 06 Oct 2011

NATO ministers said Thursday that the bombing campaign in Libya, now in its seventh month, will continue until armed resistance to the new pro-Western regime ceases.

By Habib Zohori : McClatchy Newspapers | Kabul / 29 Sept 2011

Violence in Afghanistan is up nearly 40 percent over last year, a United Nations report released Wednesday found, contradicting claims by the U.S.-led coalition that security has improved since last year.

The U.N. report, information for which is compiled by the U.N. mission here and submitted to the Security Council quarterly, said that as of the end of August, there had been an average of 2,108 "security incidents" each month this year, a 39 percent increase compared with the same period in 2010.

By Jeff Franks | Reuters | Havana / 27 Sept 2011

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused US President Barack Obama of speaking “gibberish” in his recent address to the United Nations and called NATO’s actions in Libya a “monstrous crime” on Monday in his first opinion column since early July.

Castro, 85, has been mostly out of sight the past few months, which combined with the absence of his usual steady flow of columns, had prompted rumors his health was worsening.

By Rod Nordland : The New York Times | 01 Sept 2011, TRIPOLI

Abdel Hakim Belhaj had a wry smile about the oddity of his situation.

Yes, he said, he was detained by Malaysian officials in 2004 on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur airport, where he was subjected to extraordinary rendition on behalf of the United States, and sent to Thailand. His pregnant wife, traveling with him, was taken away, and his child would be 6 before he saw him.

Source : Nebi Qena | AP
PRISTINA : Kosovo | 03 Aug 2011

Serb protesters briefly stopped NATO’s top commander on Tuesday night as he tried to ease tensions in Kosovo after a week of violence near the border with Serbia left one Kosovo police officer dead and brought peacekeepers under fire.

NATO said Maj. Gen. Erhard Buehler “was stopped at a roadblock” by the protesters on his way to meet Serbia’s top Kosovo officials: Borislav Stefanovic and Goran Bogdanovic, the alliance said. Buehler’s goal is to negotiate the removal of roadblocks in the tense Serb-run north.

Source : Lutfi Abu-Aun | Reuters
TRIPOLI | 30 Jun 2011

Russia said on Thursday France’s arms drop to opposition fighting Muammar Qaddafi violated a UN arms embargo on Libya, a stance that could deepen divisions within a NATO alliance that wants him ousted from power.

France on Wednesday became the first NATO country to openly acknowledge arming the insurgency against Qaddafi’s 41-year rule that has become the bloodiest of the pro-democracy “Arab Spring” revolts buffeting the Middle East and North Africa.

Source : Hamuda Hassan | Reuters
MISRATA : Libya | 29 Jun 2011

NATO warships off the Libyan coast fired on government forces near the strategic town of Zlitan where they are blocking rebels from advancing on the capital, a rebel spokesman said on Wednesday.

More than 90 days into a NATO bombing campaign, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is refusing to relinquish power, leaving Western states counting on a combination of rebel advances on Tripoli and an uprising in the city itself to dislodge him.

Source : The Guardian
Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011

It's now just over three months to the day since Nicolas Sarkozy invited the world's press into the Elysée palace to announce that his bombing onslaught on Libya had begun. United Nations security council resolution 1973 – which sanctioned the "protection of civilian lives" – had only just been passed, and western leaders including David Cameron and Hillary Clinton had congregated in Paris to refine the details of military action, but there was no stopping "Speedy Sarko".